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Designing a Control System
Published in Sergey V. Samoilenko, Digitalization, 2023
Being a complement, rather the alternative to its predecessor, second-order cybernetics recognizes a system under study as an agent in its own right, actively interacting with the observer. And while in this chapter we are concerned with second-order cybernetics, its principles are by now so firmly embedded in the overall foundation of cybernetics that it is appropriate to discuss this subject by simply referring to it as cybernetics, without making a clear-cut differentiation between first- or second-order cybernetics. Overall, cybernetic systems are characterized by complexity, mutuality, complementarity, evolvability, constructivity, and reflexivity – these characteristics and their interpretations are summarized in Table 22.3. It is easy to see that the attributes of cybernetic systems are congruent to those of digitalization.
Fundamental changes in the organisational processes
Published in Carolina Machado, J. Paulo Davim, Industry 4.0, 2020
Vasja Roblek, Ivan Erenda, Maja Mesko
The second-order cybernetics is based on social and biological studies (von Foerster, 1984; Varela and Maturana, 1972). von Foerster (1984) defined cybernetics of the second-order as cybernetics of observation. The second-order cybernetic approach has bridged the micro-macro gap and led to closer integration of the individual with society (Bailey, 2006). Kieser and Kubicek (1992) were developed in the 1960s of the 20th century, a model for the contingency approach. This model helps to analyse the events in the business environment, which require an immediate response from managers, and it is expected that business decisions must be accepted quick and timely. Structural unpredictability is part of a behavioural theory of behaviour and systems that are designed to set up a particular business information system. The theory does not offer any single best solution. Efficient and effective management models cannot be easily adapted to unique environments. Each organisation locates specific features and functions in its environment. During this period, social cybernetics developed which encouraged the integration of the individual into society. It is a more subjective approach, in this case, more than a one-way transfer of knowledge (Bailey, 2006). In this context, socio-cybernetics also helps us to understand the phenomenon of networking and mutual communication in the human environment. Research focusing on the second-order cybernetic approach focuses on research problems such as instability, flexibility, learning changes, development and autonomy (Dominici and Roblek, 2016, p. 227).
Design of the Research Workbench for Investigations Relying on Multitheoretical Support
Published in Sergey V. Samoilenko, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, Creating Theoretical Research Frameworks Using Multiple Methods, 2017
Sergey V. Samoilenko, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson
Norbert Wiener was the founder of cybernetics as a field of study of the control and communication in the animal and the machine (Wiener 1948); this came to be known as first-order cybernetics. According to first-order cybernetics, a system under study can be represented by its simplified model and perceived to be independent of its observer. Some cyberneticists felt that the emphasis in studying the systems must be placed on autonomy, self-organization, cognition, and the role of the observer in the modeling of a system; later, this movement became known as second-order cybernetics (Heylighen & Joslyn 2001). Being a complement, rather an alternative, to its predecessor, second-order cybernetics (Von Foerster 1960; Ashby 1962) recognizes a system under study as an agent in its own right, actively interacting with the observer. The principles of second-order cybernetics are by now so firmly embedded in the overall foundation of cybernetics that it is appropriate to discuss this subject by simply referring to it as cybernetics, without making a clear-cut differentiation between first- and second-order cybernetics (Heylighen & Joslyn 2001). Overall, cybernetic systems are characterized by complexity, mutuality, complementarity, evolvability, constructivity, and reflexivity (Joslyn 1992); these characteristics and their interpretations are summarized in Table 11.1.
Is order creation through disorder in additive manufacturing possible?
Published in Cogent Engineering, 2021
Frédéric Demoly, Jean-Claude André
After a cybernetics of observed systems (first-order cybernetics), a cybernetics of systems that observe (second-order cybernetics) emerged with Von Foerster (1960), i.e. an approach that takes into account the observer included in the organization process with feedback and logical and epistemological consequences of the behaviours of this category of systems that can act on themselves (Von Foerster, 1981). This kind of approach obliges the observer to formulate paradoxes and to resort to self-referential concepts, which leads to a real epistemological leap with regard to classical logic.