System Theory, Cybernetics, & Information Theory

System theory deals with the interaction among elements of large process; cybernetics deals with control & regulation in systems; and information theory focus on the measurement and transmission of signal

Fundamental system concepts
 A system is : a set of things that affect one another within an environment and form any of the parts. Any system consist of 4 things :
o Objects : parts, elements, or variables
o Attributes : quality or properties
o Internal relationships among objects
o Environments
 System quality :
o Wholeness & interdependence
o Hierarchy
o Self regulation & control
o Interchange with the environment
o Balance (homeostatis)
o Change (morphogenesis) & adaptability
o Equifinality

Information theory : a quantitative study of signals
 Basic concepts
o Entropy : randomness, unpredictable
o Information : a measure of uncertainty
o Negentropy : predictable situation
o Information as a number of choices, or alternative, available in predicting an outcome
 Language & information
o Sequential stimuli
o Predictable pattern
o Redundancy
 Information transmission
o Source
o Message
o Transmitter
o Signals
o Noise
o Receiver
o Destination
o Channel :
 Channel capacity
 Throughput : the actual amount of information in the channel

Cybernetics is a way of thinking. Emphasizing circular reasoning, cybernetics challenges the very idea that one thing causes another in a linier fashion. Cybernetics claims that observers can never see how a system works by standing outside the system itself because the observer is always on some level engaged cybernetically with the system being observed.

 Second – order cybernetics
Cybernetics of the observing system, or cybernetics of knowing. What is observed in a system is determined in part by the categories and methods of observation, which in turn are affected by what is seen. This circle is a cybernetics system, and observers cannot escape it.

 Dynamic Social Impact Theory
Explain in system terms how commonalities develop among individuals and how cultures form. Dynamic Social Impact Theory introduces a concept of social spaces where people meet, communicate, and influence one another