ACTION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 10 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
H. SABELLI defines action as “the product of energy in time”. He adds: “Action exhibits two asymmetries; the energy potential and the direction of time. All actions share the time dimension, but differ from each other in at least one (space) dimension” (In “Organización: Estructuras, Sistemas y Procesos”, to be published in “Encyclopedia of Psychiatry”, RUIZ ALARCON, 1994) (pers. comm.).
Already in the 17th and 18th Century various European mathematicians “showed that motion and change were always achieved in a way that minimizes the ”action“ of nature. This action is a measure of the momentum and velocity associated with a moving particle and can be generalized in the case of more complex systems” (F. DAVID PEAT, 1988, p.54).
This principle of least action has reappeared under different guises in various fields, as for example ZIPF 's least effort principle.
It is related to the internal organization of fields of forces and with the consequent structuration of form.