COMPUTER in systems science
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 580 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
G. KLIR states that the computer has “a dual role in systems science. In one of the roles it is a methodological tool for dealing with systems problems. In the other role, it serves as a laboratory for experimenting with systems. The purpose of this experimentation is to discover or validate laws of systems science”. He adds the following important comment: “In contrast to laws of nature, laws of systems science characterize properties of various categories of systems rather than categories of real world objects”.
Computers thus can help finding homomorphisms and isomorphisms between systems in a same category or between systems in different ones.
And “The aim of experimentation (with computers) is to discover useful properties characterizing the category of systems or, alternatively, to validate some conjectures regarding the category” (1993, p.38).