CONNECTION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 616 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
A more or less permanent or repetitive interrelation between two or more elements.
Connections are of many different kinds. See: “Connections (a classification of)” and “connection modes”
Any connection implies the propagation of some flow from one element to the other(s). The flows may be of matter, energy or information, inasmuch as it is possible to distinguish them.
The interrelation is either one-way, or reciprocal.
Connections in a system can generally be represented through graphs or matrixes. This is more easy for ergodic systems, after a statistical study of the succession of states.
W. PAULI observed long ago (1954) that the use in physics of “statistical laws of nature with primary probabilities ” shows a tendency to amplify the older more narrow idea of “causality (determinism)”to a more general form of “connections” in nature (1954, p. 301)
Indeed it has been seen more recently that connections may be inscribed in self-organized criticality , in fractals and in chaotic interrelations