CONSTRAINT (Second order)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 644 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
A constraint imposed on the variation of constraints.
F. HEYLIGHEN, who introduces this concept, applies it to the emergence of systems (in the sense of TURCHIN's Meta System Transition). He writes: “We may conceive the emergence of such a metasystem in the following way. Assume that a system has insufficient internal variety to maintain itself in its given environment, and that it can only reach the adequate configurations by changing its defining constraint. If the constraint changes in a relatively slow, continuous way, we might say that the system survives the changes, even though its identity has changed in the process.
(Comp. note: it would seem in this case that the system only has accomodated or adapted itself). “But the variation of the constraint itself undergoes selection, and that means that most likely an eventual stable configuration of second-order variations will be reached, defining a second-order constraint. This defines a new metasystem.
- “When this process is combined with the process of a supersystem transition we will find that several systems undergoing second order variations collectively develop an overall constraint on their mutual variations. Here we come back to TURCHIN's original structural characterization of a metasystem transition, where a number of subsystems are integrated, under the control of a higher order mechanism of constrained variation” (pers. comm., p.16).
We have, in this way and simultaneously, the opening of new possibilities of variety creation and their ordering by second order constraints.