CONTROL OR CONSTRAINT
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 693 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
There is a subtle difference between both concepts. F. HEYLIGHEN writes:“… control is certainly a form of constraint. The basic difference seems to me that control requires a controller, that is to say a system separate from the system being controlled. In the concept of constraint it is not necessary (though it is possible) to situate the constraint in a separate system, the ”constrainer“. A constraint may be inherent in the system being constrained: the system may simply be the result of natural selection” (pers. comm.).
At least in living systems and in social ones, the system starts with its constraints, which give it its basic autopoietic characteristics.
As to control, HEYLIGHEN continues: “With control on the other hand, that control resides in a separate system, implies that there must be channels of interaction between controller and controlled. These channels will not be perfect. That means that information will not be transmitted completely or instantaneously. That implies that a variation of the controlled system cannot be exactly constrained: there will always be a delay between the start of the variation and the reaction of the controller constraining that variation. (Ibid).
In synthesis, control is by necessity somewhat imprecise and submitted to time lags. This means that any (human) controller should better be cautious and somewhat skeptical about the hoped for results.