CYCLE (Equilibrial)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 798 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
According to St. BEER, in an equilibrial cycle: “… there are, as it were, a number of competing equilibria, and a stimulus greater than that confluent's threshold can contain will throw the representative point into one of several possible alternative confluents, depending upon the position of the point in the cycle at that time.” (1968, p.477).
Equilibrial cycles are proper to polystable systems, in which a number of different and alterning behaviors are admitted according to the nature and strength of the inputs received.
The set of alternative confluents (or in topological terminology, “basins of attraction”) is however contained into a global vecinity. This means that the system, while adaptable to different environmental conditions, remains however organizationally closed.