DISINTEGRATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 944 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
A destructive process which breaks up the necessary interactions among the elements or parts of a system.
The disintegration process destroys the system by reducing it to an uncoordinated heap of disconnected elements and making it disappear as a significant whole. The elements do recuperate their total independence or, at least, even when they remain close to each other, are not anymore functionally cooperative. An example is the wreck of a sunken ship.
Disintegration results from the inability of some essential part of the system, generally some important control system, to perform its specific task. This may result from some irreversible damage or from the interruption of a basic flow of inputs or outputs. Some authors use the term “segregation” in the same meaning as disintegration (B. BANATHY, 1973, p.88).
When basic processes become impaired, the system endures growing stress that it becomes finally unable to conteract and loses any possibility to resist external perturbations . Most of its elements then disperse more or less randomly in the environment .
However, in some cases, some structures may resist destruction for a long, or even very long time : examples are animal and vegetal fossils, skeletons, ruined historical buildings and even so called dead languages as egyptian hieroglyphic language or sumerian cuneiform
See also
Ageing, Aura, Autopoiesis, Decay, Entropy production (Minimum), General adaptation syndrome, Invironment