GLUE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1437 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
A general metaphor covering “a range of related verbs such as adhere, attach, bind, bond, cohere, combine, connect, fuse, join, liase, link, paste, tie and weld”(R. Paton, 1999, p. 153)
These verbs describe various types of interrelations in more or less integrated or lose systems.
All describe processes with their corresponding flows of materials and informations .
- “Glue” is apt as a metaphor because while the flows among elements are either permanent or intermittent, or recursive , they imply specific interactions .
Strongly organized systems are those very strongly “glued”, as for example living beings wherein the parts cannot remain functional in their own way when cut out of the system.
Social systems or computer networks , for instance, are less strongly “glued”as their parts can somehow maintain their own functionality when separated.
In this paper Paton describes a variety of glues corresponding to different contexts and functions . He explores the relations of the concept with those of pattern ,limit and co-limit and its more general meaning in categorical terms.
He also observes that glue relations can be binary or multiple in relation to a single element. There may thus be distinct modes of adhesion, attachment, etc.
(This is already clear at the chemical level for instance)