GOVERNOR
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1453 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Methodology or model |
Any internal device that is supposed to control a system or a subsystem.
G. BATESON considers this term to be a misnomer and states: “… no part of …an internally interactive system can have unilateral control over the remainder or over any part… Even in very simple corrective systems, this holistic character is evident… The governor is, essentially, a sense organ or transducer which receives a transform of the difference between the actual running speed of the engine and some ideal or preferred speed… The behavior of the governor is determined in other words, by the behavior of the other parts of the system, and indirectly by its own behavior at a previous time” (1973, p.286).
This semantic muddle is responsible for:
1) the misunderstandings about the concept of control (see “control of and control for”);
2) the negative fame earned by mechanistic cybernetics with psychologists and social scientists, who fear possible psychic and social abuse by self-styled would be “controllers”.