INFLEXIBILITY
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1648 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
The condition of a system which loses its capacity of adaptation or accomodation.
As explained by C. HOLLING, there is always a trade-off between stability and instability in systems. Dynamic stability is an advantageous and economic state of affairs as long as its basic environmental conditions are maintained. When such conditions persist for a very long time, the system is however at risk to “forget” possible responses to strong and infrequent perturbations.
HOLLING suggests that the optimum for any system is to possess alternative states of dynamic stability (or domains of attraction), through which it may switch when necessary. He gives numerous ecological examples of flexibility in populations of living systems which are endowed with this type of flexibility. (1976, 1986).