IN -- FORMATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1652 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
Progressive internal structuration of a system.
This should be taken as a systemic etymological exploration of meanings!
Any complex system seems to start with a basic program, or grammar of rules which endows it with its proper, unique and permanent identity (organizational closure) However, internal structuration results of a progressive build-up, through the interaction of the program with the basic or circumstancial environment.
This is specially true of man as thus expressed by L. THAYER: “…all other creatures enter the world esentially pre-formed to take into account that which they can and must. Not so, man. He must be in-formed, and this, by his fellows. What is therefore real, important, relevant, etc., for man must be learned by him (or ”taught“ to him). A common cricket is merely informed by certain signals which he has been pre-formed to receive and respond to. A man is both informed and in-formed. Because he has received and acted upon it once, no ”message“ will ever be exactly the same to him again. A man evolves as a human out of his communication experiences. He is irreversibly altered” (1972, p.105-6).