RULES (Generative)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2909 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
Interacting rules endowed with the potential to develop complex systems when applied to some initial group of elements.
Such rules, through a prescribed way to combine some type of elements, leads to the production of new elements and combinations of these elements. The MENDELEIEV periodic table of elements is based on a complex set of induced generative rules.
The problem of generating rules has been investigated by various authors, from von NEUMANN and TURING on. M. MARUYAMA studied it in a often quoted article (1963).
The following aspects seem important:
1. Construction rules are framing algorithms, whose potentialities are only partially revealed by environmental conditions: in another environment they could produce a different structure.
2. The original order of the elements exerts a determining influence on the way the rules will act. They have a positional value and, in real systems, specific characteristics, as for example in the case of genes.
3. In MARUYAMA's words: “When the rules are unknown, the amount of information needed to discover the rules is much greater than the amount of information needed to describe them” (p.168). This is another way to express that the set of rules constitutes an algorithm.
Generative rules, when complex and not over-constraining, can produce a practically infinite variety, as for example genetic codes, chess rules or, in music, classical harmony as well as dodecaphonic rules. (M. BODEN, 1990, p.38-40).