SYSTEM (Integrated)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3371 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Methodology or model |
A system whose components, parts or subsystems are strongly interconnected and interacting.
Strictly speaking, a system that would not be at least minimally integrated would not be a system at all. However, a vegetal, animal or human colonial system, for instance, is looser than a biological one.
In an integrated system, processes and functions are permanently and closely interdependent. Their relations are regulated by a hierarchy of controls. The system cannot survive the complete destruction or impairment of any of its critical subsystems, nor the severance of their interactions. None of the subsystems can normally survive outside of the system.
Integrated systems are also characterized by the existence of an internal environment (invironment), of which the subsystems depend for their survival and which they collectively maintain. The most integrated the system, the lesser the number of its elements that interact directly with the environment.
Biological systems are more integrated than ecosystems and these, in turn, more so than composite systems. Man seems to be the most complex integrated living system, due mainly to the capacity to pick up and process information.
Systems that become too strongly integrated run the risk to become rigid and blocked, thus loosing adaptive capacity, and risking destruction. The demise of U.R.S.S. was a good example.