TRANSFORMATIONS (Topological)
Charles François (2004). TRANSFORMATIONS (Topological), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 3617.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3617 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
d'Arcy Wentworth THOMPSON observed (1916) that numerous forms — principally in biology — while apparently very different, could be related to each other by continuous deformation (Homotopy).
N. RASHEVSKY noted that “Topological analogies go much deeper in the realm of the living when we observe not merely structural but functional (in a biological sense) relations (1956, p.125).
In support of this, he showed the possibility of the construction of global graphs of the biological functions, as, for example assimilation. This is an interesting generalization of the concept of topological transformation, certainly applicable to very different kinds of systems, as for example human organizations.