Exploration of the relationship of viable systems, identity, and environment: extending the bionic analogy

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the relationship between identity, the environment, and viability, discussing evolution in viable systems. On a logical structure of argumentative analysis, the article uses cybernetic, and evolutionary theories, for suggesting the way the environment shapes systems. It presents the idea that viability in systems is the result of the selective forces of the environment on the identity of systems. The extended phenotype analogy is presented and explained for viable systems. It suggests the idea that viable systems adapt to their environment. It presents and discusses different adaptive strategies for viability. The idea that viability in systems is related to evolution is not new, but this paper is innovative in the sense that it presents a relationship between viability, environment, and the identity of viable systems. The paper has implications in the understanding of viability in viable systems theory that involves reproducibility, adaptation, identity.

Prefiguring the Design of Freedom: An Informational Theory Approach to Socio-Political Cybernetics; Analysing the Messages in 2021 Colombian Uprisings

“…Institutions decide to disregard these tools, and it is in the interest of society to use them to redesign those institutions (Beer 1993, 11). Democracy can be enhanced by installing a public computer to handle variety, a democratic elected government should build in open view using legal safeguards ( 14), the computer does not threaten our freedom, cybernetics is not a tool of the devil, real-time governmental regulators are not dangerous to employ (25), the public computer will observe continuously the time trends in the form of rates of change, gradients, step functions, and such, of society and economy; this form of control is necessary because we, as government, have to look to the interactions of dynamic systems (16), this will facilitate us, as the people´s government, to decide the most effective and e cient intervention policies, and foresee societal threats to freedom (18).…”

“…Also consider education as an illustrative example; if education is effective, it serves as a catalyst for variety (Beer 1993, 8), developing studentsś kills and abilities; the process of education restricts variety by imposing a standardised pace and uniform evaluation, diminishing the potential of the pupil (25) by reducing alternatives (27). Beer's conclusion is that we no longer have control over education (25) and understanding education from its etymological roots, which refer to the process of extracting knowledge rather than imposing it (Beer 1975, 25, Beer 1993.…”