ABSTRACT
Bateson (1973, 1987) starts with the classic example of the cybernetic system, that of central heating mentioned above. The resident of a room sets the desired temperature at the system’s regulator located at the boundary between the system and its environment, which is the temperature in the room. The system then regulates itself through the feedback of information about the gap, or error, between desired and actual room temperatures. The system cannot change its own setting and so it cannot learn or evolve. It simply repeats its error-activated behavior.
