ABSTRACT

Cybernetics[9] is focused on how systems change in

response to their current environment. Cybernetics is

demonstrated by an entity outside a target system, which

controls the target system based on changes in the sur-

rounding environment. A concern with this theory is that

it prevents the system from adapting spontaneously due to

fluctuations in the environment. The outside mediator pro-

vides the input for the system it change based on which or

adapts; therefore, cybernetics can also be defined as a self-

regulating system. An example of cybernetics is climate

control inside a building. Based on the comfort of an

individual, the climate fluctuates. The thermostat is a con-

tained system and can adapt only by the predetermination

of an agent outside the system, which is the individual.

There is another type of adaptation, which involves com-

plex systems that perform adaptation within the system

itself, without an outside controlling agent. This theory of

adaptation is the focus of this entry.