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.
