vol 3: Development
5 Cybernetics page 1:
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... to restore theology to the mainstream of science
The control loop
The essentials of a control system are shown in the illustration. The operator, which may be any particle or organism, senses information about its environment and uses this information to control its activity.
The operator is part of its own environment, and may act on part of itself. It is an important question whether an operator can act on all of itself. Or is there a need for some fundamental fixed structure which makes it possible to avoid vicious circles, instability and death?
One of the most important forms of activity is learning. By learning, one adds to the complexity of the structure one was born with, thus becoming capable of more complex acts of control. By learing more about itself and its environment, an operator can improve its responses and reach its goals more efficiently. So we find the mortality of young biota is disproportionately high until the young gain the experience and strength to better secure their survival.
The purpose of this site is to improve the responses of the organism we call the body politic or the human community. To do this, we to improve the sensors, computers, actuators, and communication links within our community.
Error
The control loop is motivated by the difference between the goal of activity and the current situation. This distance is often called the error signal. In the simple but practically important case of an engine controlled by a governor, the error is the difference between the actual speed of the engine and the desired speed. If the speed is too low, power must be increased to bring the engine up to speed. If the speed is to high, power must be decreased.
The social errors to which we must respond are much more complex, things like poverty, disease, violence and ignorance. The desired state is easy enough to contemplate, common wealth, health, peace and awareness, but the means to bring it about are problematic. Industrial and technological experience with the control of ever more complex systems, however, gives us some clues.
We concentrate here on two principles or laws. The first, called by W Ross Ashby The law of requisite variety, states that if one system is to have control of another, the controller must be at least as complex as the system controlled.
The other which I call the principle of balanced devolution follows from the law of requisite variety. The demands on a system which controls a number of subsystems can be minimised (and its chances of success maximised) by maximising the autonomy of the subsystems. Divide a large system into small systems, each of which takes care of itself within the limits of its own knowledge and power. Divide small systems into still smaller systems, utilising the same principle. Then when we come to contruct a larger system, we do not need to know what is going on in the smaller systems, only that they can be relied upon to play their part in the overall picture and to complain if they are being overstressed.
This principle seems to hold in the physical world, where tiny systems like atoms take care of themselves while providing a foundation to build people, planets, galaxies and all the other wonderful structures that surround us. It also holds in a free and just society where each person is given maximum control over their own affairs and the system responds quickly to the overstressing of any individual.
A system may be optimised by adjusting the balance between central and local control in order to minimise the overall cost of control while maximising its finesse or gentleness. With these ideas in mind, we can then turn to searching for the sweet spot between totalitarianism and anarchy. I speculate that it is tantamount to what we call wilderness.
(revised 7 April 2000)
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