|
Chapter 1 The Problem of Persistence
Weinberg's Law (s) of Twins
The Continuity Taboo
The General Systems Approach to Continuity
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 2 Aggregates
The First law of Aggregates
Births and Deaths—The Fundamental Aggregate
Equation
Differential Equations and Chronological Graphs
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 3 Birth-Free Aggregates
Social Versus Innate Survival
Exponential Decay
Alternative Ways of Representing Decay
Unimodal Life Tables, and Ogives
Composite Curves
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 4 Reasoning About Aggregates
Cooperation and Competition—The Law of Collapse
The Law of Typology
From Death to Births
Reasoning in the Presence of Births
The Second Aggregate Law
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 5 Modeling Differentiated Aggregates
The State Vector
Constructing a System of Equations
To Solve or Not To Solve?
Renaming Systems
The Renaming-Conservation Law
Simulation and Conservation
Tracers
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 6 Programs for Models of Differentiated
Aggregates
Varieties of Programs
Transitive Closure - The Diagram of Possible Effects
Structure Matrices
Time Scale and Continuity
Projecting Possible Effects with a Structure Matrix
Partitioning a System
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 7 Structure and Behavior
The Structure of Structure
Projecting Behavior With a Linear Program
Qualitative Reasoning About Structure
Detecting the Presence of Structure
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 8 The Structure-Regulation Law
The Equivalence of Structure and Input
Can A Linear System Be Stable?
Why Linear Systems Are So Popular
The Structure-Regulation Law
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 9 The Search for Regulation
The Problem of Multidimensional Regulation
Separation of Variables
The First Law of Regulatory Compromise
The Second Law of Regulatory Compromise
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 10 The Homeostatic Heuristics
The Internal Environment
Identifying and Essential Variables
The Homeostatic Principles
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 11 Other Regulatory Heuristics
The Feedback Principle
Analyzing Feedback Loops
The Piddling Principle
The Parallel Principle
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 12 Types of Regulatory Mechanisms
Conditional and Unconditional Mechanisms
Error-Control
Limitations of Error - Control
Anticipation
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 13 Regulation and Environment
Acting on the Environment
The Environment Regulation Laws
The Regulatory Model
The Game of Regulation
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 14 When the Model Fails
The Fundamental Regulator Paradox
Noise
Noise in Communication Systems
Noise in Models
Fudging the Model
Discarding the Worn-out Model
The Road Ahead
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 15 Making Regulation Mysterious
The Impression of Intelligence
The Myth of Superiority
Searching for Nonexistent Set Points
Other Set Point Fallacies
The Quest for Perfection
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 16 Overly Simple Views of Regulation
Plait Fallacies
The One-to-One Fallacies
The Kool-Aid Fallacy and the Aspirin Illusion
The False-Alarm Fallacy
Flareback
Taking Complexity by the Horns
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 17 Blindness and Reversed Vision
Hidden Reserves
The Environment as Reference Point
The Homunculus Fallacies
Denying the Existence of Regulation
Questions for Further Research
Chapter 18 Epilogue
Questions for Further Research
Suggestions for Further Reading
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Return to Book Page
|
