Into closed circuits that reverberated too strongly for suppression
By inhibition. Other possibilities doubtless deserve consideration.
Here we can only glance at them.
The same principle would also apply in an economic system if
Workers in some unpleasant industry became unemployed from
Time to time, and during their absence discovered that more pleas-
Ant forms of employment were available. The fact that they would
Pass readily from the unpleasant to the pleasant industry, but
Would refuse to go back, would clearly be a matter of high impor-
Tance in the future of the industry.
69
Local properties. Large systems with much repetition in the
Parts, few immediate effects, and slight couplings, can commonly
Show some property .n a localised form, so that it occurs in only
A few variables, and so :hat its occurrence (or not) in the few vari-
Ables does not determine whether or not the same property can
Occur in other sets of a few variables. Such localisable properties
Are usually of great importance in such systems, and the remain-
Der of this chapter will be given to their consideration. Here are
Some examples.
In simple chemistry the reaction of silver nitrate in solution
With sodium chloride for instance— the component parts number
About 1022, thus constituting a very large system. The parts
(atoms, ions, etc.) are largely repetitive, for they consist of only
A dozen or so types. In addition, each part has an immediate effect
On only a minute fraction of the totality of parts. So the coupling
(or not) of one silver ion to a chloride ion has no effect on the
Great majority of other pairs of ion; As a result, the property
“coupled to form AgCl” can exist over and over again in recogn-
Isable form throughout the system. Contrast this possibility of
Repetition with what happens in a well coupled system, in a ther-
Mostat for instance. In the thermostat, such a localised property
Can hardly exist, and can certainly not be repeated independently
Elsewhere in the system; for the existence of any property at one
Point is decisive in determining what shall happen at the other
Points.
The change from the chemistry of the solution in a test tube to
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That of protoplasm is probably of the same type, the protoplasm,
As a chemically dynamic system, being too richly interconnected
In its parts to allow much local independence in the occurrence of
Some property.
Another example is given by the biological world itself,
Regarded as a system of men’ parts This system, composed ulti-
Mately of the atoms of the earth’s surface, is made of parts that are
Largely repetitive, both at a low level in that all carbon atoms are
Chemically alike, and at a high level in that all members of a spe-
68
A N I N T R O D UC T I O N T O C Y B E R NE T I C S
TH E MA C HI N E WI TH I N PUT
In general, therefore, changes that are self-locking are usually of
High importance in determining the eventual state of the system.
Properties that breed. It should be noticed that in the previ-
Ous section we considered, in each example, two different sys-
Tems. For though each example was based on only one material
Entity, it was used to provide two sets of variables, and these sets
Form, by S. 3/11, two systems. The first was the obvious set, very
Large in number, provided by the parts; the second was the system
With one variable: “number of parts showing the property”. The
Examples showed cases in which this variable could not diminish
With time. In other words it behaved according to the transforma-
Tion (if the number is n):
n' ≥ n.
This transformation is one of the many that may be found when
The changes of the second system (number of parts showing the
Property) is considered. It often happens that the existence of the
Property at some place in the system affects the probability that it
Will exist, one time-interval later, at another place. Thus, if the
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Basic system consists of a trail of gunpowder along a line 12
Inches long, the existence of the property “being on fire” now at
The fourth inch makes it highly probable that, at an interval later,
The same property will hold at the third and fifth inches. Again, if
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