The Key-Message
1. From a systems theory perspective, any change can be understood as an adaptation.
2. The General Adaptation Theory (GAT) distinguishes between 3 different systems.
Documentation system: We are outside, in the so-called documentation system, from which we observe the interesting part of the world.It is important to note that the behaviour of a system changes when it is observed.
To see something in the world systemically, where adaptation is happening, we must build the system under observation by building a boundary that contains actors, stakeholders, challenges and so on. This is called the actuator system.
The actuator system contains the actors, who must complete the challenge. The processes that cause the actors take place in the adaptation systems. If the actor changes the challenge, he turns himself into the adaptation system. This means: GAT distinguishes between different system types in a dynamic way, and this distinction is reflected in the tools as well.
3. The General Adaptation Algorithm (GAA) describes every change.
Some remarks on the term GAT:
a) The term ‚general adaptation theory‘‚ is sometimes used in the discussion about GAS. The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) was developed based by Hans Selye as a profile of how organisms respond to stress. (The Story of the Adaptation Syndrome (1952), The Stress of Life (1956), Hormones and Resistance (1971), Stress without Distress (1974))
b) The term GAT is used by E. Lekevičius (2022) to refer to the limited biological area. Lekevičius thematizes biological life on the planet with reference to the Gaia hypothesis. His GAT is hardly elaborated in detail. Only a brief reference is made to a control loop: „The following scheme applies to living systems: D -> R -> E where D represents variation of the environmental conditions, R is a regulator, and E is a set of essential variables.“ (p. 109)
c) shorts D, R, E according to Ashby (1956)
# # # # # Literature:
Lekevičius E., Biodiversity. Maintenance, Function, Origin, and Self-Organisation
into Life-Support Systems, Springer Cham (2022), ISBN 978-3-031-11581-3,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11582-0.
Chapter 11: Summing Up: Biodiversity and Plasticity of Life (General Adaptation Theory).
Ashby, R. (1956). Introduction to Cybernetics. New York.
The search for a successful way of managing the changing world is an age-old problem for mankind.
# # # # # Literature:
* Guzman, J. L.; Hägglund, T. (2024). Give us PID controllers and we can control the world.
IFAC Proceedings Volumes (IFAC-PapersOnline).
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