Search results

In this conceptual paper the authors aim to discuss the implications of a second-order cybernetic approach and eigenbehavior in ecosystem management. The authors argue that traditional management practices rely on the agreement of stakeholders, but this approach cannot satisfy multiple-objective realities, making radical constructivism necessary.

The authors examined this conjecture using a multi-agent simulation exercise. Agents display individual behavior consistent with the organizing principles proposed by von Foerster (eigenform and eigenbehavior), Hoffman (perception and fitness) and Maturana (domains of realization). This exercise is complemented with an ecosystem management classification exercise to show how convergence is achieved when a team of trained professionals describes entities of low versus high complexity in a spatially explicit domain.

The authors showed that eigenforms can diverge significantly depending on the complexity of the problem. The capacity of observers to stabilize an eigenform and create a common ground for understanding depends on the complexity of the problem at hand and their cognitive diversity. The authors highlighted the difficulties that arose when observation and modification through the intervention of the environment cannot be detached. The authors argue that this situation deeply permeates ecosystem resource management due to the unpredictable outcomes displayed by entities embedded into open system dynamics.

Finally, the authors propose that the association between indication and transformation can be operationally interconnected as Eigenperception, which corresponds to a novel dynamic state bridging the gap between noise and eigenform. This concept of Eigenperception encapsulates entities that arise from eigenbehavior, encompassing observations, meanings, human transformative actions and ecological processes, all in a simultaneous manner.

This bibliometric mapping study aimed to provide comprehensive insights into the global research landscape of cybernetics. Utilizing the biblioshiny function in R Studio, we conducted an analysis spanning 1958 to 2023, sourcing data from Scopus. This research focuses on key terms such as cybernetics, cybernetics systems, complex adaptive systems, viable system models (VSM), agent-based modeling, feedback loops and complexity systems.

The analysis leveraged R Studio’s biblioshiny function to perform bibliometric mapping. Keyword searches were conducted within titles, abstracts and keywords, targeting terms central to cybernetics. The timespan, 1958–2023, provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of cybernetics-related literature. The data were extracted from Scopus to ensure a robust and widely recognized source.

The results revealed a rich and interconnected global research network in cybernetics. The word cloud analysis highlights prominent terms such as “agent-based modeling,” “complex adaptive systems,” “feedback loop,” “viable system model” and “cybernetics.” Notably, the journal Kybernetes has emerged as a focal point, with significant citations, solidifying its position as a key source within the cybernetics research domain. The bibliometric map provides visual clarity regarding the relationships between various concepts and their evolution over time.

This study contributes original insights by employing advanced bibliometric techniques in R Studio to map the cybernetics research landscape. The comprehensive analysis sheds light on the evolution of key concepts and the global collaborative networks shaping cybernetics research. The identification of influential sources, such as Kybernetes, adds value to researchers seeking to navigate and contribute to the dynamic field of cybernetics. Furthermore, this study highlights that cybernetics not only provides a useful framework for understanding and managing major economic shocks but also offers perspectives for understanding phenomena in various fields such as economics, medicine, environmental sciences and climate change.

This study aims to demonstrate the importance of the requisite trust for the processes of digitalization of business, the state and society in general.

The work is built “from particular to general”. The analysis of many cases of digitalization projects leads to some higher-level principles useful for description most of them – trust, umwelt and complexity.

Based on the analysis of empirical material, the principle of requisite trust is introduced based on the definition of trust through a “relevant umwelt”. In addition, the article examines many aspects of society digitalization processes using cybernetic concepts. It is shown that (1) in the core of digitalization process is the export of the umwelt from human head to a computer (digital umwelt), (2) models used in the digital platforms are not only a reflection of social processes, but have a significant impact on them, like the observers of cybernetics of the second order and (3) umwelt concept is closely related to a social reality concept, meanings are relative and are carried by the communication systems.

The paper summarized practical and theoretical experience in the field of digital projects and introduced The Law of Requisite Trust. In the future, this principle should be studied more formally in quantitative terms.

The principle of requisite trust, as well as the definition of trust through the relevant umwelt is original. The promotion of trust in organizations and also digital organizations using such instruments as standard of social responsibility (ISO 26000) has high practical value.

There are common problems in the identification of uncertain nonlinear systems, nonparametric approximation, state estimation, and automatic control. Dynamic neural network (DNN) approximation can simplify the development of all the aforementioned problems in either continuous or discrete systems. A DNN is represented by a system of differential or recurrent equations defined in the space of vector activation functions with weights and offsets that are functionally associated with the input data.

This study describes the version of the toolbox, that can be used to identify the dynamics of the black box and restore the laws underlying the system using known inputs and outputs. Depending on the completeness of the information, the toolbox allows users to change the DNN structure to suit specific tasks.

The toolbox consists of three main components: user layer, network manager, and network instance. The user layer provides high-level control and monitoring of system performance. The network manager serves as an intermediary between the user layer and the network instance, and allows the user layer to start and stop learning, providing an interface to indirectly access the internal data of the DNN.

Control capability is limited to adjusting a small number of numerical parameters and selecting functional parameters from a predefined list.

The key feature of the toolbox is the possibility of developing an algorithmic semi-automatic selection of activation function parameters based on optimization problem solutions.

The introduction in Italy in July 2021 of the “COVID-19 Green Certification”, known as the “Green Pass”, was a particularly important moment in the political and social history of the country. While its use for health reasons is debatable both logically and scientifically, its effects should be measured at the general sociological level. The “Green Pass” allowed Italian social life to be shaped according to a social and political profile that can be traced back to a “society of control”. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issue.

This paper, of a theoretical nature, intends to verify such an interpretation through a critical survey of Gilles Deleuze's well-known Post-scriptum sur les sociétés de contrôle (1990) and relating the theories to it from cybernetic science, sociology of social systems and the continental philosophy, specifically Michel Foucault. After a short introduction on the history of the instrument's introduction, the paper, divided into parts reflecting the set-up of Deleuze's text, examines the systemic social effects of the “Green Pass” with regard to its logic, and concludes with a reflection on the program of the instrument's future developments.

The “Green Pass” put into practice a model of a society of control as anticipated by Deleuze, verified with particular reference to some instances of Luhmann's theory of social systems, and in the perspective of a Foucault's “normalizing society” in the process of definition and affirmation.

The “Green Pass” has been a controversial tool that has caused forms of social discrimination and exclusion and has seriously questioned the architecture of the rule of law. The conceptual paper tries to reflect on the premises and implications of this instrument.

The approach to the problem both in a critical key and according to concepts and theories of the sociology of social systems, cybernetics and continental philosophy.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to provide a nuanced understanding of the information concept that encapsulates both its universal foundations and context-dependent intricacies, and second, to propose a theoretical framework that integrates these diverse viewpoints, thereby contributing to the theoretical discourse and practical applications in information science/studies (IS).

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between universalism and pluralism in connection with semiotics. The paper adopts a conceptual approach based on semiotics to address the long-standing debate over the definition of information in IS. By engaging with two foundational semiotic theories—C.S. Peirce's pragmatic semiotics and Ferdinand de Saussure's structuralist semiotics – the research seeks to bridge the conflicting perspectives of universalism and pluralism within the field.

The findings reveal that Peirce's semiotics, with its universalist core, views information as dynamic and shaped by context, while Saussure's approach, which is rooted in linguistics, emphasizes the relational aspects of sign systems and connects them to pluralism. This comparative analysis facilitates a broad understanding of information that transcends the limitations of singular perspectives. In conclusion, the paper seeks to demonstrate that the integration of universalist and pluralist perspectives through semiotics offers a more holistic approach to the study of information in IS. It contributes to the field by suggesting that the tension between these perspectives is not only reconcilable but also essential for a richer and more complete understanding of information. This theoretical foundation paves the way for future research and practical advancements in IS and advocates for approaches that recognize the complexity and multifaceted nature of information.

The study engages with theoretical frameworks, predominantly semiotic theories by C.S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure. While this provides a deep conceptual understanding, the lack of empirical data may limit the practical applicability of the findings. The research focuses on two semiotic perspectives, which, although foundational, do not represent the entirety of semiotics or information theory. Other significant semiotic theories and perspectives could provide alternative or complementary insights. The concepts of universalism and pluralism in information science are highly intricate and multifaceted. This study's approach to synthesizing these concepts, while comprehensive, might oversimplify some aspects of these complex paradigms.

The paper's originality lies in its unique integration of semiotic theories into the discourse of IS. This integration offers a novel perspective on understanding the concept of information, bridging the gap between universalist and pluralist approaches. The study presents a new conceptual framework for understanding information that combines elements of universalism (consistent, objective understanding of information) and pluralism (context-dependent, subjective interpretations). This dual approach is relatively unexplored in IS literature, providing fresh insights into the complex nature of information.

The process of elaboration of the symbolic universe leads to important insights into the role of symbols in understanding human reasoning. Symbols become explanatory axes of universal global realities. Myths were constructed on these explanatory paths forming a superstructure of all belief systems with paraconsistent logic for the symbolism and a symbolic syntax. Myths and symbols are to be found in all cultures. Some of the most powerful and influential ones occur in popular culture since these often have the greatest immediate social impact.

Semiotic and logical development of the symbols is in mythical systems. The dissolution of the myth and the degradation of the myth's symbols constitute a long-drawn-out process in modern Western society and wherever s influence reaches. Myth is a story that may contain symbolic elements, but compared to the symbols or images of the exceptional, myth is characterized by a “story.”

Starting from a minimal definition to define myths and propose the following definition: Myth is a traditional tale that relates memorable and exemplary actions of extraordinary personages in prestigious and distant times, and myths have various forms and functions, perhaps some more clearly defined with a signifier than others, and different approaches can be combined for a better understanding of the myths. Dispensing with such simplistic assertions, and starting from a minimal definition to define myth, myth is a traditional tale that relates memorable and exemplary actions of extraordinary personages in prestigious and distant times.

Any symbol F originates in a unit that has two aspects and functions when the unit is restored. Thus, the symbol is rather “for something” than “of something” and the symbolic objects express the objects' correspondence in one unit or hendiadys. One semantic characteristic of symbols is “recognition”. The symbol F reveals a reality by means of the homogenous association of the signifier and significance in the symbol's constitution; although reality is separate, there is a homogeneous relation between the symbolizing and symbolized in symbolization.

Educational sustainability has acknowledged the value of transformation, which offers an opportunity of researching and rethinking how appropriate and successful educational practices in an active learning environment could help prepare students for jobs that do not yet exist. So, to meet the job market needs, it became essential to focus on designing more context-specific programs where interdisciplinary courses are provided. The interdisciplinary courses are based on integrating different disciplines where there is a blur between the borders of the disciplines to shift the focus from structured courses to cooperation with external entities. In addition, the interdisciplinary programs allow students to choose modules from across subjects and encourage cooperation with staff from different departments. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to present a framework of how transformation in education requires key drivers such as transformational visions, faculty commitments, students' engagement, resources (i.e. curriculum), and external relations to develop the values and competencies that the future professionals will need in the attempt to make decisions aiming at reaching a more sustainable world.

Artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning is fuelled by high-quality, detailed behavioural data. These can usually be obtained by the biometrical sensors embedded in smart devices. The currently used data collecting approach, where data ownership and property rights are taken by the data scientists, designers of a device or a related application, delivers multiple ethical, sociological and governance concerns. In this paper, the author is opening a systemic examination of a data sharing concept in which data producers execute their data property rights.

Since data sharing concept delivers a substantially different alternative, it needs to be thoroughly examined from multiple perspectives, among them: the ethical, social and feasibility. At this stage, theoretical examination modes in the form of literature analysis and mental model development are being performed.

Data sharing concepts, framework, mechanisms and swift viability are examined. The author determined that data sharing could lead to virtuous data science by augmenting data producers' capacity to govern their data and regulators' capacity to interact in the process. Truly interdisciplinary research is proposed to follow up on this research.

Since the research proposal is theoretical, the proposal may not provide direct applicative value but is largely focussed on fuelling the research directions.

For the researchers, data sharing concepts will provide an alternative approach and help resolve multiple ethical considerations related to the internet of things (IoT) data collecting approach. For the practitioners in data science, it will provide numerous new challenges, such as distributed data storing, distributed data analysis and intelligent data sharing protocols.

Data sharing may post significant implications in research and development. Since ethical, legislative moral and trust-related issues are managed in the negotiation process, data can be shared freely, which in a practical sense expands the data pool for virtuous research in social sciences.

The paper opens new research directions of data sharing concepts and space for a new field of research.