The Fall 2002 issue of Forbes ASAP carries an article titled "Welcome to
Feedback Universe," subtitled "Surrender to the Self-Correcting System," by
Michael Malone. The URL is: http://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/1007/020.html
I think it's great that the concept of feedback is getting some visibility
but I don't think the piece does the concept justice.
I really think CSGers ought to take a look at the article and comment to
the list.
On my part, I think it's a very superficial treatment of a very important
notion (but, heck, what's new?).
The thermostat is there, as one might expect, but the only diagram offered
tends to support the view that the brain issues instructions. In
illustrating what Malone calls a "classic feedback loop, four stages are
listed as the body's response to cold:
1. As a result of cold, blood temperature drops
2. A message is sent to the brain...which instructs the adrenal gland to
produce hormones
3. Hormones increase metabolism, creating heat
4. [The heat is] Feedback to blood.
I'm a lowly old ex Fire Control Technician whose grasp of things technical
was just enough to fix things when they broke but I'm pretty sure that this
article is wide of the mark.
I'd be curious as to what others who take the time to read the piece think
about it.
Regards,
Fred Nickols
nickols@safe-t.net