I sent this to Rick directly when I meant it to go to CSGnet:
[From Bruce Abbott (2015.01.27.1655 EST)]
Rick Marken (2015.01.27.1110) –
Martin Taylo
r (2014.01.27.12.44)
Martin sent this just to me by accident so I’m copying the relevant parts and sending it to CSGNet.
RM: I don’t see how this allows be to distinguish the behavior of a homeostatic system from that of a control system. What I would like to have is an empirical test that would allow me to determine whether the behavior I am observing is homeostasis or control. Can you tell me how to do that?
MT: Can you tell me an empirical test to show whether the thing I am
looking at is a flower OR a rose?
RM: No, but I can tell you how to tell a rose from other types of flowers. If homeostasis is a type of control in the same way that a rose is a type of flower then there must be other types of control as well besides homeostasis. If homeostasis were the only kind of control then there would be no need to call it anything other than “control” just as there would be no need to call a rose anything other than “flower” if a rose were the only kind of flower. So what I need is a way to distinguish homeostasis from the other types of control that are not homeostasis.
BA: You have this exactly backward. Just as a rose is a ty
pe of flower, control is a type of homeostasis.
Bruce