Reconsidering this, scientists practice, maintain, and develop their field over time collectively. (The work of an isolated individual, however brilliant, without corroboration by competent others, is not science. Doing science is inherently and necessarily a social phenomenon.) There is no single control system controlling the collectively controlled variables of the field, but collective control has that appearance (CVs and their reference levels can be identified, observed, and tested with disturbances) until we look for the locations of inputs from the environment and outputs into the environment, and find that they are the senses and effectors of individual scientists.
Here are some links:
Kent McClelland on collective control:
- Forms of Collective Control in Social Life
- Collective Control Part 2, Conflict and Cooperation
- Collective Control Part 3, Giant Virtual Controllers
- Kent’s Researchgate collection
Volume III of Powers of Perceptual Control (Martin Taylor)