In the popular parlance, “negative feedback” is criticism. In control systems, “negative feedback” is usually a good thing, as it acts to reduce error between the desired and perceived state of affairs, with respect to the variable(s) one is attempting to control.
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Decades of usage in engineering makes it painful and unlikely to change, but I’ve wondered about using “subtractive feedback” or “attenuating feedback”.
Hi
(FYI the email interface to Discourse has become unreliable. The text of Bruce’s message was not visible and two of my email replies have gone nowhere.)
That is interesting topic. What about calling negative feedback “balancing feedback” and positive feedback “escalating feedback” in (perceptual) control theory?
As for Bruce’s original saying: Isn’t criticism often a good thing?
Eetu