Why Control Systems Fail

In a message dated 97-12-19 18:20:42 EST,

<<
> I would think that a theory which says that human beings are
> living control systems would have something to say about the
> ways in which such systems may fail, and what is expected to
> happen behaviorally as a result.
  >>

Some points on this perspective ---

1) "what is expected to happen behaviorally?"

Who the hell knows -- because behaviors are NEVER controlled -- you can't
predict them
(However, you can control a perception of a behavior.)

2) Would the theory which says that human beings are living control systems
would have something to say about the ways in which such systems may fail.

YES it would and does here it is, Keeping the "theory" in mind a control
systems has these basic components

1) Reference Signal
2) Perception
3) Comparator
4) Output

I have made two or three mentions of how a Control system fails this week.
When I referred to "chasing the problem around the loop" 1 2 3 or all 4 of
these components could FAIL causing the whole system to fail -- if one of the
components Fail the whole system gets screwed up..

After all this is called control SYSTEMS theory not control COMPONENT theory

EXAMPLE of reference signal failure

Your driving a car, all of a sudden a psychiatrist pops out of the back seat.
He has 2 steal paddles, he quickly places one on each of your ears 200 jewels
of electricity jolt your brain. Suddenly you feel different. This ECT
treatment has "knocked" out many of your higher order reference as to: Who am
I, Where am I going, how long have I been in this car.

on a more real life problem -- what if you looked at Cancer as a control
system gone bad. What component(s) would you guess went bad?

I would propose the same technique, "chase the problem around the loop" for
what is causing the poor control -- is there a gene not sensing the division,
or quantity, "we don't need more T-cells, we have plenty" ; or is it the
reference --- saying "make more, make more, My God we are running out of white
blood cells."

So how a systems fails vary greatly, depending on what is being controlled and
what component(s) fail. A system could end up producing too much or not
enough depending which direction and which component(s) fail.

Talk'n the talk and walk'n the walk - in PCT
Mark Lazare