Abstract

This report summarizes ten levels of abstraction that together span the continuum from the most elementary to the most general levels when modeling biological systems. It is shown how the neocybernetic principles can be seen as the key to reaching a holistic view of complex processes in general. Preface Concrete examples help to understand complex systems. In this report, the key point is to illustrate the basic mechanisms and properties of neocybernetic system models. Good visualizations are certainly needed. It is biological systems, or living systems, that are perhaps the most characteristic examples of cybernetic systems. This intuition is extended here to natural systems in general — indeed, it is all other than man-made ones that seem to be cybernetic. The word “biological ” in the title should be interpreted as “bio-logical ” — referring to general studies of any living systems, independent of the phenosphere. Starting from the concrete examples, connections to more abstract systems are found, and the discussions become more and more all-embracing in this text. However, the neocybernetic model framework still makes it possible to conceptually master the complexity. There is more information about neocybernetics available in Internet — also this report is available there in electronic form:

Citations