The Kybernetics of Natural Systems: A Study in Patterns of Control provides an elementary account of linear feedback systems in which the correction of an error of performance is numerically proportional to that error itself. This book examines the nonlinear processes, which is of great importance for the understanding of controlled processes in the living organism.
Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of the elementary propositions of kybernetics that are keys to the understanding of a great many patterns of working in psychology and physiology. This text then examines the interplay of dynamic and control during the process of childbirth. Other chapters consider the kybernetic description of a physiological sequence, which differs from the pattern of the reflex arc. This book discusses as well the axioms and principles of kybernetics. The final chapter deals with the laws of kybernetics.
This book is a valuable resource for physiologists.
Inhalt
Preface
Introduction
I Kybernetics of Non-Living Systems
Negative and Positive Feed-Back
Stability and Runaway
Explosive and Controlled Reactions
Pulsating Stars
Exploding Stars
Kybemetic Patterns of Behaviour
II Control of Involuntary Muscles
The Autonomic Nervous System
Relaxation and Spasm
The Pelvic Sphincters
Kybernetics of Childbirth
III Control of Voluntary Muscles
Error or Distance from Goal
Kybernetics of Nystagmus
Oculo-Gyric Crises
IV Kybernetics of Neural Control
Levels of Organization
The Unit of Neural Energy
Sensory Deprivation
The Source of Neural Energy
V Kybernetics of Invertebrates
The Swimming of Jelly Fish
The Movements of Anemones
The Spawning of Mussels
Oscillation and Stability in Worms
Flight Control in Locusts
Dynamics of the Cockroach
VI Kybernetics of Vertebrates
The Lamprey
The Lateral Line
The Otoliths
Stretch Receptors in Fish
Muscle Spindles in Mammals
The Anti-Gravity Augmentor System
Acute and Chronic Poliomyelitis
Spinal Animals
Decerebrate Animals
The Influence of Gravity
VII Kybernetics of Human Society
The Laws of Kybemetics
Kybernetics and Sociology
Kybernetics and the Historical Process
Kybemetics of War
The Destiny of Man
Index