There are quite a number of novel developments intended to meet the needs of a general theory of systems. We may enumerate them in brief survey: 1. Cybernetics, based upon the principle of feedback or circular causal trains providing mechanisms for goal-seeking and self-controlling behavior. 2. Information theory, introducing the concept of information as a quantity measurable by an expression isomorphic to negative entropy in physics, and developing the principles of its transmission. 3. Game theory, analyzing in a novel mathematical framework, rational competition between two or more antagonists for maximum gain and minimum loss. 4. Decision theory, similarly analyzing rational choices, within human organizations, based upon examination of a given situation and its possible outcomes. 5. Topology or relational mathematics, including non-metrical fields such as network and graph theory. 6. Factor analysis, i.e., isolation by way of mathematical analysis, of factors in multivariable phenomena in psychology and other fields 7. General system theory in the narrower sense (G.S.T.), trying to derive from a general definition of “system” as complex of interacting components, concepts characteristic of organized wholes such as interaction, sum, mechanization, centralization, competition, finality, etc., and to apply them to concrete phenomena. While systems theory in the broad sense has the character of a basic science, it has its correlate in applied science, sometimes subsumed under the general name of Systems Science.
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This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "There are quite a number of novel developments intended to meet the needs of a general theory of systems. We may enumerate them in brief survey: 1. Cybernetics, based upon the principle of feedback or circular causal trains providing mechanisms for goal-seeking and self-controlling behavior. 2. Information theory, introducing the concept of information as a quantity measurable by an expression isomorphic to negative entropy in physics, and developing the principles of its transmission. 3. Game theory, analyzing in a novel mathematical framework, rational competition between two or more antagonists for maximum gain and minimum loss. 4. Decision theory, similarly analyzing rational choices, within human organizations, based upon examination of a given situation and its possible outcomes. 5. Topology or relational mathematics, including non-metrical fields such as network and graph theory. 6. Factor analysis, i.e., isolation by way of mathematical analysis, of factors in multivariable phenomena in psychology and other fields 7. General system theory in the narrower sense (G.S.T.), trying to derive from a general definition of “system” as complex of interacting components, concepts characteristic of organized wholes such as interaction, sum, mechanization, centralization, competition, finality, etc., and to apply them to concrete phenomena. While systems theory in the broad sense has the character of a basic science, it has its correlate in applied science, sometimes subsumed under the general name of Systems Science." in the context of "Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1968) General System Theory. p. 90-91." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
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About Ludwig von Bertalanffy