Concluding Remarks: Toward a General Discipline of Control

Abstract

In Part I of this book I have tried, using the language of systems thinking to present the structure and typology of the control systems that allow man to create a livable world and to aspire to progress. Understanding the theory of control systems is necessary to attain a true control discipline, to introduce which I headed off in Part II on an ideal journey to guide the reader in learning to recognize and model the action of multiple Rings observed or even only imagined operating in various environments. This chapter concludes the journey into the logical world of control systems. At this point it is useful to present some final considerations to stimulate further reflection. In the first section below I shall attempt to outline several fundamental general hypotheses in order to propose a control discipline. These hypotheses lead to the conclusion that “The world is conceivable as a Control System” since its existence, as our own, is subordinated to a network of control systems, based on a typical multi-level holonic arrangement, that can be viewed as, and in fact acts as, a global control system. In concluding this work I also feel that it is necessary to touch on the human aspects of control. Control systems are useful instruments for man, who in most cases is the manager-user of such systems. We cannot ignore the human attitude to control; thus, I have left these considerations until the concluding section. A reflection on the content and limits of this study is presented as FAQs in the final pages of the chapter.