The Role of Cybernetic Methods in the Study and Transformation of Natural Complexes
A. S. Devdariani, V. L. Greysukh · Soviet Geography · 1969
The view that inert natural systems can be treated as information systems is challenged on the ground that such systems, in contrast to living systems, are incapable of perceiving signals and acting upon them. Only living systems and subsystems of natural complexes can be treated as self-regulating information systems. As for the application of cybernetic methods to physical geography, four approaches to specific problem areas are distinguished: (1) the application of information theory to measure information contained in a natural complex, (2) the application of the theory of automata in the construction of mathematical models of the evolution of natural complexes, (3) heuristic programming of computers to determine the origin and history of development of natural complexes, and (4) application of the theory of automatic regulation to the control or transformation of natural complexes.