Noise in History
Anthony Wilden · 2013
Once we leave the level of noise in the genetic code and approach the level of ecosystemic relations in the broad sense, we can redefine noise so as to allow us to define the relationship between noise and event in history. As Ashby puts it (1956: 187): "In biology ... the &s;noise&s; in one system will be due to some other macrosbopic system from which the system under study cannot be completely isplated." All open systems are necessarily related to other open systems atj.d to their own subsystems, as well as to the differing levels of organizati~m &s;within&s; themselves as systems. As I pointed out in Chapter XII, noisf in history is not in fact an &s;environmental intrusion&s;, although it is ne~essarily DEFINED as one by those parts within the whole which perceive it las a disturbance. Noise is a necessary product of the tension between th~ various subsystems or levels of the historical ecosystem. As Buckley (1~67: 50-1) points out: The typical response of ... closed systems to an intrusion of environmental events is a loss of organization, or a change in the direction of the dissolution of the system (or possibly a move to a new level of equilibrium) .... The typical response of open systems ... is elaboration or change of structure to a higher or more complex level. ... The environmental interchange is not, or does not long remain, random or unstructured, but rather becomes selective due to the mapping, or coding, or information-processing capabilities ... inherent in this type of system.