Thomas, I wasn't surprised there was no response to my fractal accounting remark (aside from a note from Robert T.). It's a difficult way of thinking for people to wrap their heads around. I once "overdosed" on entropy in a paper for an economic geography class back in 1970. Norbert Wiener nailed this stuff in the late 1940s. Cybernetic control devices perform their function within a strictly limited set of conditions: the information they are responding to must continually vary in a manner not completely determined by its past and the variations must conform to statistical regularity. It should go without saying that in human designed systems *some* pieces of information *must* be completely determined by their past (e.g. a two digit year date). What remains uncertain is whether the inevitable "fatal flaw" will surface while the system is still in use or remain latent until after the entire system has been discarded as obsolete. The genius of systems engineering is to be able to anticipate and postpone the most serious threats to system integrity. To mere mortals, this postponement may sometimes even appear "for all intents and purposes" like the achievement of perpetual motion. The greater the illusion of infallibility, however, the more certain that the system failure will be catastrophic when it does -- as it must -- occur. After all, if the system is infallible who needs a backup? In the instance of "economic systems engineering", the diagnoses of the engineers are too political to stand on their own merits. So we get wishful thinking instead of serious attempts to anticipate and postpone threats to the system. The very process by which economic 'experts' receive their credentials and their appointments to postions of influence describes a system almost "completely determined by its past" and thus in violation of systems integrity. I wonder how many accountants are even aware of the way in which the limitations of cybernetic control devices apply to accounting systems? It may be argued that the theory of cybernetic control devices is "only a theory", which is true. But it's the theory upon which the control devices were designed. If it isn't operative, no one knows what is. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Vancouver, B.C. [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
