Comment by wodenokoto
3 months ago
> in cybernetic terms, a long lag time in production is deadly.
Does "long lag time" or "deadly" mean something else in cybernetic terms than in regular terms? I found the "in cybernetics terms" insert quite puzzling.
In control theory, this is called dead-time:
>Dead time is the delay from when a controller output (CO) signal is issued until when the measured process variable (PV) first begins to respond.
https://controlguru.com/dead-time-is-the-how-much-delay-vari...
Cybernetics has a lot (everything?) to do with feedback loops; the word itself comes from the Greek for "steersman". If you have a long feedback loop in a process that is supposed to self govern, it would be potentially deadly to the equilibrium.
Similarly, in a positive feedback loop (as in the article), a long lag time would decrease its growth rate.
Also the etymology of kubernetes
I googled for a cybernetics definition and this came back:
> Cybernetics is the scientific study and mathematical modeling of regulation and control in systems, focusing on the flow of information and how it is used by the system to control itself.
So maybe a long lag time is deadly because they lose control of the system? That doesn't really make sense to me either though because what control do they have in the first place? The author says as much when they call it an ever-shifting target.
An interpretation that made sense is "cybernetics" as the ancient Greek word for the one who steers the ship.