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Every stable system has the property that if displaced from a state of equilibrium and released, the subsequent movement is so matched to the initial displacement that the system is brought back to the state of equilibrium. A variety of disturbances will therefore evoke a variety of matched reactions.

— W. Ross Ashby Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior (1952)

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More quotes by W. Ross Ashby

Further, as every law of nature implies the existence of an invariant, it follows that every law of nature is a constraint.

An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)

Cybernetics treats not things but ways of behaving.

An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)

The concept of "variety" [is] inseparable from that of "information."

An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)

When a constraint exists advantage can usually be taken of it.

An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)

Such a system is “self-organizing” in the sense that it changes from “parts separated” to “parts joined.”

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: W. Ross Ashby (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.