That the output shall be supplemented generously, so that it much
Exceeds the value of the input.
Ex.: Design a “water-amplifier”, i.e. a device that, if water is pumped into the
Input at x ml/see will emit, from its output, water at 100x ml/sec.
Obviously, both points of view are right. Designers of cranes
Should be well aware that they are not really amplifiers, but the
Users of them should think of them as if they were.
We can now see how we should view the question of ampli-
Fying regulation. During the designing (in this chapter) we shall
Have to be clearly aware that the designer is really achieving only
A supplementation, by robbing some easily available and abun-
Dant source of it. When he comes to use it, however (a matter for
The future), he should forget the fact, and should know only that
He is now like a workman equipped with power-operated tools,
Able to achieve tasks impossible to the unaided workman.
Regulation and selection. In S.13/10 we started to consider
What would get the regulator (previously assumed to be given)
Into actual existence, either as a formula for behaving, contained
Within the organism (Q) that wants the regulation, or as a material
Machine built by the organism to act for him. We saw that the
Quantity of design that goes to it can be measured (by the amount
Of selection necessary) and we saw (S.13/18) that selection can, in
A sense, be amplified. To make the matter clearer, let us consider
More directly the relation between regulation and selection, espe-
Cially so far as the quantities of variety or information are con-
Cerned. If the diagram of immediate effects is
Designer → Regulator
C
We want to know how much variety or information the channel C
Between them will have to carry.
To get a regulator made, selection is essential. Here are three
Examples:
The first regulator we discussed (S.11/3) led to our identifying
It as
1 2 3
R: ↓ β α γ
And this particular transformation (the regulatory) had to be
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Selected from the set of all transformations possible, which num-
Bered, in this case, 27 (cf. Ex. 7/7/8). Here the regulator is “made”
By being unambiguously specified, i.e. distinguished from the
Others.
In S.13/12 another method was used, and a machine, which
Might be a regulator, was “designed” by a particular value being
Selected from the set of possible input-values.
267
The process of amplification can thus be looked at from two
Very different points of view, which are apt to lead to two very dif-
Ferent opinions about whether amplification does or does not
Occur.
On the one side stands the theoretician— a designer of cranes,
Perhaps, who must understand the inner nature of the process if he
Is to make the crane effective. To him there is no real amplifica-
Tion: the power emitted does not exceed the (total) power sup-
Plied. He knows that the operator at the control is successful
Simply because the operator can, as it were, rob other sources of
Energy (coal, oil, etc.) to achieve his end. Had Nature not provided
The coal as a generous source of supplementation, the operator
Would not be able to lift the heavy load. The operator gets “ampli-
Fication” simply by calling in King Coal to help him. So the basic
Type of amplifier is the boy who can lift big weights— because his
father is willing to lift them for him!
All this is true; yet on the other side stands the practical man
Who wants to use the thing, the man who decides what machinery
To install at the quay-side, say. If he has access to an abundant
Source of cheap power, then for him “amplification” becomes
Very real and practical. It means the difference between the ships
Being loaded quickly and easily by movements of a control han-
Dle, or slowly and laboriously by hand. When the load is larger, a
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Locomotive for instance, the non-availability of a power-amplifier
Might mean that the job could not be done at all. Thus, to the prac-
Tical man the possibility of such an apparent amplification is of
Great importance.
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