Technology & Engineering
Idealization
Idealization is a process of simplifying complex systems or phenomena by creating a model that captures only the essential features. This allows engineers and technologists to analyze and design systems more easily and efficiently. However, idealization also involves making assumptions and ignoring certain details, which can lead to inaccuracies in the model.
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3 Key excerpts on "Idealization"
eBook - PDF- Russell L. Ackoff(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
New possibilities are uncovered for both parts and the whole. The focus is appropriately changed: the characteristics of the whole are not viewed as a resultant of the characteristics of the parts; rather, the characteristics of the parts are derived from desirable charac-teristics of the whole. Even designs of and plans for a system as a whole can be severely con-strained by restrictions that designers and planners incorrectly assume are imposed on them. As we will argue below, at least some of the self-imposed constraints on the creativity of systems designers can be lifted by engaging them in the idealized (re)design process. THE NATURE OF Idealization 1 Idealization is a design process subject to only two constraints: (1) The design may not involve any technology that is not now known to be feasible. This constraint does not preclude extensions of current technology or technological innovation; it merely limits design to technologies known to 1 For a more extensive discussion of Idealization and examples of its application, see Ackoff (1974). Idealization 7 be possible. For example, the idealizer may assume the availability of pic-ture telephone or even facsimile color transmission into the home because these technologies exist. On the other hand, he cannot assume the avail-ability of an antigravity device or pervasive mental telepathy. In short, an idealized design is not a work of science fiction; it is a feasible, how-ever improbable, design. (2) The system designed must be operationally viable. It must be capable of operating if it did come into existence. The judgment as to whether or not the design produced is both tech-nologically feasible and operationally viable should be made by those who hold a stake in the system; in particular, by those who participate in the design process. However, their judgment should be subjected to criti-cal review by persons who are familiar with both the system and the technology involved.
eBook - PDF- Michael J. Shaffer(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
The Concept of Idealization 35 In constructive Idealizations the domain of the Idealization – the domain of the model in question – is not a sub-set of the domain of the physical system in question. In such Idealizations the space of properties and relations associated with a system is not preserved in the idealiza- tion. As such, some properties of the system are altered, but not simply by altering the value of some parametric property by setting it equal to 0. Rather, in such Idealizations properties or relations are removed altogether and replaced. 25 So from a technical perspective constructive Idealization operates by model-replacement. We treat a physical system as being of some type other than it actually is in order to make com- putations involving theoretical claims that hold in those Idealizations tractable. In other words, we formulate the claim so that it holds exactly in some radically idealized model or world. In such cases there must presumably be some similarity between the content of the model (i.e. the idealized structure) and the real system. If there were no such sim- ilarity, then the representation will contain no information relevant to that physical system. So it is clear that such representations must share some, but not all, their relevant qualitative features in common with the more real physical systems they are meant to represent. So, constructive Idealizations incorporate the representational features common to all Idealizations, but they are in principle different from non-constructive Idealizations. As noted earlier, inclusion of these sorts of cases under the rubric of the concept of Idealization does pose some problems in terms of formulating a suitable account of simplification that still reflects infor- mational relevance between idealized models and those models of which they are Idealizations. But since they serve the same basic purposes they are ultimately just a different way of idealizing.
eBook - ePub- Daniel A. DeLaurentis, Kushal Moolchandani, Cesare Guariniello(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
We deal with this complexity by developing simplified views of reality in the form of abstractions that capture only those features of the system's structure and behavior which are relevant to our task and leave out the rest. Everything outside the boundaries of the system is either neglected or only included when analyzing the system's interactions with its environment. Such an Idealization of a part of the real world is called a model. Modeling is the process of developing abstractions of reality to represent only the portion that we intend to reason about. The decision of what to include and what not to include depends on a judgment of the degree to which a certain behavior will affect our analysis. For example, when modeling the motion of a train, we can leave out the effect of aerodynamic drag and still calculate a fairly good value of its speed given the forces applied by its engine. While doing so for an aircraft, leaving out drag will give an inaccurate result. The form of model we develop will depend on its intended use and available resources. Choices available include representing a system with mathematical equations, in the form of a physical artifact, or even as a computational model. The aim is to develop a representation that can be used to evaluate the performance of the system under development. Since a model is meant to be an abstraction of a system and not its complete representation, we must select the form of the model which allows us to reason about the available alternatives. Generally, this means developing custom models for the problem at hand to capture the essential elements of a system and the behaviors that contribute to the system's value. A good model has various qualities: It will represent the system, including the constituent elements and their interactions that are essential to explaining the system's behaviors
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