______________________________________________________Parent Node(s): ASC Glossary on Cybernetics
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AUTOCATALYTIC
referring to something whose occurrence at one
point increases the probability that it will occur again at
another point. If a property of a system is autocatalytic, then
such a system is, so far as that property is concerned,
essentially unstable in its absence. (Ashby, 1956, p. 196)
Examples: life on the planet Earth, guarantees of civil
liberties in one nation among many, a product for which there is
a demand. (Umpleby)