SOME THEMES AND PRIMITIVES IN ILL-DEFINED SYSTEMS

To say that something is ill-defined is more to describe us than it. That is, for sane system we are dealing with, we are more or less ignorant of its working, and that means that we have special problems in trying to control it. Nevertheless, of course, most of the real systems we deal with are ill-defined in that sense -- like other people. But we do find ways to exercise some degree of control. The main theme here is that -- regardless of exactly what control means -- it is feasible to do better by a succcession of quite small improvements in a strategy.