Robert Vallée

Robert Vallée, born on October 5, 1922 in Poitiers (France), is a French cybernetician and mathematician. Professor emeritus at the University of Paris-Nord and president of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC), he currently lives in Paris.

Cybernetics (from the Greek word kybernétikè, “art of leading, controlling”) is a discipline which concentrates its interest in the study of auto-regulated systems and includes several scientific disciplines. In the 20th century, great interest was focused on the study of systems which control themselves in an autonomous way. Thus, cyberneticians take inspiration from the human organism, which is able to perceive a change in its environment and to react by building artificial systems.

At the beginning of the 50’s, Robert Vallée wrote his first publications on what he named “opérateur d’observation” (which means in English “operator of observation”). The latter, in the simplest case, allows a cybernetic system to observe the state of its environment and itself. Thereafter, on the basis of these results, a decisional operator will be able to indicate the action to be taken. The two stages of perception and decision are distinguished by “intellectual convenience”, but it is interesting to gather them in a unique operator, known as “pragmatic”. A decision is influenced by the observation of events, but also by past perceptions. That means that, in the observation made at a given moment, traces of past observations are also present. Eventually, these processes follow one another in a loop. Vallée defines the study of this situation with the term “epistemo-praxeology”, underlining the existing link between knowledge (episteme), resulting from observation, and action (praxis). Regarding the observation problem, Vallée is also interested in information theory.

Robert Vallée nourishes also a private interest in sociological problems as well as for history. The first led him to describe a cybernetic creature covering the planet’s surface with its communication network (1952). The idea was taken up (under the name of “cybionte”, 1975) by another author. He has written several texts concerning cybernetics and systems, referring to Descartes, Louis de Broglie and Norbert Wiener.

Biography

Robert Vallée, son of professors in history, was born on October 5, 1922, in Poitiers (France). In 1969 he married Nicole Georges-Lévi, editor and translator.

Towards the end of the 20’s and during the 30’s, Robert Vallée attended the College of Angoulême where, in 1940, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Latin-Greek, mathematics and philosophy. Between 1944 and 1946, he was student at the Polytechnic School of Paris. During the summer of 1954, he took part in the “Foreign Students Summer Project” of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with Norbert Wiener and Armand Siegel). In 1961 he became a Doctor of Science in mathematics with a thesis on an extension of the general relativity of Kaluza-Klein, under the direction of Andre Lichnerowicz (University of Paris).

During his career, Robert Vallée occupied several positions. Between 1956 and 1958, he was Associate-Director of the Institute Blaise Pascal in Paris. From 1961 to 1971, he was university lecturer in mathematics at the Polytechnic school of Paris and at the University of Besançon (1962-1971) where he became Professor thereafter. Between 1971 and 1987 he was Professor at the University of Paris-Nord where he was also dean of the Faculty of Economics from 1973 to 1975 and president of the Department of Economical Mathematics from 1975 to 1987. In 1987, the University of Paris-Nord conferred on him the title of Professor Emeritus. Robert Vallée also gave a doctoral course on dynamic systems at the University of Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) between 1975 and 1987.

Robert Vallée was active within several associations and organizations, in particular:

• Founder of the Cercle d’Etudes Cybernétiques (President Louis de Broglie), 1950.
• Member of the Council of the Mathematical Society of France, 1964-1967.
• General Director of the Institut de Sciences Mathématiques et Economiques Appliquées (President François Perroux), 1980-1982.
• President of the Collège de Systémique de l’Association Française pour la Cybernétique Economique et Technique (AFCET), 1981-1984.
• Member of the council of the French Association of Theoretical Biology, 1984-1988.
• Representative of the AFCET, (later CET), at the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR), 1986.
• Participant in several Fuschl Conversations (International Systems Institute and IFSR), 1986-1996.
• General Director (1987) then President (2003) of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC, founder J. Rose), 1987.
• Member of the council of the International Association of Cybernetics, 1987-2000. Member of the council of the Association Française de Science des Systèmes Cybernétiques, Cognitifs, et Techniques (AFSCET), 1999.

He is also a member of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, the American Society for Cybernetics, the Tutmonda Asocio pri Kibernetiko, Informatiko kaj Sistemiko (TAKIS), and of the international league of scientists for the use of the French language and the European Union of Systemic).

Elements for a cyberprofile from Robert Vallée

Mathematics, considered as an aid to knowing what can be understood in the universe, is my main interest. So it is deeply connected with epistemology.

My first publications dealt with what I introduced (1951), under the name of “opérateur d’observation” (observation operator), in a series of notes to the Académie des Sciences under the aegis of Louis de Broglie. An “observation operator” is a mathematical operator describing how a macroscopic physical entity is perceived by a sense of a conscious being or, metaphorically, by an instrument performing a measure in the broadest meaning of the word. The simplest case is given by linear observation operators, which reduce to Volterra compositions, convolutions and mere multiplication of functions, within matrix formalism in the most general case, and introduce an algebra of macroscopic observation involving informational concepts. Connected with this kind of consideration is the problem of a possible minimal distance between two physical points seen as the smallest of the eigen-values of an adapted distance operator (1973).

When the observed entity is the state of a macroscopic dynamical system, the use of an observation operator, acting necessarily on the past and present history of the states of the system and its environment introduces naturally the concepts of “epistemological indiscernibility” of two possible evolutions of the system and of “epistemological inverse transfers” of structures inherent to the system itself onto its subjective perceptions (1974). Similar conceptions have been proposed, from 1978 on, by R. Rosen.

The uncertainty about the true initial state of a dynamical system induced, in the macroscopic case, by the imperfection of an observation operator, have consequences concerning the prevision of the future state. When the initial uncertainty may be described by a probability distribution, informational considerations in the sense of C.E. Shannon, can be developed, particularly in the linear case giving rather simple results (1979, 1982). Analogous results have been presented by G. Jumarie in 1991. The same problem may be solved, at least asymptotically, in the case of the wave function of an electron, in informational terms (1968).

The formalism of multidimensional linear dynamical systems gives a frame for a modelling of perception and memorization of the results of perception. It involves a “matrix factor of attention”, a “matrix factor of memorization”, and a “generalized Laplace transform with matrix argument” (1982a, 1995). In the scalar case this formalism opens a way to an understanding of the perception of duration and so of time itself (1986, 1995). We obtained similar results by the introduction of an “internal time” intrinsic to a dynamical system (1996b, 2000). The “internal time” as opposed to the external “reference time”, does not elapse when the state of the system does not change. More precisely it is supposed to elapse, at each instant, proportionally to the square of the modulus of the speed of evolution of the state of the system at a given instant. So, when considering certain “explosive-implosive” scalar systems evolving on a reference time interval [0,T], the “internal time” interval becomes [−∞, +∞] providing physiological and cosmological interpretations.

The consideration of a dynamical system able to perceive, decide and act, even in a metaphorical sense, involves an “observation operator” followed by a decision operator or, more briefly, their product, which we call “pragmatic operator”. All that which may be said about observation operators can be transposed to pragmatic operators, introducing “pragmatic indiscernibility” as well as “pragmatical inverse transfer” (1975) and giving rise to an “epistemo-praxiology” (1984, 1990c, 1995, 1998a).

Norbert Wiener’s generalized harmonic analysis suggested to Vallée the definition of an “epsilon-distribution”, in a way the antithesis of Dirac’s delta, with interesting properties and applications (1992c, 1993c).

Sociological problems also attracted Vallée’s attention, for example the description of a gigantic cybernetic creature covering the whole surface of the globe with its communication net (1952), an idea which has also been proposed by J.de Rosnay (from 1975 on). Vallée has also written articles devoted to historical aspects of cybernetics and systems, in connection with Descartes (1996a), Louis de Broglie (1990b, 1990e) and Norbert Wiener (1990c).

Bibliography

• (fr) Robert Vallée, Sur deux classes d’ « opérateurs d’observation », Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, 233, 1951, pp.1350-1351.
• Robert Vallée, Cybernetics and the future of man, Impact of Science on Society, III, 3, 1952, pp.171-180.
• Robert Vallée, A note on algebra and macroscopic observation, Information and Control, 1, 1957, pp. 82-84.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Les mathématiques et le raisonnement « plausible » (traduction de Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Pólya G.), Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1958. (Rééd. Gabay, Paris, 2008)
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Sur la représentation relativiste des fluides parfaits chargés, Université de Paris (thèse de doctorat en Mathématiques), Paris, 1962.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Expression asymptotique, pour les grandes valeurs du temps, de l’information associée à la fonction d’onde dans le cas d’un corpuscule libre, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, B, 267, 1968, pp.529-532.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Sur le problème de la localisation en mécanique quantique, Buletinul Institutului Politehnic din Iasi, XIX (XXIII), 1-2, 1973, pp. 99-103.
• Robert Vallée, Observation, decision and structure transfers in systems theory, 2nd European Meeting on Systems Research, Vienna, 1974, in Trappl R., Pichler F. (eds.), Progress in Cybernetics and Systems Research, 1, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Washington, 1975, pp.15-20.
• Robert Vallée, Generalized Laplace transform with matrix argument, actualisation and systems theory, Systems Science V, Wroclaw, 1978, in Systems Science, 8, 4, 1982a, pp. 63-68.
• Robert Vallée, Evolution of a dynamical system with random initial conditions, in Trappl R. (ed.), Cybernetics and Systems Research, 2, North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1982b, pp.163-164.
• Robert Vallée, Subjective perception of time and systems, in Trappl R. (ed.), Cybernetics and Systems ’86, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, 1986, pp. 35-38.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Le paradigme du transfert inverse, dans Actes du Congrès Européen de Systémique I, Association Française pour la Cybernétique Economique et Technique, Paris, 1989, pp. 277-282.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Sur la complexité d’un système relativement à un observateur, La Modélisation de la Complexité, Aix-en-Provence, 1988, Revue Internationale de Systémique, 14, 2, 1990a, pp. 239-243.
• Robert Vallée, Louis de Broglie and Cybernetics, Kybernetes, 19, 2, 1990b, pp. 32-33.
• Robert Vallée, A week in New Hampshire with Norbert Wiener, in Trappl R. (ed.), Cybernetics and Systems ‘90, World Scientific, Singapore, 1990c, pp.343-347.
• Robert Vallée, Plato’s cave revisited, Kybernetes, 19, 1990d, pp. 37-42.
• Robert Vallée, The “Cercle d’Etudes Cybernétiques”, Systems research, 7, 3, 1990e, p.205.
• Robert Vallée, Perception, memorisation and multidimensional time, Kybernetes, 20, 6, 1991, pp.15-28.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, La caverne de Platon revisitée, Perspectives Systémiques 2, Cerisy-la-Salle, 1988, dans Bernard-Weil E., Tabary J.-C. (dirs.), Praxis et cognition, L’Interdisciplinaire, Lyon-Limonest (France), 1992a, pp.25-32.
• Robert Vallée, The “epsilon-distribution” or the antithesis of Dirac’s delta, in Trappl R. (ed.), Cybernetics and Systems Research’92, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992b, pp.97-102.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Cognition et système, essai d’épistémo-praxéologie, L’Interdisciplinaire, Lyon-Limonest, 1995a.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, A la recherche du « cybionte », Revue Internationale de Systémique, 9, 5, 1995b, pp.541-544.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Descartes et la cybernétique, Alliage, 28, 1996a, pp. 43-45.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Temps propre d’un système dynamique, cas d’un système explosif-implosif, dans Pessa, E., Penna, M.P. (dirs.), Actes du 3ème Congrès Européen de Systémique, Edizioni Kappa, Rome, 1996b, pp.967-970.
• Robert Vallée and Hermann Haken, Synergetics and Cybernetics, in Encyclopedia of Applied Physics, vol. 20, VCH Publishers, New York, 1997, pp.407-427.
• Robert Vallée, An introduction to “epistemo-praxiology”, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 5, 1, 1998a, pp.47-55.
• Robert Vallée, Evolution of uncertainty about the state of a dynamical system, Kybernetes, 27, 9, 1998b, pp.1007-1011.
• Robert Vallée, Mathematical and formalized epistemologies, in Mugur-Schächter M., van der Merwe A. (eds), Quantum Mechanics, Mathematics, Cognition and Action, Proposals for a Formalized Epistemology, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2002, pp. 309-324.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Vocabulaire de la cybernétique et de la systémique, La Banque des Mots, 66, 2003, pp. 3-15.
• Robert Vallée, History of Cybernetics in Parra Luna F. (ed.), Cybernetics : Cybernetics and the theory of Knowledge, systems science and cybernetics, Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford, 2003.
• Robert Vallée, Generalized harmonic analysis, pseudo-random fonctions and “epsilon distribution”, in Trappl R. (ed.), Cybernetics and Systems 2004, vol.2, Austrian Society for Cybernetics Studies, Vienna, 2004, pp.795-797.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Rencontres avec Heinz von Förster : des “Eigen-values” à la remise d”une médaille d’or, dans Andreewsky E., Delorme R. (dirs), Rencontres avec Heinz von Förster, Seconde cybernétique et complexité, l’Harmattan, Paris, 2004, pp.107-121.
• Robert Vallée, Time and systems, Kybernetes, 34, 9-10, 2005, pp.1563-1569.
• Robert Vallée, Inverse transfer and epistemo-praxiology, Kybernetes, 35, 7-8, 1232-1235, 2006.
• (fr) Robert Vallée, Précurseurs et premires figures de la cybernétique et de la systémique en Europe, dans La gouvernance dans les systèmes, Polimetrica, Milan, 2007, pp.51-60.

Notes and References

References

• Robert Vallée, Cognition et Système, l’Interdisciplinaire, Lyon-Limonest, 1995.
• Robert Vallée, 30th Anniversary Cyberprofile, Kybernetes, 32, 3, 2003, pp.449-453.
• Robert Vallée, “De la connaissance à l’action”, in La Revue Automates Intelligents, 82 [online]. Available at: www.admiroutes.asso.fr/larevue/2007/82/vallee.htm [Last accessed August 19, 2008]