Thing

Also known as: Entity, Object.

The concept of a thing is important to the concepts of a system. A thing:

• May be physical or conceptual

• Consists of energy, matter and or information.

• May have a definite life-cycle (e.g. birth to death, creation to destruction).

• The time frames for the existence of a thing may vary.

A thing may have a body of knowledge that has been developed by people using their perception to understand a thing. This body of knowledge may or may not be written down. The body of knowledge may also have a cultural influence (see Chapter 10, GST) A thing may have an operational use or purpose and may work with other things.

Finally, a thing may or may not know that it can be considered as a system.