A comparator is the heart of any homeostat. It has awareness of the limits of viability. It can adjust the response of the paired feedback loop to the situation based upon the difference between current state or rate and the proximity to the limits.
The heart of a simple viable system...
One of the many hearts of every complex viable system—complex in that there are several homeostats involved in stabilizing the whole system...
# Place the cursor inside "graph" to get some refactoring options digraph { rankdir=BT "Modulator Attinuator enroute from\nEnviron" [shape=box style=filled fillcolor=pink penwidth=5 color=black] "Modulator Amplifier enroute from\nOps" [shape=triangle style=filled fillcolor=pink penwidth=5 color=black] "Comparitor-Balancer\nwith\nOperational Limits\n(Stability Criteria)" [shape=circle style=filled fillcolor=lightgreen penwidth=5 color=black] "Modulator Amplifier enroute from\nOps" -> "Comparitor-Balancer\nwith\nOperational Limits\n(Stability Criteria)" -> "Modulator Attinuator enroute from\nEnviron" "Modulator Attinuator enroute from\nEnviron" -> "Comparitor-Balancer\nwith\nOperational Limits\n(Stability Criteria)" -> "Modulator Amplifier enroute from\nOps" }
The Comparator is also and quite remarkably capable of changing its own goals and ranges! More accurately the embedding system is capable of changing the comparators. The individual comparator has means of paying attention to the rest of the system (its micro environment) and thus changing itself.