Metaphorically, trailing behind. In
development, some
variable S may change faster than others and if they are dependent on each other these temporal differences, called Lag, can cause
structur al stress within a
system. E.g., in modern society, institutional developments tend to lag behind changes in
technology causing many social
problems from alienations to social inequalities and conflicts. In
cybernetics, lag refers to the time for
information to pass through one complete
feedback loop. Lag makes
regulation difficult. E.g., if the time for a gunner to obtain information about his target plus the time for his projectile to reach its destination is large, a hit is considerably more difficult than if that lag is small. A regulator's
lead may compensate for the
lag in a feedback loop. (
Krippendorff )
