A description of the communication behaviors in high innovation societies depends on the application of selected principles from modern systems theory. The first is the principle of equifinality which explains the activities of open systems. If the researcher views society as an open system, he frees himself from the client approach since society generates its own innovation and diffuses it through internal processes. The second principle is mutual causation. The concept of mutual causation is crucial to an understanding of innovation diffusion in rapidly changing societies since it allows an examination of complex interdependent sets of communication behaviors. Finally, the notion of purpose in modern systems theory explains how open systems strike a satisfactory balance between deviation-amplifying processes, such as the diffusion of innovation, and deviation-counteracting processes. Through the exercise of choice, systems evolve in healthy fashion and avert the communication disintegration which Toffler believes is the inevitable byproduct of an accelerating rate of technological change. (Author/WR)