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Cybernetics
This nOde
last updated February 26th, 2004 and is permanently morphing...
(7 Cauac (Rain) / 7 K'ayab (Turtle) 69/260
- 12.19.11.0.19)
cybernetics
cybernetics (sě´ber-nčt´îks)
noun (used with a sing. verb)
The theoretical study of
communication and control processes in biological, mechanical, and electronic
systems, especially the comparison of these processes in biological and
artificial systems.
[From Greek kubernętęs,
governor, from kubernan, to govern.]
- cy´bernet´ic
adjective
- cy´bernet´ically
adverb
- cy´bernet´icist
or cy´berneti´cian (-nî-tîsh´en) noun
Cybernetics
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Cybernetics, interdisciplinary
science dealing with communication and control systems in living organisms,
machines, and organizations. The term was first applied in 1948 to the
theory of control mechanisms by American mathematician Norbert
Wiener. Cybernetics developed from investigations into how information
is transformed into desired performance. The science arose out of problems
that were encountered in the development of so-called electronic brains
and of automatic-control mechanisms for military apparatuses. According
to cybernetics, the human brain and nervous system coordinate information
to determine which actions will be performed; control mechanisms for self-correction
in machines serve a similar purpose. This principle, known as feedback,
is the fundamental concept of automation. One of the basic tenets of cybernetics
is that information can be statistically measured in accordance with the
laws of probability. Purposive behavior in humans or in machines requires
control mechanisms that maintain order by counteracting the natural tendency
toward disorganization.
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Consciousness and the Subconscious
The unconscious is the ocean of the unsayable,
of what has been expelled from the land of language,
removed as a result of ancient prohibitions.
Italo Calvino (1923-85), Italian author, critic. "Cybernetics
and Ghosts," lecture, delivered in Turin, Nov. 1969 (published in The Literature
Machine, 1987).
"...in perfecting feedback and the
means of rapid data manipulation, the science of
cybernetics was gaining a deeper understanding of life itself as being, at its
core, the processing
of information."
- Theodore Roszak, _The Cult of Information_
sci-fi
atmospheric drum
& bass track _Cybernetic Jazz_ MP3 (192k)
by Grooverider
off of _Myteries Of Funk_ 12"x4 on Higher Ground #006 (1998)
by Current Value off of _In A Far Future_ CD on Position Chrome #048 (2000)
by Psyside |
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by Cyberbabas off of _Movers & Groovers At
The Temple Of Dawn_ compilation on TIPWorld
(2000)
dance,
or a partnership between the energy coming from me and the energy of the
plastic..." |
by Mauro Picotto off of _Awesome!!!_ 12"x2 on BXR (2001)
by Buckfunk 3000 |
 |
604
track _Solar
Power_ MP3
by Space Tribe off of _Sonice Mandala_ CD by Space Tribe on Spirit Zone
(1996)
Psychedelics
To Cybernetics_ MP3 (256k)
by System 01 feat. Timothy
Leary off of _Trance-Tekno
Express_ compilation CD on Tresor/Powwow
Trance (1993)
engineering..."; "chaos...
wow!"; "it was the CIA and the military that brought LSD
to America... they thought 'what a way to fuck people's heads up...'";
"you're equipped with a 100 billion neuron brain that's wired
and fired and is a reality
generating device... but YOU'VE got to do it... free yourself..."; "i have
probably used my brain, explored my brain, operated my brain, navigated
my brain.. psychedelics to cybernetics, my brain has been inundated...
my brain has been through A LOT...; "wow"; "one individual, with electrons
in his hand, can bring down an empire... go for it all!" |
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60GCAT: You've said that UFOs represent a form of alien intelligence that is actively manipulating human society. How and toward what end?
Jacques
Vallee: A new computer analysis of historical trends, compiled in the
1970s, led me to plot a striking graph of "waves"
of UFO
activity that was anything but periodic. Fred Beckman and Dr. Price
Williams of UCLA pointed out that it resembled a schedule of reinforcement
typical of a learning or training process:
the phenomenon was more akin to a control system than to an exploratory
task force of alien
travelers. There are many control systems around us, and some are a part
of nature: ecology, climate, etc. Some are man-made: the process of education,
the thermostat in your home. If the UFO phenomenon represents a control
system, can we test it to determine if it is natural or artificial, open
or closed? This is one of the interesting questions about the phenomenon
that has never been answered.
Cybernetics
Synopsys: cybernetics studies
organization, communication and control in complex systems by focusing
on circular (feedback) mechanisms Cybernetics,
deriving from the Greek word for steersman (kybernetes), was first introduced
by the mathematician Wiener, as the science of communication and control
in the animal and the machine (to which we now might add: in society and
in individual human beings). It grew out of Shannon's
information theory, which was designed to optimize the transmission of
information through communication channels, and the feedback concept used
in engineering control systems. In its present incarnation of "second-order
cybernetics", its emphasis is on how observers construct models of the
systems with which they interact.
The main emphasis of cybernetics is on the circular mechanisms that allow complex systems to maintain, adapt, and self-organize. Such circularity or self-reference makes it possible to make precise, scientific models of purposeful activity, that is, behavior that is oriented towards a goal or preferred condition. In that sense, cybernetics proposes a revolution with respect to the linear, mechanistic models of traditional Newtonian science. In classical science, every process is determined solely by its cause, that is, a factor residing in the past. However, the behavior of living organisms is typically teleonomic, that is, oriented towards a future state, which does not exist as yet.
Cybernetics has discovered that teleonomy (or finality) and causality can be reconciled by using non-linear, circular mechanisms, where the cause equals the effect. The simplest example of such a circular mechanism is feedback. The simplest application of negative feedback for self-maintenance is homeostasis. The non-linear interaction between the homeostatic or goal-directed system and its environment results in a relation of control of the system over the perturbations coming from the environment.
W. Ross Ashby - psychiatrist; one of the founding fathers of cybernetics; developed homeostat, law of requisite variety, principle of self-organization, and law of regulating models.
Henri Atlan - studied self-organization in networks
and cells.
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Gregory Bateson - anthropologist; developed
double bind theory, and looked at parallels between mind and natural evolution.
Stafford Beer - management cyberneticist; creator of the Viable System Model (VSM).
Kenneth E. Boulding - economist; one of the founding fathers of general system theory.
Peter Checkland - creator of soft systems methodology.
Jay Forrester - engineer; creator of system dynamics, applications to the modelling of industry development, cities and the world.
George Klir - mathematical systems theorist; creator of the General Systems Problem Solver methodology for modelling.
Niklas Luhmann - sociologist; applied theory of autopoiesis to social systems.
Humberto Maturana - biologist; creator together with F. Varela of the theory of autopoiesis.
Warren McCulloch - neurophysiologist; first to develop mathematical models of neural networks.
James Grier Miller - biologist, creator of Living Systems Theory (LST).
Edgar Morin - sociologist, developed a general transdisplinary "method".
Howard T. Odum - creator of systems ecology.
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Gordon Pask - creator of conversation theory: second order cybernetic concepts and applications to education.
Howard Pattee - theoretical biologist; studied hierarchy and semantic closure in organisms.
William T. Powers - engineer; creator of perceptual control theory.
Robert Rosen - theoretical biologist; first studied anticipatory systems, proposed category theoretic, non-mechanistic model of living systems.
Claude
Shannon - founder of information theory.
Francisco Varela - biologist; creator, together with H. Maturana of the theory of autopoiesis.
Ludwig von Bertalanffy - biologist; founder of General System Theory.
Ernst von Glasersfeld - psychologist; proponent of radical constructivism.
Heinz von Foerster - one of the founding fathers of cybernetics; first to study self-organization, self-reference and other circularities; creator of second-order cybernetics.
John
von Neumann - mathematician; founding father in the domains
of ergodic theory, game theory, quantum logic, axioms of quantum
mechanics, the digital
computer, cellular automata and self-reproducing systems.
Paul Watzlawick - psychiatrist;
studied role of paradoxes in communication.
Norbert
Wiener - mathematician; founder of cybernetics.
The weakness of conspiracy
theory is that human nature is to fuck up. Yeah, of course! I said
that in _The Invisibles_, the idea that no matter how many surveillance cameras
you put up, the guy in the surveillance screen room is jerking off. He's
not watching; he's playing computer games and looking at some magazine
or whatever it is he's doing. You don't have to worry about it.
I think we live in a self-perfecting system and we just don't know it.
Everything is fine. It's working perfectly; just let it correct itself,
and do what you can to help it correct itself when you become aware of it.
Isn't that a justification for apathy? It only looks like apathy. It's why Buddhist monks seem apathetic to us. I think it's because they've figured it out. But it's the kind of system that perfects itself. Even if you become apathetic, there's always someone else who'll come up who hasn't reached that stage yet and will do all of that.
- Grant Morrison re: the comic series _The Invisibles_
film _Matrix:
Reloaded_
Councillor Hamann: Almost no one comes down here,
unless, of course, there's a problem. That's how it is with people - nobody
cares how it works as long as it works. I like it down here. I like to be reminded
this city survives because of these machines. These machines are keeping us
alive, while other machines are coming to kill us. Interesting, isn't it? Power
to give life, and the power to end it.
Neo: We have the same power.
Councillor Hamann: I suppose we do, but down here sometimes I think about
all those people still plugged into the Matrix and when I look at these machines,
I.. I can't help thinking that in a way, we are plugged into them.
Neo: But we control these machines, they don't control us.
Councillor Hamann: Of course not, how could they? The idea's pure nonsense,
but... it does make one wonder just... what is control?
Neo: If we wanted, we could shut these machines down.
Councillor Hamann: Of course... that's it. You hit it! That's control, isn't
it? If we wanted, we could smash them to bits. Although if we did, we'd have
to consider what would happen to our lights,
our heat, our air.
Neo: So we
need machines and they need us. Is that your point, Councillor?
Councillor Hamann: No, no point. Old men like me don't bother with making
points. There's no point.
Neo: Is that why there are no young men on the Council?
Councillor Hamann: Good point.
Neo: Why don't you tell me what's on your mind, Councillor?
Councillor Hamann: There is so much in this world that I do not understand.
See that machine? It has something to do with recycling our water
supply. I have absolutely no idea how it works. But I do understand the reason
for it to work. I have absolutely no idea how you are able to do some of the
things you do, but I believe there's a reason for that as well. I only hope
we understand that reason before it's too late.
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