A simple view of Cybernetics is as the science of communications and control in animal and machine.
Cybernetics, and the related domain of systems science , is the study all forms of "organized complexity", that is how different components can be assembled in a way that is neither random nor repetitive so as to form a "system".
Pursued to its logical conclusion, this is a study about how a system of components can arranged in such a way as to fulfill a certain purpose. In this sense, Cybernetics is the study of viable system organization.
Cybernetics, and the related domain of systems science , is the study all forms of "organized complexity", that is how different components can be assembled in a way that is neither random nor repetitive so as to form a "system".
Pursued to its logical conclusion, this is a study about how a system of components can arranged in such a way as to fulfill a certain purpose. In this sense, Cybernetics is the study of viable system organization.
Orientation
The how , why and whereof this Lens
Cybernetics is at once both an interdisciplinary and a transdisciplinary study.It finds application in virtually whatever field of study one cares to name:
* engineering
* biology
* physics
* sociology
* chemistry
* medicine
* management
and the formal aspects of the science seek to define a general theory of control ... one that is abstracted from the applied fields but appropriate to them all.
Connective Summary
Cybernetics Macrosope: a brief guide to the infinitely complex
The first of the modules in this lens discusses the context within which cybernetics can find application. This turns out to be in a cohesive collection of dynamically related items; simply put, a system.In the next module the focus shifts to the notion of control ... what is meant by the term, and what methods of control are available. Next, it is shown that every system does something, and what it does can be regarded as the purpose of the system and that control can be thought of as the system's own strategy for achieving that purpose.
Although feedback is one of the most fundamental principles of control it is usually not considered in terms of a universal feature of systems as contemplated in this lens. This module discusses the ubiquity of feedback mechanisms.
information is what enables us to handle cybernetic systems. Information kills proliferating variety and is one of the master techniques of regulation. It will be shown that it accomplishes this largely by making systems more predictable.
Next we review the concept of a black box is used extensively in cybernetic studies, representing the control mechanism of the system. As the systems described with cybernetic techniques are exceedingly complex, very often their controls themselves cannot be defined in specifc detail. The behavior of the "black box" (black as its full operational details remain unknown)is studied by discovering the logical and statistical relationships between the information that 'goes into the box' and the 'instructions' that come out.
The remaining modules of this lens give access to other resources permitting a more in depth study of the field of cybernetics.
As can be seen by the recommended readings in the " Amazon " module, I have been greatly influenced by the works of Stafford Beer. In fact, the design of this introductory lens is based in large part on the concepts and flow of his first book "Cybernetics and Management."
The Context of Cybernetics
Systems
- Matryosha
- Russian Dolls or A Cybernetic View of Systems - Part I
a brief essay on what constitues a system - Everything depends on how the system is defined, and this in turn depends on who is the observer.
- We know what we want to do; how do we organize the system to do it?
- Human use of human beings (available from Amazon.com)
- This book is a non-technical survey of the subject, written for the layperson by Norbert Wiener who coined the name for the field of Cybernetics.
A Context of Cybernetics Bookstore
Recommended titles from the bookshelf of DHC Soul
Platform for Change
A collection of essays by Beer... of interest to anyone who wants to know why our systems so often seem to fail us.... and what might be done to design systems that don't.
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The Human Use Of Human Beings: Cybernetics And Society (Da Capo Paperback)
This is a non-technical survey of the subject, written for the layperson by Norbert Wiener who coined the name for the field of Cybernetics.
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About Control
- Dictionary Definition: Control
- Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems
- What do we mean when we say a system is "in control"?
- We should not try to measure the variable characteristics of every machine and every job and every machine-job. We should instead ..."
Purposive Systems
- Dictionary Definition: Purpose of a System
- Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems
- POSIWID definition
- POSIWID - the purpose of a system is what it does
- POSIWID Blog
- "Stafford Beer introduced the term POSIWID - the purpose of the system is what it does. This gives us a different perspective on a range of social and political issues.
The contributors to this blog disagree on many of the issues, but we share a commitment to understanding systems.
When we understand the complex loops that maintain the status quo, we are better equipped to make positive changes in organizations and society."
Feedback Ubiquity
- Dictionary Definition of Feedback
- the Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems
Information
- Dictionary Definition: information
- Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems
The Black Box
- Dictionary Definition: Black Box Method in Cybernetics
- Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems
Web Resources
- Principia Cybernetica Web (PCP)
- An International Project to Develop a Philosophy Based on the Principles of Cybernetics and Supported by Collaborative Computer Technologies.
- Cybernetics and Complex Event Processing
- This is a blog featuring news items and stories on event processing systems including CEP, cybernetics, and sensor networks.
- A Curriculum for Cybernetics and Systems Theory
- List of suggested books, periodicals, television shows and computer programs for a classroom curriculum or individual study in cybernetics and systems theory.
- Cybernetics
- A Glossary and Definitions (including web links) for Cybernetics at the Open Site Encyclopedia Project.
- A Cybernetic Library
- A select list of books covering a wide variety of approaches to the field of cybernetics (from the mathematical underpinnings, through the development of the field from first principles) but has a fairly heavy empahsis on the use of cybernetic principles in enterprise design and management.
Note that a "start here" reading list can be found in the " Amazon " module below. - Cybernetics Start Here
- This is an index to the 'older' entries on my (Viable) blog.... sometimes (at the start of one's learning process in particular) its easier to use an old fashioned index than a search to find the best way through a site...
- Cybernetics: A definition
- Artificial Intelligence and cybernetics: Aren't they the same thing? Or, isn't one about computers and the other about robots? The answer to these questions is emphatically, No....
Paul Pangaro gives an expanded definition of the field and the philosophy it encompases on his web site.
Cybernetics Blog by DHC Soul
Complex Event Processing: A Managerial Cybernetics Approach
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Connective Summary
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While this blog covers a numer of topics, this module only shows the 5 most recent posts directly concerned with cybernetics. The full blog can be accessed through the Cybernetics and Complex Event Processing Link above.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySelected Cybernetics Titles on Amazon.com
The Human Use Of Human Beings: Cybernetics And Society (Da Capo Paperback)
This is a non-technical survey of the subject, written for the layperson by Norbert Wiener who coined the name for the field of Cybernetics.
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Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
By the man who coined the term - a formal and mathematical treatment of the field
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The Heart of Enterprise (Classic Beer Series)
A Masterpiece -- if you don't stop in deep thought at least once each page you've probably missed something... worth reading. and again. and yet again
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Diagnosing the System for Organizations
How the structure of our organizations determines or undermines their viability. A short insight into Beer's Viable System Theory
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Organizational Transformation and Learning: A Cybernetic Approach to Management
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Platform for Change
A collection of essays by Beer... of interest to anyone who wants to know why our systems so often seem to fail us.... and what might be done to design systems that
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Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series)
Develops the concept of Managerical Cybernetics from first principles
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Cybernetics and Management
This work is concerned foremost with cybernetics, but the illustrations are taken in large part from the field of industrial management.
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Related lenses
return to
Connective Summary
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Other lenses related to the subject of Cybernetics
Connective Summary
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Other lenses related to the subject of Cybernetics
- second order cybernetics
- DHC Soul lens relating to Second Order Cybernetics
- k1 and K2 general cybernetics
- DHC Soul lens relating to general cybernetics
- Systems Science
- DHC Soul lens relating to Systems Science
- Systems Thinking
- DHC Soul lens relating to Systems Thinking
- General Systems Theory
- DHC Soul lens relating to General Systems Theory
- Sociocyberneitics
- DHC Soul lens relating to sociocybernetics - Systems Science in Sociology and Other Social Sciences.
- Cybernetic Library
- Over the years I've accumulated a small library (<~4000 volumes)... among these are many fine books on Cybernetics, General Systems Theory, and Systems Thinking....
Some of the books that should be considered for any 'serious' cybernetics library are covered in this lens.
There is also a section of "classics" that are available now, free, on-line that are fairly difficult to find otherwise.
Cybernetics Mail Lists
- Cybernetics Discussion Group
- Discussion List maintained by the Center for Social and Organizational Learning at the George Washington University.
- Mailing Lists and Newsgroups: Short Directory
- Overview on Mailing Lists and Newsgroups at the Principia Cybernetica web.
by dhcsoul
I'm David HC Soul ... and for those of you old enough to remember no not THAT one ... although I have been known to answer to the name Hutch.
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