Cybernetics - So much more than robots
Download as PPT, PDF12 likes8,192 views
This document provides an overview of cybernetic theory through a discussion of its key concepts and applications. It begins by tracing the origins of cybernetics from ancient Greece and its modern conception as the study of control and communication in biological and mechanical systems. The document then examines core cybernetic concepts like feedback, recursion, and autopoiesis. It discusses the influential Macy Conferences in the 1940s-50s and applications of cybernetics across different fields. Finally, it considers the evolution of cybernetics into areas like second-order cybernetics and its focus on the observer role.
Cybernetics - So much more than robots
- 1. Cybernetic Theory: So much more than robots Catherine Novak INDS 500 March 17th 2013
- 2. From “steersman” to self-organizing systems Kybernetes (Greek def.) − Person at the wheel of ship, with their eye on the horizon “steersman” − Latin version: gubernator Cybernetics − the study of control and communication in the animal and the machine (Weiner, 1948) 2
- 3. Key concepts: Cybernetics focuses on systems which adjust automatically to feedback A cybernetic system includes organism/machine/organization AND its environment Recursion: cyclical process of reproduction; e.g. chicken and egg, opposing mirrors Autopoeisis: the system can self-replicate. Applied to biological systems, language and more. 3
- 4. Origins of cybernetics Idea of cybernetics dates back to time of Aristotle Automated systems have been in existence for hundreds of years With industrial revolution, the idea of cybernetics resurfaces, although it wasn't called that until the 1940s 4
- 5. The Macy Conferences (1942-53) Numerous specialists met to find interdisciplinary solutions to W.W. II, then to explore other collaborative ideas − Anthropologists − Computer scientists − Mathematicians − Neuroscientists − Physicists From their work, Norbert Weiner coined the term for the modern study of cybernetics. (1948) 5
- 6. Entropy vs. Self-Organization Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics − Entropy: matter becomes more chaotic, varied Information, acted upon, reverses this law − Computer Code − DNA − Mind Self-organization limits possibilities, reduces entropy A self-organizing system is cybernetic 6
- 7. Relationships, activities, feedback Cybernetic theorists are more interested in what a system does than what its components are Information is the “electron” of a cybernetic circuit − Can be active or quiescent − Flows from origin to environment and back − Maintains or alters the system Bateson defined information as “differences that make a difference” (1971, 2000) 7
- 8. Second-order cybernetics “Cybernetics of cybernetics” (von Foerster) Second-order cybernetics “Studies the role of the (human) observer in the construction of models of systems and other observers” (Heylighter, 2001) “No data are truly 'raw', and every record has been somehow subjected to editing and transformation either by man or by his instruments” (Bateson, 1971, 2000 p. xxvi) 8
- 9. Applications Cybernetics involves studies of goal-oriented, functional systems − Machines (Weiner) − Animals − Computers − Machine/Animal hybrids − Ecosystems − The Mind (Bateson) − Communication (Pask) − Societies (Beer) − Creativity (Iba) − etc. 9
- 10. More applications than theory Interdisciplinary cybernetic research reached its peak in the 1970s and 1980s Much cybernetic research is now specific to applied research such as robotics, AI, meteorology, biology, neuroscience General systems theory has adopted many of the tenets of cybernetics 10
- 11. The last word “The characteristic of a non-trivial system that is under control, is that − despite dealing with variables too many to count, − too uncertain to express, − and too difficult even to understand, something can be done to generate a predictable goal.” (Beer, 2002) 11
- 12. References American Society of Cybernetics. (n.d.) Foundations: History of cybernetics. Retrieved March 16th, 2013 from http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/timeline.htm Bateson, G. (2000). Steps to an ecology of mind, with a new foreword by Mary Catherine Bateson. Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press. Beer, S. (2002) What is cybernetics? Kybernetes, 31(2), 209-219. doi:10.1108/03684920210417283 Heylighten, F. & Joslyn, C. (2001). Cybernetics and second-order cybernetics in R.A. Meyers (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Academic Press Leaning, M. (2002). The person we meet online. In Convergence, 8(1) 18-27. doi:10.1177/135485650200800103 Rudall, B.H. (2000). Cybernetics and systems in the 1980s, Kybernetes, 29(5/6), 595-611. doi:10.1108/03684920010333071 Takashi Iba, (2010). An autopoietic systems theory for creativity. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(4). 6610-6625 Retrieved March 16th 2013 from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810011298 Wiener, N. (1950). The human use of human beings: Cybernetics and society. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=ra8HqPk-wMIC&dq=Weiner+AND+cybernetics&lr= 12
- 13. Image credits 1. Cirius Cybernetics: Creative Commons attribution license by Bryan K. Ward 2. Steersman: Creative Commons attribution license 3. Droste cocoa package: public domain 4. Dipping bird: Creative Commons attribution license Wikimedia Commons 5. Weiner cover by George Giusti: Creative Commons attribution license by Crossett Library Bennington College 6. Information superhighway Creation Commons attribution license 7. From Heylighter & Joclyn, 2001, p. 16 8. Second-Order Cybernetics: Creative Commons attribution – share alike license Wikimedia Commons 9. From Iba, 2010 10. Rudall, 2000, p. 598 11. By Joachin Stroh. Retrieved March 16th 2013 from https://plus.google.com/100641053530204604051/posts/dFpRvJUwRhw 13