Cybernetics . Interdisciplinary study of control systems between living beings (humans) and artificial entities. Cybernetics is closely linked to the Control Theory and Systems Theory .
Both in its origins and in its evolution, in the second half of the 20th century , cybernetics is equally applicable to physical and social systems (that is, based on language). The complex systems affect and then adapt to its external environment; in technical terms, it focuses on Control and Communication functions : both external and internal phenomena of / to the system. This ability is natural in living organisms and has been imitated in machines and organizations. Special attention is paid to Feedback and its derived concepts.
Summary
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- 1 Etymology
- 2 History
- 1 Root of cybernetic theory
- 3 Definitions
- 4 Cybernetics and robotics
- 5 Cybernetics and the technological revolution
- 6 Sources
Etymology
The word cybernetics comes from the Greek Κυβερνήτης ( kybernetes ) and means ” art of piloting a ship “, although Plato used it in The Republic with the meaning of “art of leading men” or “art of governing”. This is an old generic term but still used for many areas that are increasing their specialization under titles such as: adaptive systems , artificial intelligence , complex systems , complexity theory , control systems , organizational learning ,Theory of mathematical systems , systems for decision support , System Dynamics , Information Theory , Operations Research , Simulation and Systems Engineering ..
History
Cybernetics is a science, born around 1948 and initially promoted by Norbert Wiener whose purpose is “control and communication in the animal and in the machine” or “to develop a language and techniques that will allow us to tackle the problem of control and communication usually”.
In 1950 , Ben Laposky, a mathematician Iowa, created the oscilones or abstractions Electronic via an analog computer : considering this possibility of manipulating waves and record them electronically as the awakening of what was to be called computer graphics and then , computer art and infoarte. Cybernetics gave a great boost to information theory in the mid- 1960s , the digital computer replaced the analog in the elaboration of electronic images. In those years, the second generation of computers appeared (with Transistors in 1960), the first drawings and computer graphics being completed at that time, and the third (with integrated circuits, in 1964 ) as well as the programming languages .
In 1965 the exhibition “Computer-grafik” took place in Stuttgart. But the exhibition that established the trend was the one that took place in 1968 under the title “Cibernetic Serendipity” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London . Also in that year the exhibition “Mindextenders” of the Museum of Contemporary Crafs in London stood out.
In 1969 the Brooklin Museum organized the exhibition “Some more Beginnings”. In that same year, in Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina , Art and Cybernetics was presented, organized by Jorge Glusberg with this exhibition, the principles of the digital art / image relationship would be inaugurated in that country. In Spain, the first event was “Computable forms” – 1969 – “Automatic generation of plastic forms” – 1970 -both organized by the Calculation Center of the University of Madrid. In the first months of 1972 , the German Institute of Madrid and BarcelonaThey have presented one of the most complete exhibitions that has taken place in Spain , entitled “Impulso arte computador”.
The first experiences of what would later be called net.art. dating back to 1994 , it is important to clarify that there were already some antecedents in the 1960s . In any case, it can be established that the first experiences where the Information Technology put at the service of the community functioned as an aesthetic support passed through those years and broke with the idea of linear reading of the work …
Root of cybernetic theory
The word cybernetics was first used in the context of “the study of self-government” by Plato in The Laws to mean the management of people. The words to govern and the governor are related to the same Greek root throughout the Latin cognates governmental and gubernator. The word “cybernetique” was also used in 1834 by the physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775-1836) to refer to the government sciences in his system of classification of human knowledge. James Watt The first artificial automatic regulation system, a water clock, was invented by the mechanical Ktesibios.
In their water clocks, water flowed from a source, like a tank in a reservoir, then from the reservoir to the clock mechanisms. The Ktesibios device used a cone-shaped float to control the level of the water in its reservoir and adjust the speed of the water flow accordingly to maintain a constant level of water in the reservoir, so that it was not overflowed or allowed to operate in dry . This was the first truly automatic self-regulatory prosthetic regulatory device that did not require external intervention between feedback and mechanism control. Although they did not refer to this concept by the name of Cybernetics (they regarded it as an engineering field), Ktesibios and others like Heron and Su Song are considered some of the first to study cyber principles. Studying the mechanisms of teleology (from the Greek τέλος or telos for the end, goal, or purpose) on machines with corrective feedback dates from as far back as the late 1700s when the James Watt steam engine was equipped with a governor, a centrifugal feedback valve for engine speed control. Alfred Russel Wallace identified it as the beginning of evolution in his famous 1858 article. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. . Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. goal or purpose) on machines with corrective feedback dates as far back as the late 1700s when James Watt’s steam engine was equipped with a governor, a centrifugal feedback valve for engine speed control. Alfred Russel Wallace identified it as the beginning of evolution in his famous 1858 article. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. . Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. goal or purpose) on machines with corrective feedback dates as far back as the late 1700s when James Watt’s steam engine was equipped with a governor, a centrifugal feedback valve for engine speed control. Alfred Russel Wallace identified it as the beginning of evolution in his famous 1858 article. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. . Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. a centrifugal feedback valve for engine speed control. Alfred Russel Wallace identified it as the beginning of evolution in his famous 1858 article. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. . Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. a centrifugal feedback valve for engine speed control. Alfred Russel Wallace identified it as the beginning of evolution in his famous 1858 article. In 1868, James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. . Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general. one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of device self-regulation. Jakob von Uexküll applies the feedback mechanism through his operating cycle model (Funktionskreis) in order to explain the behavior of animals and the origins of meaning in general.
Definitions
The cybernetics , according to the epistemologist, anthropologist , cybernetician and father of family therapy, Gregory Bateson , is the branch of mathematics that deals with problems of control, recursion and information . Bateson also claims that cybernetics is “the greatest bite to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that humanity has given in the last 2000 years.”
Stafford Beer , a philosopher of organizational and managerial theory, who Wiener himself said should be considered the father of management cybernetics, defines cybernetics as ” the science of effective organization .”
According to Professor Dr. Stafford Beer , cybernetics studies the information flows that surround a system , and the way in which this information is used by the system as a value that allows it to control itself: it occurs for both animate and inanimate systems indifferently. Cybernetics is an interdisciplinary science , being linked as much to physics as to the study of the brain as to the study of computers, and also having a lot to do with the formal languages of science, providing tools with which to objectively describe behavior of all these systems.
Stafford Beer himself stated: “Probably the first and clearest insight into the nature of control [1] … was that it does not attempt to pull levers to produce desired and inexorable results. This notion of control applies only to trivial machines.
There is never a total system that includes any kind of probabilistic element – from Meteorology to people; from markets to economic policy. No: The characteristic of a non-trivial system that is under control is that despite dealing with variables too extensive to quantify, too uncertain to be expressed, and even too difficult to understand, something can be done to generate a predictable goal.. Wiener found just the word he wanted in the operation of the great ships of ancient Greece. At sea, large ships battled against rain, wind, and tides – matters in no way predictable. However, if the man, operating on the rudder, could keep his gaze on a distant lighthouse, he could manipulate the tiller, constantly adjusting it in real-time, until reaching the light. This is the role of the helmsman . In Homer’s rough times the Greek word for helmsman was kybernetes, which Wiener translated into English as cybernetics, in cybernetic Spanish. ”
In a very poetic reflection given by Gordon Pask, cybernetics is “the science of metaphors to be defended.”
Cybernetics and robotics
Many people associate cybernetics with Robotics , Robots and the concept of Cyborg due to the use that has been given in some Science fiction works , but from a strictly scientific point of view, cybernetics is about control systems based on the feedback .
Certain applications of cybernetics can present some disadvantages, for example:
- Creating complex machines to replace workers would cause a cut in staff.
- In the future, “old” personnel would no longer be employed and young technicians would be hired to maintain the machines.
- It is a very powerful technology but its great limitation is finding the machine-nervous system relationship; since for this you should know the nervous system perfectly.
Some of the advantages are:
- The reduction of working hours, complex or routine jobs would become the machines. In addition, cybernetics provides a great contribution to the medicinal field.
- Greater knowledge of how complex systems work could lead to the solution of complex problems such as crime in large cities
An example of systems focused on the substitution of man for complex tasks are those known as Computer Vision Systems whose fundamental object is the modeling of human vision through the use of computing means.
Cybernetics and technological revolution
Cybernetics has played a decisive role in the emergence of the current technological revolution. Alan Turing , student of John von Neumann (another of the pioneers of cybernetics), both forerunners of the computer and Claude Shannon student of Norbert Wiener with his Theory of Information .
