VIS 145B Week 1: Cybernetics Research

Image by Paul Pangaro

What is cybernetics?

According to Paul Pangaro in his video "What is Cybernetics?", the term "cybernetics" derives from the Greek word meaning "the art of steering", which indicates what cybernetics is all about -- the study of the behavior of systems that seek out a target and the interaction between response, feedback, goals, action, and regulation. Thus, a cybernetic system is any system that senses input, interprets it in relation to its target, and adjusts its behavior accordingly. Moreover, according to psychiatrist William Ross Ashby, cybernetics may sound electronic, but it also includes the study of the behavior of all possible "machines", like cells and organisms. However, many different traditions and definitions of cybernetics were used throughout the years, due to its multidisciplinary nature. For example, cybernetics can deal with circular causality in computers and other technological developments; in other instances, cybernetics was applied to epistemology and sociology (ASC, "Defining Cybernetics").

How did cybernetics change after the 1960s?

Cybernetics as a concept has been around since Plato's time, becoming prevalent in contemporary times due to the efforts of mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). Wiener proposed this new discipline in his work, Cybernetics: Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine, which was published in 1948 (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). In his work, Wiener coined the term "cybernetics" and regards it as an entirely separate, but related, discipline from "electrical engineering, mathematics, biology, neurophysiology, anthropology, and psychology" (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). Pangaro states that Wiener's cybernetic principles "connected control...with communication" and proposed that "effective action requires communication". Moreover, Wiener's principles expressed a radical idea -- that biological and artificial systems operate according to these principles (Pangaro, "Cybernetics").

By the 1960s, the concept of artificial intelligence and its possibilities emerged, strongly influenced by cybernetics. Artificial intelligence researchers sought to create intelligent, human-like machines, with human-like cognitive abilities (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). Artificial intelligence exploded, with the "first major artificial intelligence laboratories [being] established at MIT, Stanford, SRI, and University of Edinburgh" (ASC, "History: Timeline"). The reason why researchers believed that they could create artificial intelligence arose out of the cultural belief that the human brain is a computer that can be replicated (Pangaro, "Origins of AI in Cybernetics"). This cultural belief started with cybernetician and neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch, who collaborated with logician Walter Pitts, to discover that the neural processes of the human brain greatly resemble Turing computability (Pangaro, "Origins of AI in Cybernetics"). During this time, cybernetics was often used to describe human behavior and epistemology. Therefore, cybernetic beliefs and principles was the seed that gave birth to the idea of artificial intelligence. Eventually artificial intelligence became its own area of study from cybernetics, showing clear differences in purpose. While AI is concerned with creating smart machines, cybernetics concerns itself with machines that achieve goals (Pangaro, "Cybernetics").

By the 2000s, the definition of cybernetics is unclear and diluted, even among experts (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). Despite its popularity from 1960 to the mid-1800s, the AI flourishing eventually waned, causing researchers to shift their perceptions of biological cognition (Pangaro, "Cybernetics"). However, the influence of cybernetics is still felt today, its principles being incorporated into modern-day design methods for contemporary technologies (Pangaro, "Cybernetics").

Define the four most important attributes of cybernetic systems.

Although cybernetic definitions are difficult to pinpoint nowadays, there are some common similarities between these definitions. The following attributes to be outlines are put forth by cyberneticist Cliff Joslyn.

1.) All cybernetic systems are complex structures, whether biological or artificial, with many heterogeneous interacting components" (Joslyn).

2.) Cybernetic systems also embody mutuality and complementarity, which means that these multiple interacting components interact cooperatively, creating subsystems with multiple overlapping processes (Joslyn).

3.) Cybernetic systems also evolve and build upon itself, increasing in size and complexity when given the chance (Jpslyn).

4.) Lastly, cybernetic systems are reflexive, receiving positive, negative, internal, and external feedback to evolve (Joslyn).

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Citations

1. Pangoro, Paul. "What Is Cybernetics?" Vimeo. N.p., 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2016. <https://vimeo.com/41776276>

2. Pangaro, Paul. "Cybernetics." Cybernetics — A Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2016. <http://www.pangaro.com/definition-cybernetics.html>.

3. Pangaro, Paul. "Origins of AI in Cybernetics." Vimeo. N.p., 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2016. <https://vimeo.com/4619525>

4. Ashby, William Ross. "An introduction to cybernetics." An introduction to cybernetics. (1956).

5. "Foundations: Defining 'Cybernetics'" ASC: Foundations: Defining 'Cybernetics' American Society for Cybernetics, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2016. <http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/definitions.htm>

6. "Foundations: History: Timeline." ASC: Foundations: History: Timeline. American Society for Cybernetics, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2016. <http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/timeline.htm>

7. Joslyn, Cliff. "The Nature of Cybernetic Systems." Principia Cybernetica Web. Principia Cybernetica Web, Jan. 1992. Web. <http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/cybsnat.html>

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