American Society For Cybernetics Research Articles

Traces left by Herbert Brün that orient my cybernetics (Maybe)

PurposeHerbert Brün was a composer of many things including electronic and computer music. His compositions were, by design, nested in his passions for designing a new society – without violence. In this article, the author attempts to address several of Brün’s concepts relevant to his desire for social change. This paper was stimulated by a panel discussion about Brün at the 2018 American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) conference “Framing a Reality and How It Matters in a Shared World.”Design/methodology/approachHerbert Brün nested his communication in what he labeled “anticommunication,” which requires a listener to generate new ways of listening. As a video ethnographer, the author had many opportunities to videotape Brün, beginning with our first encounter at the 1992 ASC Conference in Washington State. During the past several decades, the author has composed a variety of movies in which the video footage of Brün and others that the author associates with cybernetics is used. Excerpts from many of these movies are embedded in the links located in the references section of this paper.FindingsBrün’s cybernetic formulations for designing social transformations explored in this paper include his ideas on floating hierarchies, anticommunication, his notions on a circularity of needs, peace as a need, articulating desires, composing as an element of daily life, and the retardation of decay.Originality/valueIt is the author’s desire that this paper encourages the reader to explore some of Herbert Brün’s formulations for designing social change and transformations.

The League

About painting, cybernetics, and shared purpose, this article is partly a story, in part a memoir, an adventure in cybernetics, happening 30 years ago, in snow, in the small Swiss city of St. Gallen. A conference of the American Society for Cybernetics meets there. It is 1987. The author, a painter, searching for a new understanding of painting, encounters a convergence of the art of painting and the art of cybernetics through principles of second-order cybernetics in Pask, von Foerster and Maturana, dissolved in Kathleen Forsythe’s poetry. The form, as well as the content of this article, reflects cybernetics.

Living in Cybernetics: Papers from the 50th Anniversary Conference of the American Society for Cybernetics

On the 3rd of August 2014, the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) celebrated their 50th anniversary at their annual conference, which that year was held in Washington, DC, hosted by George Washington University. The choice of venue reflected the fact that the first conference of the ASC was held in the same city in 1964. The proceedings from this celebratory conference are presented in this special issue of Kybernetes. The last three conference proceedings have been published in this ISI rated journal, showing the commitment from both sides to advance the field through the dissemination of cybernetics research. The conference took place from the 3rd to the 9th of August 2014, with the theme of Living in Cybernetics.

Idea avoidance: reflections on a conference and its language

Purpose – This paper aims to offer a personal reflection on the 2012 joint conference of the American Society for Cybernetics and the Bateson Idea Group, “An Ecology of Ideas”. The intent is to raise awareness, through examples, of ideas – and their associated ways of thinking – that the author tends to take for granted in the work as systems theorists as well as in everyday life, yet ideas that confound the very social issues the conferees were trying to address. Design/methodology/approach – The thoughts expressed arose after five days of listening to presentations and discussions, both formal and informal. The approach is conversational, with a desire to stimulate further conversation. Findings – Certain versions of systems theory – whole systems, purposeful systems, systems theory as ideology – rely on ideas that although written about extensively in philosophical and socio-political works go unchallenged in everyday life. Three of these ideas – hierarchy, purpose, belief – are embedded in the way of talking about, and the language used to formulate, solutions to social problems. The suggestion is to avoid or suspend these ideas so that alternatives can be considered. Originality/value – Idea avoidance offers those who study social change and/or those who participate in making it happen a way to escape the stuckness of ideas so ingrained in the everyday ways of thinking that they go unnoticed.

American Society for Cybernetics

American Society for Cybernetics

Heinz von Foerster's heuristics course

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how the heuristics course co‐taught by Heinz von Foerster, Herbert Brün, and Humberto Maturana (1968‐1969) influenced cybernetic research in the USA.Design/methodology/approachThe author accessed the archived material from three sources: the Herbert Brün Library, the University of Illinois Library, and the Biological Computer Laboratory (BCL) and interpreted these materials in light of the cybernetics literature, and the publications of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC).FindingsThe heuristics course had major consequences in von Foerster's evolving critique of education, and in Brün's work towards founding a School for Designing a Society. von Foerster radically reoriented the BCL toward unconventional course proposals. He also began to critique objectivity and positivism, shifting the foundations of cybernetics and proposing a meta‐cybernetics. The year that von Foerster retired, the BCL and the ASC ceased to function. When the ASC returned in the 1980s it took on new emphases, including education and design. It appears von Foerster was pivotal in the shift of emphasis.Originality/valueThe findings add new dimensions to the story of the decline of the BCL in the 1970s, and the re‐emergence of the ASC in the 1980s with new emphases (such as design) that are not traditionally found in scientific research.

ASC conference, CYBCOM discussion

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review online records of the conference of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) in the summer of 2010. Also reviewed is a burst of activity on the Cybernetics Discussion Group (CYBCOM) list associated with the ASC, during October and November 2010. The discussion continues at the time of writing.Design/methodology/approachThe aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.FindingsThe records of the ASC conference convey its flavour and atmosphere but are obviously no substitute for participation. The burst of activity in the CYBCOM list began with reference to a derogatory commentary on the political significance of cybernetics. The implications of this were rapidly dismissed, but with the invoking of basic principles, particularly that of “recursive distinctioning”, which prompted very much further discussion. Current discussion is of the meaning to be attached to “recursion”.Practical implicationsCybernetics is absolved from being a tool of capitalist oppression. The careful consideration given to various basic concepts in the CYBCOM discussion clarifies a variety of issues.Originality/valueIt is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC)ASC “Listening” Conference 2011

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC)ASC “Listening” Conference 2011

Communication from the American Society for Cybernetics

Communication from the American Society for Cybernetics

Archives, mathematics encyclopaedia, dancing robots, ASC

PurposeThe aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.Design/methodology/approachA massive archive facility is reviewed, as well as an online encyclopaedia devoted to mathematics. Developments in bipedal robot locomotion are discussed, with particular reference to dancing and running. Initiatives of the American Society for Cybernetics, involving Yahoo groups, are introduced and welcomed.FindingsThe archive facility is of astounding magnitude and comprehensiveness. The mathematics encyclopaedia is potentially useful, as are the ASC initiatives. Bipedal locomotion in robots is impressive but not perfect.Practical implicationsThe archive facility must be a valuable tool for many forms of research, as well as for cultural and recreational use. The encyclopaedia and the ASC initiatives are all valuable facilities. Bipedal locomotion has been developed in response to a challenge, and to gain prestige, but may be useful in development of practical robots for rough terrain.Originality/valueIt is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

Digital patient; CYBCOM discussion

PurposeThis paper seeks to review a source of information on applications of digital technology in medicine and patient care. A recent period of lively discussion in the online discussion list associated with the American Society for Cybernetics, initiated by a question about the relationship of cybernetics to systems science, is partially reviewed.Design/methodology/approachThe aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.FindingsModelling of human physiology and pathology, especially when patient‐specific, offers many benefits including novel procedures. Attention is also given to management of out‐patient appointments and to aids for the old and infirm. The discussion in the CYBCOM list raises many important and fundamental issues concerning the nature of cybernetics.Practical implicationsThe applications of IT in medicine and patient care are of undoubted actual or potential value. The CYBCOM discussion reveals a diversity of attitudes, with general agreement that cybernetics offers deeper insights than alternative approaches.Originality/valueIt is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

A Short History of Cybernetics in the United States: The Origin of Cybernetics

Key events in the history of cybernetics and the American Society for Cybernetics are discussed, among them the origin of cybernetics in the Macy Foundation conferences in the late 1940s and early 1950s; different interpretations of cybernetics by several professional societies; reasons why the U.S. government did or did not support cybernetics in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s; early experiments in cyberspace in the 1970s; conversations with Soviet scientists in the 1980s; the development of „second order“ cybernetics; and increased interest in cybernetics in Europe and the United States in the 2000s, due at least in part to improved understanding of the assumptions underlying the cybernetics movement. The history of cybernetics in the United States is viewed from the perspective of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) and several questions are addressed as to its future.

Newlook ASC, new WOSC address, machine translation

PurposeTo discuss the announcement of plans for invigoration of the American Society for Cybernetics, with reference to that society's web site for details.Design/methodology/approachThe aim is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest. New arrangements for the WOSC web site and associated internet items are explained. Illustrations are given of limitations of simple machine translation.FindingsThe ASC is alive and well. The WOSC web site is accessible despite the discontinuation of the British Library facility. Simple machine translation can produce bizarre results.Practical implicationsDevelopments in the ASC will be worth watching, new WOSC details should be noted, and results of simple machine translation need to be used with care.Originality/valueIt is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) Conference – in tribute to Heinz von Forester

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) Conference – in tribute to Heinz von Forester

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference

American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference

The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC)

The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC)

Cybernetics and Systems Societies American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) - a society for the art and science of human understanding

Cybernetics and Systems Societies American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) - a society for the art and science of human understanding

The American Society for Cybernetics

The American Society for Cybernetics

Conference News

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CYBERNETICS (1982) This meeting, the theme of which was cybernetics and education, was held in Columbus (USA) from 18 to 21 October, 1982. It was sponsored by the Academy of Sciences and the State University of Ohio. Most of the participants were from the United States, but some came from Canada (4), United Kingdom (1), France (1).

Review ofalgorithmization in learning and instructionby L.N. Landa

L. N. Landa is a researcher at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in Moscow. From the beginning of his research career, he has focussed all his work on methods of reasoning and logic. He is the author of over 80 publications which have been translated into 12 languages. The translator is Virginia Bennett, a Russian language instructor at Colgate University. The Scientific Editor for the English translation is Felix Kopstein, Secretary of the American Society for Cybernetics. The reviewer, John F. Feldhusen, Purdue University, is Professor of Education and Psychological Sciences and an Assistant Dean for Instructional Development. He is the author of many articles and technical reports on programmed and computer-assisted instruction, creativity and related topics.