Cybernetics

For other uses, see Cybernetics (disambiguation).

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of complex systems, especially communication processes, control mechanisms and feedback principles. Structure is a fundamental and sometimes Intangible notion covering the Recognition, Observation, nature, and Stability of This article describes complex system as a type of system For other meanings see Complex systems. Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way Feedback is a circular causal Process whereby some proportion of a system's output is returned (fed back to the Input. Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory. Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of Engineering and Mathematics, that deals with the behavior of Dynamical systems The desired output Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and

Example of cybernetic thinking. On the one hand a company is approached as a system in an environment. System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract On the other hand cybernetic factory can be modeled as a control system. Management cybernetics is the field of Cybernetics concerned with Management and Organizations. Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, Graphical and or mathematical models. A control system is a device or set of devices to manage command direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems

Other fields of study which have influenced or been influenced by cybernetics include game theory, system theory (a mathematical counterpart to cybernetics), psychology (especially neuropsychology, behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology), philosophy, and architecture. Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering, Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Neuropsychology is the applied scientific discipline that studies the structure and function of the Brain related to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the Cognitive psychology is a branch of Psychology that investigates internal mental processes such as problem solving memory and language Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation ^[1]

1 Overview
2 History
3 Subdivisions of the field
4 Further reading
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

Overview

The term cybernetics stems from the Greek Κυβερνήτης (kybernētēs, steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder — the same root as government). The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Cybernetics is a broad field of study, but the essential goal of cybernetics is to understand and define the functions and processes of systems that have goals, and that participate in circular, causal chains that move from action to sensing to comparison with desired goal to action. Studies of this field are all ultimately means of examining different forms of systems and applying what is known to make the design and function of any system, including artificial systems such as business management, more efficient and effective. Effectiveness means the capability of producing an Effect. In Physics, an effective theory is similar to a phenomenological theory a framework intended

Norbert Wiener

Cybernetics was defined by Norbert Wiener, in his book of that title, as the study of control and communication in the animal and the machine. Norbert Wiener ( November 26, 1894, Columbia Missouri – March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American Norbert Wiener ( November 26, 1894, Columbia Missouri – March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American Stafford Beer called it the science of effective organization and Gordon Pask extended it to include information flows "in all media" from stars to brains. Anthony Stafford Beer ( September 25, 1926 - August 23, 2002) was a British Theorist, Consultant and professor Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (* June 28 1928 in Derby; † March 28 1996 London) was an English cybernetician and psychologist who It includes the study of feedback, black boxes and derived concepts such as communication and control in living organisms, machines and organizations including self-organization. Feedback is a circular causal Process whereby some proportion of a system's output is returned (fed back to the Input. Black box is a technical term for a device or system or object when it is viewed primarily in terms of its input and output characteristics Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of Engineering and Mathematics, that deals with the behavior of Dynamical systems The desired output Life is a state that distinguishes Organisms from non-living objects such as non-life and dead organisms being manifested by growth through Metabolism A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and Self-organization is a process of Attraction and repulsion in which the internal organization of a System, normally an open system, increases Its focus is how anything (digital, mechanical or biological) processes information, reacts to information, and changes or can be changed to better accomplish the first two tasks ^[2]. A more philosophical definition, suggested in 1956 by Louis Couffignal, one of the pioneers of cybernetics, characterizes cybernetics as "the art of ensuring the efficacy of action" ^[3]. Louis Couffignal (1902-1966 was a French Mathematician and Cybernetics pioneer The most recent definition has been proposed by Louis Kauffman, President of the American Society for Cybernetics, "Cybernetics is the study of systems and processes that interact with themselves and produce themselves from themselves" ^[4]. Louis H Kauffman ( 3 February, 1945) is an American Mathematician, topologist, and professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC is an organization for interdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis of Cybernetics.

Concepts studied by cyberneticists (or, as some prefer, cyberneticians) include, but are not limited to: learning, cognition, adaption, social control, emergence, communication, efficiency, efficacy and interconnectivity. In the fields of Neuropsychology, Personal development and Education, Learning is one of the most important Mental function of humans Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines but is generally accepted to mean the process of awareness or thought An adaptation is a characteristic of an Organism that has been favored by Natural selection and Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior leading to conformity and compliances to the rules of a given Society or For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way Efficacy is the capacity to produce a desired size of an effect under Ideal or Optimal conditions Interconnectivity is a concept that is used in numerous fields such as Cybernetics, Biology, Ecology, Network theory, and Non-linear These concepts are studied by other subjects such as engineering and biology, but in cybernetics these are removed from the context of the individual organism or device. Engineering is the Discipline and Profession of applying technical and scientific Knowledge and Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles A machine is any device that uses Energy to perform some activity

Other fields of study which have influenced or been influenced by cybernetics include game theory; system theory (a mathematical counterpart to cybernetics); psychology, especially neuropsychology, behavioral psychology,cognitive psychology; philosophy; anthropology and even architecture. Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering, Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Neuropsychology is the applied scientific discipline that studies the structure and function of the Brain related to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the Cognitive psychology is a branch of Psychology that investigates internal mental processes such as problem solving memory and language Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation

History

The Roots of Cybernetic theory

The word cybernetics was first used in the context of "the study of self-governance" by Plato in The Laws to signify the governance of people. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece The Laws is Plato 's last and longest Dialogue. The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect- that is the question Governance relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. The words govern and governor are related to the same Greek root through the Latin cognates gubernare and gubernator. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government The word "cybernétique" was also used in 1834 by the physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) to denote the sciences of government in his classification system of human knowledge. André-Marie Ampère (20 January 1775 &ndash 10 June 1836 was a French Physicist and Mathematician who is generally credited as one of the main discoverers

James Watt

The first artificial automatic regulatory system, a water clock, was invented by the mechanician Ktesibios. A water clock or clepsydra ( Greek kleptein to steal; hydro water) is any timekeeper operated by means of a regulated flow of liquid into (inflow In his water clocks, water flowed from a source such as a holding tank into a reservoir, then from the reservoir to the mechanisms of the clock. Ktesibios's device used a cone-shaped float to monitor the level of the water in its reservoir and adjust the rate of flow of the water accordingly to maintain a constant level of water in the reservoir, so that it neither overflowed nor was allowed to run dry. This was the first artificial truly automatic self-regulatory device that required no outside intervention between the feedback and the controls of the mechanism. Although they did not refer to this concept by the name of Cybernetics (they considered it a field of engineering), Ktesibios and others such as Heron and Su Song are considered to be some of the first to study cybernetic principles. Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius ( Greek Κτησίβιος ( fl Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria ( Ήρων ο Αλεξανδρεύς) (c Su Song ( style name: Zirong 子容 (1020&ndash1101 AD was a renowned Chinese statesman, astronomer, cartographer,

The study of teleological mechanisms (from the Greek τέλος or telos for end, goal, or purpose) in machines with corrective feedback dates from as far back as the late 1700s when James Watt's steam engine was equipped with a governor, a centripetal feedback valve for controlling the speed of the engine. Teleology ( Greek: telos: end purpose is the philosophical study of design and Purpose. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c James Watt ( 19 January 1736 &ndash 25 August 1819 Boulton proved to be an excellent businessman and both men eventually made fortunes A governor is a device used to measure and regulate the Speed of a Machine, such as an Engine. Alfred Russel Wallace identified this as the principle of evolution in his famous 1858 paper. Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 &ndash 7 November 1913 was an British naturalist, Explorer, Geographer eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 In 1868 James Clerk Maxwell published a theoretical article on governors, one of the first to discuss and refine the principles of self-regulating devices. James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 &ndash 5 November 1879 was a Scottish mathematician and theoretical physicist. Jakob von Uexküll applied the feedback mechanism via his model of functional cycle (Funktionskreis) in order to explain animal behaviour and the origins of meaning in general. Jakob Johann von Uexküll ( September 8, 1864 - July 25, 1944) was a Baltic German biologist who had important achievements in the

The Early 20th century

Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology and neuroscience in the 1940s. A control system is a device or set of devices to manage command direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems Circuit theory is the theory of accomplishing work by means of routing matter through a loop. Mechanical Engineering is an Engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis Design, Manufacturing Mathematical logic is a subfield of Logic and Mathematics with close connections to Computer science and Philosophical logic. Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of Biology concerned with the origin of Species from a Common descent, and Descent of species Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system Electronic control systems originated with the 1927 work of Bell Telephone Laboratories engineer Harold S. Black on using negative feedback to control amplifiers. Bell Laboratories (also known as Bell Labs and formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories) is the Research organization Harold Stephen Black (1898-1983 was an American Electrical engineer, who revolutionized the field of applied electronics by inventing the Negative feedback amplifier The ideas are also related to the biological work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy in General Systems Theory. Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy ( September 19, 1901, Vienna, Austria – June 12, 1972, New York, USA

Early applications of negative feedback in electronic circuits included the control of gun mounts and radar antenna during World War Two. Jay Forrester, a graduate student at the Servomechanisms Laboratory at MIT during WWII working with Gordon S. Brown to develop electronic control systems for the U. Jay Wright Forrester (born 14 July 1918, Climax Nebraska) is a pioneer American Computer engineer, Systems scientist Gordon Stanley Brown (1907 in Australia – 23 August 1996 in Tucson Arizona) was a professor of Electrical engineering at MIT S. Navy, later applied these ideas to social organizations such as corporations and cities as an original organizer of the MIT School of Industrial Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Forrester is known as the founder of System Dynamics. System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of Complex systems over time

W. Ross Ashby

W. Edwards Deming, the Total Quality Management guru for whom Japan named its top post-WWII industrial prize, was an intern at Bell Telephone Labs in 1927 and may have been influenced by network theory. William Edwards Deming ( October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American Statistician, Professor, Total Quality Management ( TQM) is a business Management strategy aimed at embedding Awareness of Quality in all organizational processes The Deming prize, established in December 1950 in honor of W Edwards Deming, was originally designed to reward Japanese companies for major advances in Quality Bell Laboratories (also known as Bell Labs and formerly known as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories) is the Research organization Deming made "Understanding Systems" one of the four pillars of what he described as "Profound Knowledge" in his book "The New Economics. "

Numerous papers spearheaded the coalescing of the field. In 1935 Russian physiologist P. K. Anokhin published a book in which the concept of feedback ("back afferentation") was studied. Feedback is a circular causal Process whereby some proportion of a system's output is returned (fed back to the Input. Afferent is an Anatomical term with the following meanings Conveying towards a center for example the Afferent arterioles conveying blood The Romanian scientist Ştefan Odobleja published Psychologie consonantiste (Paris, 1938), describing many cybernetic principles. Ştefan Odobleja (1902 - 1978 was a Romanian Scientist, one of the precursors of Cybernetics. The study and mathematical modelling of regulatory processes became a continuing research effort and two key articles were published in 1943. These papers were "Behavior, Purpose and Teleology" by Arturo Rosenblueth, Norbert Wiener, and Julian Bigelow; and the paper "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" by Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts. Arturo Rosenblueth Stearns ( October 2, 1900 – September 20, 1970) was a Mexican researcher physician and physiologist Norbert Wiener ( November 26, 1894, Columbia Missouri – March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American Julian Bigelow (1913 - February 21, 2003 in Princeton New Jersey) was a pioneering Computer engineer. Warren Sturgis McCulloch ( November 16, 1899 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician Walter Pitts ( 23 April 1923 – 14 May 1969) was a Logician who worked in the field of Cognitive psychology.

Cybernetics as a discipline was firmly established by Wiener, McCulloch and others, such as W. Ross Ashby and W. Grey Walter. Norbert Wiener ( November 26, 1894, Columbia Missouri – March 18, 1964, Stockholm, Sweden) was an American Warren Sturgis McCulloch ( November 16, 1899 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician W Ross Ashby ( September 6, 1903, - November 15, 1972) was an English Psychiatrist and a pioneer in Cybernetics W Grey Walter ( February 19 1910 &ndash May 6 1977) was a Neurophysiologist and Robotician.

Walter was one of the first to build autonomous robots as an aid to the study of animal behaviour. Together with the US and UK, an important geographical locus of early cybernetics was France. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

In the spring of 1947, Wiener was invited to a congress on harmonic analysis, held in Nancy, France. Nancy (nɑ̃si archaic Nanzig Nanzeg is a city and commune in the Lorraine région of northeastern France This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The event was organized by the Bourbaki, a French scientific society, and mathematician Szolem Mandelbrojt (1899-1983), uncle of the world-famous mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot. Nicolas Bourbaki is the collective Pseudonym under which a group of (mainly French) 20th-century Mathematicians wrote a series of books presenting an exposition Szolem Mandelbrojt (1899 – 1983 was a Jewish-Polish mathematician Benoît B Mandelbrot (born 20 November 1924 is a French mathematician, best known as the father of fractal geometry.

John von Neumann

During this stay in France, Wiener received the offer to write a manuscript on the unifying character of this part of applied mathematics, which is found in the study of Brownian motion and in telecommunication engineering. This article is about the physical phenomenon for the stochastic process see Wiener process. The following summer, back in the United States, Wiener decided to introduce the neologism cybernetics into his scientific theory. The name cybernetics was coined to denote the study of "teleological mechanisms" and was popularized through his book Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine (Hermann & Cie, Paris, 1948). In the UK this became the focus for the Ratio Club. The Ratio Club was a small informal Dining club of young psychologists, physiologists, mathematicians and engineers who met to discuss

In the early 1940's John von Neumann, although better known for his work in mathematics and computer science, did contribute a unique and unusual addition to the world of cybernetics: Von Neumann cellular automata, and their logical follow up the Von Neumann Universal Constructor. Von Neumann cellular automata are the original expression of Cellular automata, the development of which were prompted by suggestions made to John von Neumann John von Neumann 's Universal Constructor is a Self-replicating machine in a Cellular automata environment The result of these deceptively simple thought-experiments was the concept of self replication which cybernetics adopted as a core concept. See also Biological reproduction Self-replication is any process by which a thing might make a copy of itself The concept that the same properties of genetic reproduction applied to social memes, living cells, and even computer viruses is further proof of the somewhat surprising universality of cybernetic study. A meme (miːm consists of any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation

Wiener popularized the social implications of cybernetics, drawing analogies between automatic systems (such as a regulated steam engine) and human institutions in his best-selling The Human Use of Human Beings : Cybernetics and Society (Houghton-Mifflin, 1950).

While not the only instance of a research organization focused on cybernetics, the Biological Computer Lab at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, under the direction of Heinz von Foerster, was a major center of cybernetic research for almost 20 years, beginning in 1958. Heinz von Foerster (Nov 13 1911 Vienna – Oct 2 2002 Pescadero California) was an Austrian American scientist combining Physics and Philosophy

The Fall and Rebirth of Cybernetics

For a time during the past 30 years, the field of cybernetics followed a boom-bust cycle of becoming more and more dominated by the subfields of artificial intelligence and machine-biological interfaces (ie. cyborgs) and when this research fell out of favor, the field as a whole fell from grace. A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems

In the 1970s new cybernetics has emerged in multiple fields, first in biology. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles Some biologists influenced by cybernetic concepts (Maturana and Varela, 1980); Varela, 1979; Atlan, 1979) realized that the cybernetic metaphors of the program upon which molecular biology had been based rendered a conception of the autonomy of the living being impossible. Consequently, these thinkers were led to invent a new cybernetics, one more suited to the organizations which mankind discovers in nature - organizations he has not himself invented. The possibility that this new cybernetics could also account for social forms of organization, remained an object of debate among theoreticians on self-organization in the 1980s. ^[5]

In political science, Project Cybersyn attempted to introduce a cybernetically controlled economy during the early 1970s. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Project Cybersyn was a Chilean attempt at real-time computer-controlled Planned economy in the years 1970–1973 (during the government of president In the 1980s, unlike its predecessor, the new cybernetics concerns itself with the interaction of autonomous political actors and subgroups, and the practical and reflexive consciousness of the subjects who produce and reproduce the structure of a political community. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A dominant consideration is that of recursiveness, or self-reference of political action both with regards to the expression of political consciousness and with the ways in which systems build upon themselves. ^[6]

Stuart A. Umpleby

Geyer and van der Zouwen in 1978 discussed a number of characteristics of the emerging "new cybernetics". Stuart A Umpleby (born 1944) is an American Cybernetician and is a professor in the Department of Management and Director of the Research Program in Social Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) See also New Cybernetics (Gordon Pask New Cybernetics is a study of self-organizing systems, looking beyond the issues of the "first" One characteristic of new cybernetics is that it views information as constructed and reconstructed by an individual interacting with the environment. This provides an epistemological foundation of science, by viewing it as observer-dependent. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Another characteristic of the new cybernetics is its contribution towards bridging the "micro-macro gap". That is, it links the individual with the society. Geyer and van der Zouwen also noted that a transition from classical cybernetics to the new cybernetics involves a transition from classical problems to new problems. These shifts in thinking involve, among others, a change from emphasis on the system being steered to the system doing the steering, and the factor which guides the steering decisions. And a new emphasis on communication between several systems which are trying to steer each other. ^[7]

Recent endeavors into the true focus of cybernetics, systems of control and emergent behavior, by such related fields as Game Theory (the analysis of group interaction), systems of feedback in evolution, and Metamaterials (the study of materials with properties beyond the newtonian properties of their constituent atoms), have led to a revived interest in this increasingly relevant field. Game theory is a branch of Applied mathematics that is used in the Social sciences (most notably Economics) Biology, Engineering, In Game theory and Behavioural ecology, an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS is a strategy which if adopted by a population of players A metamaterial (or meta material) is a material which gains its properties from its structure rather than directly from its composition ^[2]

Subdivisions of the field

Cybernetics is an earlier but still-used generic term for many subject matters. These subjects also extend into many others areas of science, but are united in their study of control of systems.

Pure Cybernetics

Pure cybernetics studies systems of control as a concept, attempting to discover the basic principles underlying such things as

ASIMO uses sensors and intelligent algorithms to avoid obstacles and navigate stairs. is a Humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company. Standing at 130 Centimeters (4 feet 3 Inches) and weighing 54 Kilograms (119

In Biology

Cybernetics in biology is the study of cybernetic systems present in biological organisms, primarily focusing on how animals adapt to their environment, and how information in the form of genes is passed from generation to generation^[8]. See also Robot Robotics is the science and technology of Robots and their design manufacture and application Computer vision is the science and technology of machines that see A control system is a device or set of devices to manage command direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or systems For other uses see Emergence (disambiguation, Emergent, and Emergency. Peter Senge and the Learning Organization In his book The Fifth Discipline The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter Senge defines See also New Cybernetics (Gordon Pask New Cybernetics is a study of self-organizing systems, looking beyond the issues of the "first" Second-order cybernetics, also known as the cybernetics of cybernetics investigates the construction of models of Cybernetic Systems It investigates Cybernetics Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (* June 28 1928 in Derby; † March 28 1996 London) was an English cybernetician and psychologist who Conversation Theory is a Cybernetic and Dialectic framework that offers a scientific theory to explain how interactions lead to "construction of knowledge" History See also History of genetics The existence of genes was first suggested by Gregor Mendel (1822-1884 who in the 1860s studied inheritance There is also a secondary focus on cyborgs. A cyborg is a Cybernetic Organism ( ie, an organism that has both artificial and natural systems

Thermal image of a cold-blooded tarantula on a warm-blooded human hand

In Complexity Science

Complexity Science attempts to analyze the nature of complex systems, and the reasons behind their unusual properties. Tarantula is the common name for a group of hairy and often very large Spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species Bioengineering (also known as Biological Engineering is the application of Engineering principles to address challenges in the fields of Biology and Medicine Biocybernetics is the application of Cybernetics to the Biological science, comprised of biological disciplines that benefit from the application of cybernetics Bionics (also known as biomimetics, biognosis, Biomimicry, or bionical creativity engineering) is the application of biological Homeostasis (from Greek: ὅμος hómos, "equal" and ιστημι istēmi, "to stand" lit Medical Cybernetics is a field of applied Cybernetics which utilizes the concepts of cybernetics to medical research and practice Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines Science and Engineering in order to design and build ("synthesize" Systems biology is a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems, thus using a new perspective

A way of modelling Complex Adaptive System

In Computer Science

Computer science directly applies the concepts of cybernetics to the control of devices and the analysis of information. Complex adaptive systems are special cases of Complex systems They are complex in that they are diverse and made up of multiple interconnected elements and adaptive This article describes complex systems as field of Science. For other meanings see Complex system.

In Engineering

Cybernetics in engineering is used to analyze cascading failures and System Accidents, in which the small errors and imperfections in a system can generate disasters. See also Robot Robotics is the science and technology of Robots and their design manufacture and application Decision support systems constitute a class of computer-based Information systems including knowledge-based systems that support Decision-making activities A cellular automaton (plural cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, Mathematics, Theoretical biology Simulation is the imitation of some real thing state of affairs or process cascading failure is failure in a system of interconnected parts where the service provided depends on the operation of a preceding part and the failure of a preceding part can trigger A system accident involves "the unanticipated interaction of multiple failures" in a Complex system. Other topics studied include:

An artificial heart, example of a biomedical engineering. An artificial heart is a prosthetic device that is implanted into the body to replace the biological Heart.

In Management

In Mathematics

Mathematical Cybernetics focuses on the factors of information, interaction of parts in systems, and the structure of systems. An adaptive system is a System that is able to adapt its behavior according to changes in its environment or in parts of the system itself Engineering cybernetics or Technical cybernetics is a field of Cybernetics, which deals with the question of Control engineering of Mechatronic Ergonomics is the Scientific discipline concerned with Designing according to the human needs and the profession that applies theory principles data and methods Biomedical engineering ( BME) is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field Systems engineering is an Interdisciplinary field of Engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed Management cybernetics is the field of Cybernetics concerned with Management and Organizations. Management cybernetics is the field of Cybernetics concerned with Management and Organizations. Management cybernetics is the field of Cybernetics concerned with Management and Organizations. Operations Research (OR in North America South Africa and Australia and Operational Research in Europe is an interdisciplinary branch of applied Mathematics and Systems engineering is an Interdisciplinary field of Engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed

Turbulence in the tip vortex from an airplane wing. In Fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic Stochastic property changes Wingtip vortices are tubes of circulating air which are left behind by the Wing as it generates lift. Overview Fixed-wing aircraft range from small training and recreational aircraft to Wide-body aircraft and military cargo aircraft.

In Psychology

In Sociology

By examining group behavior through the lens of cybernetics, sociology seeks the reasons for such spontaneous events as smart mobs and riots, as well as how communities develop rules, such as etiquette, by consensus without formal discussion. The dynamical system concept is a mathematical Formalization for any fixed "rule" which describes the Time dependence of a point's position Information theory is a branch of Applied mathematics and Electrical engineering involving the quantification of Information. Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and Psycho-Cybernetics is a classic Self-help book, written by Maxwell Maltz in 1960 and published by the Non-profit Psycho-Cybernetics Systems psychology is a branch of Applied psychology that studies Human behaviour and Experience in Complex systems It is inspired by Systems A smart mob is a form of self-structuring social organization through technology-mediated intelligent emergent behavior Riots are a form of Civil disorders characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of Violence, Vandalism or other Affect Control Theory explains role behavior, emotions, and labeling theory in terms of homeostatic maintenance of sentiments associated with cultural categories. In Control theory (sociology Affect control theory proposes that individuals maintain affective meanings through their actions and interpretations of events A role (sometimes spelled rôle) or a social role is a set of connected Behaviors Rights and Obligations as conceptualized by actors An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Originating in Sociology and Criminology, labeling theory (also known as social reaction theory) focuses on the linguistic tendency of majorities to negatively These and other cybernetic models in sociology are reviewed in a book edited by McClelland and Fararo^[9].

References

^ Tange, Kenzo (1966) "Function, Structure and Symbol".
^ ^a ^b Kelly, Kevin (1994). Out of control: the new biology of machines, social systems and the economic world. Boston: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-48340-8.
^ Couffignal, Louis, "Essai d’une définition générale de la cybernétique", The First International Congress on Cybernetics, Namur, Belgium, June 26-29, 1956, Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1958, pp. 46-54
^ CYBCON discusstion group 20 September 2007 18:15
^ Jean-Pierre Dupuy, "The autonomy of social reality: on the contribution of systems theory to the theory of society" in: Elias L. Khalil & Kenneth E. Boulding eds. Kenneth Ewart Boulding ( January 18 1910 – March 18 1993) was an Economist, educator peace activist Poet, religious mystic , Evolution, Order and Complexity, 1986.
^ Peter Harries-Jones (1988), "The Self-Organizing Polity: An Epistemological Analysis of Political Life by Laurent Dobuzinskis" in: Canadian Journal of Political Science (Revue canadienne de science politique), Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun. , 1988), pp. 431-433.
^ Kenneth D. Bailey (1994), Sociology and the New Systems Theory: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis, p. Major Kenneth Dillon Bailey ( October 21, 1910 &ndash September 27, 1942) was a Marine Corps officer who was posthumously 163.
^ Note: this does not refer to the concept of Racial Memory but to the concept of cumulative adaptation to a particular niche, such as the case of the pepper moth having genes for both light and dark environments. The peppered moth ( Biston betularia) is a temperate species of night-flying Moth.
^ McClelland, Kent A. , and Thomas J. Fararo (Eds. ). 2006. Purpose, Meaning, and Action: Control Systems Theories in Sociology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Dictionary

-noun

The theory/science of communication and control in the animal and the machine.
The art/study of governing, controlling automatic processes and communication.
Technology related to computers and Internet.

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