[HN Gopher] Cybernetics A to Z (1974)
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       Cybernetics A to Z (1974)
        
       Author : the-mitr
       Score  : 65 points
       Date   : 2022-11-17 14:24 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (archive.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (archive.org)
        
       | Pr0ject217 wrote:
       | There's a section describing how perceptrons work. :)
        
       | gdss wrote:
       | Cybernetics needs a comeback. It was the most important and
       | underexplored attempt of creating an unified attempt of
       | interpreting reality having at its core ubiquitous concepts such
       | as systems, information and complexity. Unfortunately we've been
       | stuck with a reductionist paradigm for a long time, and most
       | people don't seem to care much about the obvious presence of
       | systems all around (and even inside) them.
        
         | salty_biscuits wrote:
         | Isn't the historical progression cybernetics turns into control
         | theory (via Norbert Weiner) and control theory turns into
         | reinforcement learning. So just had a few rebrandings and never
         | went away.
        
         | _glass wrote:
         | for me, systems theory is a potent heir of cybernetics, and
         | thriving. at least in my field the management sciences.
         | especially with new incarnations incorporating new materialism,
         | or the actor network theory.
        
         | mashygpig wrote:
         | You could argue that the resurgence of neural networks being
         | the dominant paradigm in "AI"/ML is a partial comeback of
         | cybernetics (dynamics of simple systems leading to complex
         | behavior). I'd like to understand the history of cybernetics
         | better, but my current impression is that much of cybernetics,
         | or at least ideas in the spirit of cybernetics, just became
         | rebranded after the original practitioners died.
         | 
         | I agree with your general take though. The history of aviation
         | safety is a good example of taking this systemic way of
         | thinking to heart, but most other fields don't seem to take
         | such a wholistic approach in their analysis. I.e. part of the
         | reason planes are so safe nowadays is that the people in the
         | field worked really hard to understand the systems from their
         | basic mechanisms to the psychological and physiological effects
         | on the pilots/crew (granted wanting to not kill people is a
         | great incentive to figure this out). I'm sure there are other
         | examples of intensive analysis throughout the system, but
         | that's the only good example I can think about.
        
         | ipc0nfg wrote:
         | I agree, it's unfortunate how it ended. My first real contact
         | with cybernetics while being younger was a book "Cybernetics
         | and character" by Marian Mazur (printed in 1976). Later
         | chapters bored me but the beginning of book had impact on me as
         | showed me a bit different mode of thinking which I believe
         | improved my understanding of complex systems.
         | 
         | In book he tried to model different psychological behaviors,
         | like conflicts, using cybernetics language and try to draw
         | conclusion and what such simple models can tell us.
         | 
         | Also in introduction Mazur argued that science should not have
         | artificial bounds as "subjects" and closed walls - there are
         | many problems that arise in many different fields, with many
         | different point of views. That also changed me in a way that I
         | started to actively engage with totally different fields of
         | science. At all, cybernetics is about abstract ideas that are
         | quite universal.
        
         | nanna wrote:
         | Couldn't agree more.
        
       | lagrange77 wrote:
       | This is the kind of book I'd rather have physically, preferably a
       | copy from the time it was published.
        
       | gglitch wrote:
       | Beautiful design, illustrations, and typography.
        
         | toolslive wrote:
         | That's an understatement. It's utterly brilliant.
        
       | gdss wrote:
       | HELLL YAAA
        
       | mr_luc wrote:
       | I have a physical copy of this! My parents got it for me at a
       | garage sale in the 80s when I was a little nipper.
       | 
       | It has a great programming language "tower of babel"
       | illustration.
       | 
       | It wasn't until years later that I realized it was a Soviet
       | science ecosystem book. Some of the content should have been a
       | giveaway ...
        
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