of control and communication
in the animal and the machine."
Norbert Wiener
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| Vaucanson's duck |
On these pages you will find an easy-to-understand introduction to cybernetics and management cybernetics. Further information is available in Methods, models. In Articles there is a range of different contributions on the topic. Misunderstandings and errors contains information that will help you to orientate yourself and to clarify different interpretations and opinions.
The idea that living beings and machines
function on the basis of the same principles dates back to long before the
birth of cybernetics. In 1738 Jacques de Vaucanson, a famous 18th century
inventor of automata, constructed a perfect model of a duck that could
"digest" food.
The term "cybernetics" was first
used in 1834 by the French physicist André-Marie Amperé (1775-1836) to
describe "the science of managing processes". Elsewhere he refers
to it as "the science of government".
However, the origins of modern cybernetics as a recognized science are to be found around one hundred years later. The pioneering principles of the new scientific field of regulation, control and communications in systems were developed primarily by:
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Norbert Wiener |  |
Warren McCulloch |  |
W. Ross Ashby |
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Warren Weaver |  |
Claude Shannon |  |
Gregory Bateson |
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Heinz von Foerster |  |
John von Neumann |  |
Walter Pitts |
These pioneers were supported by the Josiah Macy Foundation. The new scientific field of cybernetics emerged from the interdisciplinary and now legendary Macy conferences. In 1948 Norbert Wiener published his book "Cybernetics".
The word "cybernetics" comes from the Greek term "kybernetes", which means "helmsman". In 1949, the Austrian physicist Heinz von Foerster suggested to the participants in the Macy conferences that this word should be chosen as the name for their new research field and received general approval. Until then they had been using the phrase "circular, causal and feedback mechanisms in biological and social systems" to describe it, which Heinz von Foerster felt was far too complicated.
Norbert Wiener's book and his definition of
cybernetics soon also generated considerable interest outside this group of
scientists. The idea that a scientific discipline involving communication and
control could also be used by unscrupulous governments for manipulation
purposes also aroused concern. This was covered by Norbert Wiener in his book
"The Human Use of Human Beings". These early fears turned out to be
fully justified. Stafford Beer also found himself repeatedly confronted with
the same problems in his work. Heinz von Foerster, who established and
managed a Biological Computer Laboratory at the
Click on the Introduction to management cybernetics to read an easy-to-understand overview of the theories of Stafford Beer.
