..... Newsletter of the American Society for Cybernetics Barry Clemson, Editor 314 Shibles Hall University of Maine Orono, ME 04469 207-581-2792 Number 16, July l, 1982

The address of the ASC is:2131 G St.N.W., Washington DC 20052

THIRD ANNUAL MAINE If you plan to fly, call Barry Clemson (h: 207/866-7702; o: 207/ CYBERNETICS FESTIVAL 581-2792). He will suggest what flights to take so someone can meet July 23-26, 1982 you at the airport. Most people will probably plan to arrive at the Barry Clemson airport in Bangor or Portland early in the afternoon an Friday and will leave early in the afternoon on The Third Annual Maine Cybernetics ·--- - Festival is fast approaching. Roger Monday. Tc get the supersaver fare, Conant and I have been Sponsoring make your reservations and buy your these events out of a feeling that tickets at least 14 days in advance. cyberneticians needed a chance to get to know each other. The Festivals Arrangements: The hause is small, are, therefore, events in which but the barn has room for quite a few cyberneticians and their families are people, and there is plenty of space brought tagether under idyllic for tents. Bring a sleeping bag, air conditions and then allowed to self­ mattress and a tent if you like. All organize. Roger and I ensure that participants will be asked to share people have the wherewithal to meet the cost of the food. Last year the as groups, to hold private conversa­ cost was about $15 per person. tvery­ tions, er to play along the coast. one takes a turn with food preparation What actually happens, then, is up to and clean up. So the Conants will you and the other participants. The know how much food to buy, please let first twc festiva1s were rather them know a week in advance that you delightful blends of serious conver­ are coming (Roger Conant, Sunset, sations an cybernetics, the future of Maine 04683, 207/348-2504). ASC, playing on the rocky coast, and getting to know each other. We Plan your vacation areund the festival. expect the third festival to continue Spouses, children and companions are in this vein. welcome! - Location: The Conant•s farm is about 60 miles south of Banger, Maine. ALVIN WATTS THE BOOK Drive to the island of Deer Isle. In the town of Deer Isle make a right There was a young man who said, 11 Though turn toward the town of Sunset. Go It seems that I know what I know, beyend Sunset one mile. At the top What I would like to see of a fairly steep hill turn left. Is the 1 I 1 that knows •me• The first drive an the right is the When I know that I know that I know. 11 Conant farm. You will see a barn and then the farm hause. Submitted by Dave Carhart NUCLEAR WAR Ca 11 for Papers on Nick Coulter write 11 How can cyber­ netics ... be applied to what some of NETS, NETWORKING, OR us consider the greatest crisis in COMPUTER CONFERENCING human history -- the accelerating arms race and the growing risk of a ASC ANNUAL CONFERENCE nuclear holocaust? Anyone with ideas on this, and/or interested in 18-20 October 1982 forming a group to work on it please contact me.. (N. Arthur Coulter, Of particular interest are papers on Jr., M.O . , 1825 North Lake Share how the educational process is being Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514; (or can be) improved or augmented. telephone: 919/942-2994.) Papers concerning the education of specialists in cybernetics are also We could include the topic in our wanted . ccnference in October. ihe National Peace Academy is still being Posters, exhibits, demonstrations, debated. Howard Kurtz's idea of a tutorials, workshops, or other much expanded Lansat type capability information transfer modalities are to provide global information to possible. anyone who wanted it is under study by the UN. Submit abstracts of 250-750 words before 27 August 1982. Let Nick know if you're interested and let's have a rousing session an Joseph M. Rothberg, Ph.D. war prevention in Columbus this October! Oepartment of Military Psychiatry Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Washington, DC 20012 CYBERNETICIAN WANTED (202) 427-5360 Position Available: San Jose State University, Cybernetic Systems Program to teach systems and cyber­ netics to undergraduates and graduates. SLIDE SHOW ON CYBERNETICS Deadline: 1 October 1982. Qualifications: Ph.D. by the time of A 25 minute slide show and tape on appointment/5 years of advanced applied the hi story and development of cybernetics systems work in business or government/ has been produced by Catherine Becker and 5 years of graduate and undergraduate Marcella Slabosky, students at George teaching experience/5 years of advanced Washington University . The slide show re­ curriculum development in the systems views the concerns that led to the founding field. of the field, includes pictures of some of the key people in the early days and pro­ Apply to: Norman 0. Gundersan vides explanations and examples of several Chairman/Advisory Board important concepts . The slide showwill be Cybernetic Systems Program previewed at the Maine Festival and the San Jose State University Pescadero Powwow . We may then make mod­ San Jose, CA 95192 ifications or enhancements before it is shown at the October conference. Editorial comment: Despite Gundersan et al. 's efforts, the position is for anASsistant Professor. Any senior cybernetician out there who wantsto donate h!i51her· time??? SYSTEM DYNAMI CS ON A MICRO 1ST ANNUAL PESCADERO POW-WOW

A new software package, MICRODYN/B, all~ws Arrangements have been made for an i nfor­ the creation of system dynamics models, mal get-together (ala the annual ASC Maine using the standard syntax, an the APPLE II. Festival) of cyberneticians at the Venture MICRODYN/B is a menu driven system which Lodge in Pescadero, CA an the 6- 8 August provides the kind of facilities . that sys­ 1982. The Lodge, which is at the foot of tem dynamics modelers have become accus­ Heinz & Mai von Foerster' s mountain an tomed to but runs an a 48 K Apple with one hour's dri ve south of San Francisco five disk drive, a printer, and some sort of miles from the ocean, will accommodate visual display. MICRODYN/B costs i 500 50 people and has such amenities as a 60- (discount for educational establishments). f oot swimming pool, an 8-foot hot tub, Contact B.J. Parker, Lancord Ltd., Uni­ volleyhall court, miles of trails, indoor versity of Lancaster, Gilloco Hause, sleeping arrangements for 30+ people (the Laueaster LA14YX, England. rest will have to bring sleeping bags, tents, etc.), and huge cooking/dining 40% DISCOUNT facilities. Cost will be $20 for adults, $10 for children 8-10 years old, plus a ASC members have been affered a 40% share of the food cost fo= the entire discount an Hemisphere Publishing Co's weekend. Given that we can only accom­ Progress in Cybernetics and Systems modate 50 people and that there are at Research, Valurne 6 through 11. Each least four times that many here in the of these volumes retails at $88 so Bay Area interested in attending , ASC the savings are substantial. members should make their reservations as soon as possible. First come, first Val Editors Introduction served - although we will hold 15 spots open for ASC members who live outside 6 Franz Pileher Rene Thom the Bay Area.. Make Robert Trappl your checks paya~le to: Cybernetic Systems Fellowship. Questions/ 7 Franz Pileher Rene Thom reservations: F. deP. Hanika Bill Reckmeyer Cybernetic Systems Program 8 Robert Trappl Michael Arbib San Jose State University Geo. J. Ukr San Jose, CA 95192 Franz Pileher 408-277-3409 (0) 408-266-7946 (H) 9 Robert Trappl ------L. Ri cci a rdi Gordon Posk COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY 10 Robert Trappl Michael Arbib 4-6 August 1982 F. deP. Hanika Rolfe Tomlinson Ann Arbor, Michigan 11 · Robert Trappl Michael Arbib Nicholas Findler The Fourth Annual Conference of the Werner Horn Cognitive Science Society, University of Michigan, 4-6 August 1982, includes Vol. 7 was published in 1980, all submitted papers, three major addresses others in 1982. an important directions in cognitive science, two tutorials, and four state You need to mention your ASC of the art symposia an major topics. membership in order to get the University of Michigan Extension discount. Contact Hemisphere Service, Conference and Institutes, Publishing Co., ßerkely Bldg., 412 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. 19 W. 44th Street, New York, NY 10036 . Telephone: 212/921-0606. ------~------THE UMPLEBY AFFAIR: PART TWO ------HOW TO APPEAR TO BE SUPERHUMAN by Stuart Umpleby The last newsletter reported that Stu Umpleby app_arently never sleeps and on speculation that he was actually a proto­ I was relieved to learn in the last type of a Japanese Cyborg. The task force issue of the newsletter that I was not about of cyberneticians assembled to investigate to be dissected ..This is an appropriate the· situation has now submitted its report. decision since an examination of parts will The task force agreed on the following not reveal how they function together. basic points: Furthermore, eliminating sleep is a limited - Umpleby is approximately three times strategy. A 50 percent increase in perfor- as productive as the average . mance (from 16 to 24 waking hours) is the cyberneti ci an; : best that could be achieved . However, im­ - Umpleby does, in fact, sleep ! provements by at least a factor of 5 or 10 occas i ona 11 y. are possible using a theory for the ampli­ The task force was unable to reach agreement fication of regulation formulated by Ross on the significance of these basic data and Ashby several years ago. ended up with four rival hypothes s: 1. He is a cyborg. The theory says there are only two 2~ He is a Gordon Pask colloidal possibilities--increase your capabilities computer. or reduce what you try to do. I have em­ 3. He was grown in von Foer:ster' s ployed both strategies. The first strategy Biological Computer Laboratory. amounts to arranging things so that one gets 4. He is merely smarter and more credit for the work done by others. This energetic than the rest of us. is easy when one has a talented and modest The entire editorial staff of this news­ membership and energetic and willing stu­ letter has carefully reviewed the case and dents. I have tried to make maximum use of has resolved it in the following manner: these resources. I. We are unable to entertain the possibility that anyone could be . Employing the secend strategy has been smarter than ourselves and therefore more difficult. But Ashby would insist conclusively reject that hypothesis. ithere is a physical limitation. So I have 2. If he is a Japanese Cyborg, we will been ruthless. A few months ago the Nation­ all be obsolete in the near future. al Science Foundation wanted my advice on This possibility is too painful to how to allocate the nation's science budget. comtemplate and is therefore I said that I could take on no more consult- impossible. . ing jobs until after the October ASC confe­ 3. Gordon Pask is no langer making :rence. A couple of weeks later the White colloidal computers and von Foerster's House called to ask for my help on foreign Biological Computer Labaratory no and domestic oolicv . I told them they would langer exists. Theretore a Paskian have to wait until - my term of Office expires colloidal computer grown in the in December. A few weeks back the United Biological Computer Labaratory can not Nations asked for my assistance in the Falk­ be replicated. lands-Malvinas crisis. I said that ASC was The correct conclusion is obvious: Stuart my top priority. Just today the department Umpleby is a unique, never to be replicated, secretary reminded me that I have not yet six million dollar colloidal computer grown erdered books for fall semester classes. I in the Biological Computer Lab. said I would do it immediately. THE SLEEPLESS CYBORG LARGE LOOP AUTOPOIESIS Said the cyborg, "It's really qu~te simple. There's a plug that's concealed ln my dimple. T'was certain one day we would find In place of the sack That a creature which builds its own mind I've a battery pack Would soon have the power Disguised as a book by Carl Hempel.'' To make a new flower, And a body would be close behind. (Carl Hempel is a phi~osoph:r who helped to construct the positiv1st po1nt of view. ) SAU