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Prepared for the 50th Anniversary of the International Society for the Systems Sciences History of the Ideas of Cybernetics and Systems Science v. 2.0 Sonoma State University, July 9-14, 2006 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s The News The News The News Living systems Closed Systems "THE THEORY OF Bertalanffy, Boulding Ludwig von Bertalanffy Publishes SYSTEMS PHILOSOPHY The News and Rappoport form The News Where are the OPEN SYSTEMS IN Karl Deutsch "General Systems The News Peter Senge irreversible processes Society for General Bertelanffy PHYSICS AND Publishes Theory– Foundations, James Grier Emancipatory systems Systems Theory Publishes "Robots, The News James Evolutionary systems Publishes "The frontiers of BIOLOGY" Ludwig Holds First Meeting Development, The News Miller Publishes positive entropy (loss of "Nerves of Men and Minds" Ervin Laszlo The News von Bertelanffy Applications" Russell Ackoff Fifth Discipline" George P. energy) GENERAL SYSTEMS 1956 Government" Publishes "The "Living Systems" Grier Publishes Richardson systems theory? 1952 1967 1968 Systems View of Miller Ervin "Redesigning The 1990 1963 Publishes "Feedback Open Systems Emergent properties of systems the World" Future" 1978 The News Steady state Systems properties stated Laszlo Lotfi Thought" Peter Checkland & Sue Aims of of a general theory of systems Holwell Publishes "(1) There is a general tendency toward integration in the various sciences, 1972 negative entropy Self-Organizing Systems in mathematical terms natural and social. (2) Such integration seems to be centered in a general as 1974 Zadeh "Information, Systems Equifinality theory of systems. (3) Such theory may be an important means for aiming Hierarchy 1991 at exact theory in the nonphysical fields of science. (4) Developing and Information unifying principles running "vertically" through the universe of the universal principle First Gordon Systems" Holistic Thinking of systems individual sciences, this theory brings us nearer the goal of the unity of Russell Ackoff Mental model Ludwig von Bertelanffy Isomorphisms science. (5) This can lead to a much-needed integration in scientific The News Conference on education." (von Bertalanffy, L. (1968). General system theory: Essays on The News phenomena across variety of The News Geoffrey Vickers 1998 What are the Homeostasis "If the organism carries a 'small-scale model' of external Inadequacy of classical physics for its foundation and development, rev. ed. New York: George Braziller. p. Cybernetics 38.) Ralph Abraham reality and of its own possible actions within its head, it disciplines and phenomena Anatol Rapaport Publishes explanations in biology, psychology and Idealized Design 1984 The News is able to try out various alternatives, conclude which is Oliver Selfridge Publishes the best of them, react to further situations before they sociology Emergent properties of systems Publishes "Freedom in a Peter Checkland & "hard problems" Geoffrey Keynoter arise, utilize the knowledge of past events in dealing "Chaos Gaia Jim Scholes Publish "Fights, Games Rocking Boat" with the present and future, and in every way to react in The News The News a much fuller, safer, and more competent manner to the The News Eros" "Soft Systems Shannon, Weaver And Debates" Bertram M. Gross Donald N. Michael Vickers today? emergencies which face it." “It is the thesis of this book that society can only be understood Norbert Weiner 1970 Peter Methodology in -Kenneth Craik, The Nature of Explanation, 1943 through a study of the messages and the communication facilities Publish Kenneth Publishes "Learning which belong to it; and that in the future development of these Publishes 1960 SOCIAL SYSTEMS DESIGN Action" "Mathematical To Plan And 1994 The News Checkland messages and communication facilities, messages between man "Cybernetics Theory of Boulding Anatol Stuart Kauffman The News Kenneth Craik and machines, between machines and man, and between machine " Planning To Learn" 1999 Debora Hammond Information" Claude The News and machine, are destined to play an every-increasing part 1948 Rapaport Publishes "The Publishes "The messages Miller, Galanter, The News Soft Systems 1949 Shannon Pribrim Publish 1973 C. West Churchman Autopoesis The News Origins Of Science Of Buckminster Fuller James Gleick "Plans and the Publishes "The Bela Banathy Order" Synthesis" What do we Cybernetics is... Noise The News COMPUTABILITY Information Theory Structure of Design of Inquiring Publishes "Chaos: maximum fitness at the Humberto Maturana Chris 1993 life as a property of Physical implementation of Behavior" Systems" Making A New 2003 still not know? 'the science of control and C. West & Francisco Varela edge of chaos The News logical operations ("and, or, not, Science" Langton chemistry far from Theory of Computers 1971 Publish "Autopoiesis John H. Holland communication in the animal plus, minus" in electrical circuitry) 1960 The News Churchman equilibrium and the machine,' the TOTE unit Stafford Beer And Cognition" 1987 Publishes Alan Turing analog and digital signals (test, operate, test, exit) Publishes Alexander Christakis "Hidden Order" qualitative systems Inquiry Systems 1980 ARTIFICIAL LIFE The News "The Brain of Humberto Francisco The Turing Machine Norbert Norbert Wiener John Warfield Negative feedback METAPLANS the Firm" The News The News How shall the "BEHAVIOR, J.G. Bennett Varela 1995 Publishes "The "...[M]ost people have heard of cybernetics from Norbert Wiener or his Gregory Bateson Maturana Robert Axelrod PURPOSE, AND Wiener followers. Narrowly defined it is but the art of the helmsman, to hold a self-reference CHAOS TELEOLOGY" Human Use of course by swinging the rudder so as to offset any deviation from that 1972 Publishes "Steps Publishes field proceed Human Beings" course. For this the helmsman must be so informed of the The News Cybernetics is... Machines as input, Rosenblueth, consequences of his previous acts that he corrects them - Cybernetics is... The News To An Ecology The News "Harnessing communication engineers call this 'negative feedback' - for the output Herbert Simon "a branch of mathematics dealing with Wiener, and "the science of effective organization" Stafford Beer Complexity" of the helmsman decreases the input to the helmsman. The intrinsic problems of control, recursiveness, and SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS Stuart Kauffman into the functions. output Bigelow 1954 Publishes "The information" Of Mind" Simulation as the governance of nervous activity, our reflexes, and our appetites "... cybernetics studies the flow of information round a system, and Publishes 1943 'the special sort of machine Circularity Publishes "At Formal specification Teleological exemplify this process. In all of them, as in the steering of the ship, the way in which this information is used by the system as a means Sciences Of The "the study of form and pattern" 1972 1999 what must return is not energy but information. Hence, in an extended of controlling itself: it does this for animate and inanimate systems "Cybernetics and "third form of science" second 50 known as a human being' sense, cybernetics may be said to include the timeliest applications of indifferently. For cybernetics is an interdisciplinary science, owing as "Should one name one central concept, a first Stuart Home In The of algorithms Artificial" "the biggest bite out of the fruit of the Tree of principle, of cybernetics, it would be circularity." mechanisms the quantitative theory of information." much to biology as to physics, as much to the study of the brain as to Management" Knowledge that mankind has taken in the last The News the study of computers, and owing also a great deal to the formal Universe" 2000 years." Ilya Prigogine languages of science for providing tools with which the behavior of Stafford Kauffman years? all these systems can be objectively described." Warren McCulloch 1959 Publishes "Order "COMPETING The News First definition of feedback to reach a Feedback Loops Beer Levels of learning TECHNOLOGIES, the origin of life in the 1995 Cybernetics is... Gregory Bateson Yaneer Bar-Yam wide social science audience CYBERNETICS Out Of Chaos" INCREASING Stafford Beer recursion "Use the word `cybernetics', Norbert, because RETURNS, AND autocatalytic set Publishes “Positive feedback adds to the input signals, it does not nobody knows what it means. This will always Heinz von Ernst von "A LOGICAL put you at an advantage in arguments." The Club of Rome LOCK-IN BY "Dynamics Of correct them. The term feed-back is also employed in a 1984 CALCULUS OF THE Glasersfeld HISTORICAL more restricted sense to signify that the behavior of an Law of Requisite Variety The Macy Conferences Foerster EMERGENCE of ORDER Complex Systems" IDEAS IMMANENT Constraints Aurelio Peccei Erich Jantsch Hasan Ozbekhan EVENTS" Panarchy object is controlled by the margin of error at which the IN NERVOUS "That the available control variety must be equal What to or greater than the disturbance variety for Widely quoted; attributed to Claude Brian Arthur the urge of complex object stands at a given time with reference to a relatively ACTIVITY" Shannon in a letter to Norbert Wiener 1989 control to be possible" The black The News 1997 specific goal. The feed-back is then negative, that is, McCulloch & Pitts in the 1940's Margaret systems to organize beyond the goal. It is this second meaning of the term Learning happens only when COMPLEXITY Buzz Holling problems are feedback that is used here. 1943 box The News themselves
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