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La Cibernetica Alle Origini Delle Scienze Dell'informazione

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La Cibernetica Alle Origini Delle Scienze Dell'informazione DOTTORATO DI RICERCA in SCIENZE COMPUTAZIONALI E INFORMATICHE Ciclo XXIII Consorzio tra Università di Catania, Università di Napoli Federico II, Seconda Università di Napoli, Università di Palermo, Università di Salerno SEDE AMMINISTRATIVA: UNIVERSITÀ DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II LEONE MONTAGNINI La Cibernetica alle origini delle Scienze dell'Informazione. Storia e problemi attuali. TESI DI DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IL COORDINATORE Professor Ernesto Burattini Pour prevoir l’avenir des mathématiques la vraie méthode est d’étudier leur histoire et l’état present. [Poincaré 1908, p. 930]1 In the present dilemma, it is very well worth while to call history to our aid and to compare the state of mind of the present period with that of other periods of doubt and confusion. This historical attitude, it is true, is suspect to many “tough-minded” contemporaries. What does the stupid repetition of the blunders of the past, they will say, have to do with so live and growing a subject as science? [Wiener 1932, p. 76] 1 La citazione, in traduzione italiana, è sul sito web di Giorgio Israel. 2 SOMMARIO INTRODUZIONE ................................................................................................. 6 L‘oggetto di studio ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 La struttura della ricerca ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Cibernetica e Scienze dell‘Informazione ................................................................................................................... 8 La fisionomia globale delle Scienze dell‘Informazione............................................................................................. 8 Scienza fluida e scienza solida................................................................................................................................... 9 La Cibernetica come Case Study ............................................................................................................................. 10 La Cibernetica come Grand Challenge .................................................................................................................... 10 PARTE I: Cibernetica e Controlli Automatici ................................................ 12 Capitolo 1 - La Teoria dei controlli automatici ......................................................................... 15 Le origini dei controlli automatici ........................................................................................................................... 15 Definizione di feedback negativo e positivo ............................................................................................................ 15 I dispositivi per il controllo automatico ................................................................................................................... 17 Il ruolo degli elementi attivi nei sistemi di controllo ............................................................................................... 19 I servomeccanismi all‘MIT ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Il feedback nella radiotecnica e nelle telecomunicazioni via cavo .......................................................................... 21 Il metodo di Nyquist e Küpfmüller .......................................................................................................................... 23 La teoria dei Sistemi dinamici ................................................................................................................................. 24 Capitolo 2 - Le Ricerche sui predittori antiaerei ....................................................................... 26 Il problema della difesa antiaerea e la Home Chain inglese .................................................................................... 26 La creazione dell‘NDRC ......................................................................................................................................... 27 Le pratiche dell‘NDRC ............................................................................................................................................ 28 Gli obiettivi strategici dell‘NDRC ........................................................................................................................... 29 Chi era Norbert Wiener? .......................................................................................................................................... 30 La proposta di Wiener ............................................................................................................................................. 32 La nuova ottica introdotta da Wiener ...................................................................................................................... 33 Dall‘approccio curvilineo all‘approccio statistico ................................................................................................... 36 Lo studio degli esseri umani: il pilota e l‘artigliere ................................................................................................. 37 Entra in gioco il feedback ........................................................................................................................................ 38 L‘esperimento per simulare le difficoltà degli operatori umani ............................................................................... 39 Il colloquio con Rosenblueth ................................................................................................................................... 39 Il Convegno ai Bell Laboratories del 4 giugno 1941 ............................................................................................... 40 Il Convegno del maggio 1941 a Fort Monroe .......................................................................................................... 43 Verso una conclusione anticipata ............................................................................................................................ 45 L‘epilogo della ricerca ............................................................................................................................................. 46 Capitolo 3 – Il primo configurarsi della Cibernetica ................................................................ 49 La Cibernetica come Ingegneria delle comunicazioni generalizzata ....................................................................... 49 L‘Ingegneria delle comunicazioni generalizzata nello Yellow peril ....................................................................... 51 Il nesso con la Teoria dell‘Informazione ................................................................................................................. 53 Le concezioni filosofiche di Norbert Wiener ........................................................................................................... 55 Il nesso con lo studio dei sistemi biologici .............................................................................................................. 57 Behavior, Purpose and Teleology ............................................................................................................................ 59 Capitolo 4 – Epilogo della ricerca sui predittori e note di sociologia della scoperta ............... 64 La scienza pura non è brevettabile! ......................................................................................................................... 64 Strategie industriali e destini individuali ................................................................................................................. 67 Wiener-Bigelow e gli amplificatori operazionali..................................................................................................... 68 Le linee di faglia della Cibernetica .......................................................................................................................... 69 Il pioniere e lo sviluppatore ..................................................................................................................................... 71 Cibernetica e contesto socio-tecnico ........................................................................................................................ 72 Il passaggio dall‘NDRC all‘OSRD .......................................................................................................................... 74 Le conseguenze della riorganizzazione sulle ricerche di Wiener ............................................................................ 75 APPENDICE I:1 - Generalità sui predittori e sul predittore della Sperry................................................................ 78 APPENDICE I:2 - Il primo progetto di Wiener sui predittori ................................................................................. 79 3 PARTE II : Cibernetica e Computer ................................................................ 81 Capitolo 5. I calcolatori fino all’ENIAC .................................................................................... 83 Le calcolatrici aritmetiche meccaniche .................................................................................................................... 83 Il calcolo scientifico
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