The Value When Cybernetics Is Added to CAAD Ranulph Glanville
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Listen! (A Tribute to the Listen Inn, Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK) Ranulph Glanville
Listen! (A Tribute to the Listen Inn, Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK) Ranulph Glanville Independent Academic, CybernEthics Research, 52 Lawrence Road, Southsea, Hants PO5 1NY, UK: tel +44 (0) 23 9273 7779; fax +44 (0) 23 9276 7779; email [email protected] Text 1 “Beuys’ primary requirement for true communication was the existence of a reciprocal relationship between individuals. ‘For communication it’s necessary that there be someone who listens…There’s no sense in a transmitter if there’s noone who receives.’” Panel entitled “Communication” at the Joseph Beuys Exhibition, Royal Kilmainham Hospital, Dublin, read on June 2nd 1999. Abstract The argument is presented that, for participation and connectedness to be possible, we need to learn to listen, and to value listening, rather than being “given our voice”. Some benefits of listening are presented: as are side effects, which reflect qualities often thought of as being among the most desirable human qualities. Finally, examples of a demonstration and a workshop presented at the conference, concerned with developing listening skills, are introduced. Text 2 “Academics study precisely those areas in which they are least personally competent.” Academic Sod’s Law, Ranulph Glanville. Preamble The pianist enters the auditorium, and sits at the piano. The murmur in the audience subsides. He opens the keyboard and sits still for four and a half minutes. During this time, he makes no sound, plays no notes. At the end of this time, he gets up, takes his bow, and leaves. He has been performing John Cage’s piece, 4'32". (See Cage’s 1966 book, Silence.) You are in a community where no one will respond to anything you say, and no one will talk to you. -
Warren Mcculloch and the British Cyberneticians
Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians Article (Accepted Version) Husbands, Phil and Holland, Owen (2012) Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 37 (3). pp. 237-253. ISSN 0308-0188 This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43089/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse: Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University. Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Warren McCulloch and the British Cyberneticians1 Phil Husbands and Owen Holland Dept. Informatics, University of Sussex Abstract Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. -
Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice Chris Blackmore Editor
Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice Chris Blackmore Editor Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice 123 Editor Chris Blackmore The Open University, Walton Hall MK7 6AA Milton Keynes United Kingdom First published in 2010 by Springer London In association with The Open University Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA United Kingdom Copyright c 2010 The Open University All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmit- ted or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (website www.cla.co.uk). Open University course materials may also be made available in electronic formats for use by students of the University. All rights, including copyright and related rights and database rights, in electronic course materials and their contents are owned by or licensed to The Open University, or otherwise used by The Open University as permitted by applicable law. In using electronic course materials and their contents you agree that your use will be solely for the pur- poses of following an Open University course of study or otherwise as licensed by The Open University or its assigns. Except as permitted above you undertake not to copy, store in any medium (including electronic storage or use in a website), distribute, transmit or retransmit, broadcast, modify or show in public such electronic materials in whole or in part without the prior written consent of The Open University or in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. -
When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture
When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville Montréal QC H3C 3J7 Canada Email: [email protected] 2 Abstract: I examine in this paper the direct and indirect influences that Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture. I consider two different but sometimes intertwined lines of thought, genres and/or disciplines: (1) science-fiction, and (2) communication and/or media studies. In the first case, I consider Korzybski’s direct influence on William Burroughs and Alfred van Vogt and thus his indirect influence on Philip K. Dick (PKD) and the 1980s genre of cyberpunk literature. In the second case, I show how Korzybski’s direct influence on Gregory Bateson, among other cyberneticians of the first hour (McCullogh and Northrop), and Neil Postman, contributed in shaping one of the leading modes of thought in this domain, i.e. “media ecology.” Altogether, I argue that Korzybski’s legacy in contemporary culture greatly exceeds the “map is not the territory” slogan: instead, through such notions as “the unbearable aporias of being”, the power of the conjunction and the relation between language and power (“control”), he helped shape today’s modes of thought. 3 Introduction This paper is about maps and territories, but about special kinds of maps and territories; digital (and not virtual) maps and territories. So I start with a serious question: say at the sattelite resolution of Google maps, for instance, doesn’t the map look like the territory? And if the territory itself is digital (as in cyberspace), isn’t the map the territory? In order to give some elements of answer to these questions I examine here the direct and indirect influences Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture. -
What Is Systems Theory?
What is Systems Theory? Systems theory is an interdisciplinary theory about the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science, and is a framework by which one can investigate and/or describe any group of objects that work together to produce some result. This could be a single organism, any organization or society, or any electro-mechanical or informational artifact. As a technical and general academic area of study it predominantly refers to the science of systems that resulted from Bertalanffy's General System Theory (GST), among others, in initiating what became a project of systems research and practice. Systems theoretical approaches were later appropriated in other fields, such as in the structural functionalist sociology of Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann . Contents - 1 Overview - 2 History - 3 Developments in system theories - 3.1 General systems research and systems inquiry - 3.2 Cybernetics - 3.3 Complex adaptive systems - 4 Applications of system theories - 4.1 Living systems theory - 4.2 Organizational theory - 4.3 Software and computing - 4.4 Sociology and Sociocybernetics - 4.5 System dynamics - 4.6 Systems engineering - 4.7 Systems psychology - 5 See also - 6 References - 7 Further reading - 8 External links - 9 Organisations // Overview 1 / 20 What is Systems Theory? Margaret Mead was an influential figure in systems theory. Contemporary ideas from systems theory have grown with diversified areas, exemplified by the work of Béla H. Bánáthy, ecological systems with Howard T. Odum, Eugene Odum and Fritj of Capra , organizational theory and management with individuals such as Peter Senge , interdisciplinary study with areas like Human Resource Development from the work of Richard A. -
Systemic Innovation and How Can It Be Done Effectively?
1 Joined–Up INNOVATION WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE DONE EFFECTIVELY? SYSTEMS INNOVATION DISCUSSION PAPER Geoff Mulgan Charlie Leadbeater January 2013 About Nesta Nesta is the UK’s innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE www.nesta.org.uk © Nesta 2013. CONTENTS WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE INFluENCED? 4 Joined–UP INNOVATION: wHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE DONE EFFECTIVELY? 5 INTRODUCTION 6 1 BACKGROUND AND DEFINITIONS 6 2 UNDERSTANDING SYSTEMS 10 3 UNDERSTANDING HOW TO CHANGE SYSTEMS 15 4 WHAT CAN YOU DO? 20 ENDNOTES 24 THE SYSTEMS INNOVATOR: WHY succEssFUL INNOVATION GOES BEYOND PRODUCTS 25 AckNOWLEDGEMENTS 26 1 THE ART OF ARRIVING LATE 27 2 THE NEED FOR SYSTEMS INNOVATION 29 3 SCHOOLS, CONTAINERS AND TWEETS 31 4 INFRASTRUCTURES, ALLIANCES AND MOVEMENTS 35 5 THE VARIETY OF SYSTEMS 40 6 LEADING SYSTEMS CHANGE 45 7 THE NEW RULES OF INNOVATION 49 ENDNOTES 54 ANNEX: FURTHER READING 55 4 SYSTEMS INNOVATION WHAT IS SYSTEMIC INNOVATION AND HOW CAN IT BE INFluENCED? Introduction Over the past few years there has been growing interest in systemic innovation. We are defining this as an interconnected set of innovations, where each influences the other, with innovation both in the parts of the system and in the ways in which they interconnect. -
Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better: the Cybernetics in Design and the Design in Cybernetics
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0368-492X.htm Try again. Try again. Fail again. Fail better: Fail again. the cybernetics in design and the Fail better design in cybernetics Ranulph Glanville 1173 The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London, UK, and CybernEthics Research, Southsea, UK Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the two subjects, cybernetics and design, in order to establish and demonstrate a relationship between them. It is held that the two subjects can be considered complementary arms of each other. Design/methodology/approach – The two subjects are each characterised so that the author’s interpretation is explicit and those who know one subject but not the other are briefed. Cybernetics is examined in terms of both classical (first-order) cybernetics, and the more consistent second-order cybernetics, which is the cybernetics used in this argument. The paper develops by a comparative analysis of the two subjects, and exploring analogies between the two at several levels. Findings – A design approach is characterised and validated, and contrasted with a scientific approach. The analogies that are proposed are shown to hold. Cybernetics is presented as theory for design, design as cybernetics in practice. Consequent findings, for instance that both cybernetics and design imply the same ethical qualities, are presented. Research limitations/implications – The research implications of the paper are that, where research involves design, the criteria against which it can be judged are far more Popperian than might be imagined. Such research will satisfy the condition of adequacy, rather than correctness. -
The Cybernetic Brain
THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN THE CYBERNETIC BRAIN SKETCHES OF ANOTHER FUTURE Andrew Pickering THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON ANDREW PICKERING IS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER. HIS BOOKS INCLUDE CONSTRUCTING QUARKS: A SO- CIOLOGICAL HISTORY OF PARTICLE PHYSICS, THE MANGLE OF PRACTICE: TIME, AGENCY, AND SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE AS PRACTICE AND CULTURE, A L L PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, AND THE MANGLE IN PRAC- TICE: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND BECOMING (COEDITED WITH KEITH GUZIK). THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 2010 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED 2010 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (CLOTH) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pickering, Andrew. The cybernetic brain : sketches of another future / Andrew Pickering. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-66789-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Cybernetics. 2. Cybernetics—History. 3. Brain. 4. Self-organizing systems. I. Title. Q310.P53 2010 003’.5—dc22 2009023367 a THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD FOR INFORMATION SCIENCES—PERMA- NENCE OF PAPER FOR PRINTED LIBRARY MATERIALS, ANSI Z39.48-1992. DEDICATION For Jane F. CONTENTS Acknowledgments / ix 1. The Adaptive Brain / 1 2. Ontological Theater / 17 PART 1: PSYCHIATRY TO CYBERNETICS 3. -
Social Systems
Home Browse Authors Sources Documents Years Theories Subjects Find Sources Authors Search Simple Advanced Help Previous Source Document Document 1 Next Source Document Front Matter by Editor, in Social Systems. [by] Niklas Luhmann and translated by John Bednarz, Jr. with Dirk Baecker. (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1995). pp. [N pag]-11. [Bibliographic Details] [View Documents] -- [NA] -- Front Matter [Cover] SOCIAL SYSTEMS Niklas Luhmann TRANSLATED BY John Bcdnarz, Jr. WITH Dirk Baecker -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- SOCIAL SYSTEMS -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- WRITING SCIENCE EDITORS Timothy Lenoir and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht -- [NA] -- -- [NA] -- [Title Page and Credits] SOCIAL SYSTEMS Niklas Luhmann TRANSLATED BY John Bednarz, Jr., with Dirk Baecker FOREWORD BY Eva M. Knodt STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS STANFORD, CALIFORNIA -- [NA] -- Assistance for the translation was provided by Inter Nationes Social Systems was originally published in German in 1984 as Soziale Systeme: Grundriβ einer allgemeinen Theorie, © 1984 Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California © 1995 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Printed in the United States of America CIP data appear at the end of the book Original printing 1995 -- [NA] -- Contents Foreword ix Instead of a Preface to the English Edition: On the Concepts "Subject" and "Action" xxxvii Preface to the German Edition xlv Introduction: Paradigm Change in Systems Theory 1 1. System and Function 12 2. Meaning 59 3. Double Contingency 103 4. Communication and Action 137 5. System and Environment 176 6. Interpenetration 210 7. The Individuality of Psychic Systems 255 8. Structure and Time 278 9. Contradiction and Conflict 357 10. Society and Interaction 405 11. -
Second Order Systems: Cybernetic Foundations for the Social Sciences Bernard Scott International Center for Sociocybernetic Studies [email protected]
Second order systems: cybernetic foundations for the social sciences Bernard Scott International Center for Sociocybernetic Studies [email protected] Abstract This paper presents a theory of second order systems with a view to showing how it may serve as foundations for the social sciences. Currently, with rare exceptions, penetrations of cybernetic and systems theoretic concepts into the social sciences have been sporadic and, arguably, conceptually confused. The aim of the theory is to mitigate this lack and these confusions by providing a coherent conceptual framework that can bring order and transdisciplinary unity. I provide examples of the theory’s relevance for key topics in the disciplines of psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology (consciousness, communication, observation and reflexivity). I also review some examples of existing applications of cybernetics and systems theory in the social sciences and indicate their shortcomings. I show how the conceptual framework can ameliorate them. My critiques and proposals are intended to serve the transdisciplinary and metadisciplinary aims of cybernetics and the systems sciences of bringing order and unity to other disciplines. I believe my proposals are helpful also in understanding the relations between theories and concepts in cybernetics and the systems sciences. I briefly provide some justifications for this view. Topics covered include: the emergence and ontogeny of second order systems, the dynamics of second order systems, the interaction of second order systems and second order systems theory applied recursively to individual social actors, families, organisations, cultures and social systems. Key words systems sciences, social sciences, second order cybernetics, second order systems Bernard Scott is Gordon Pask Professor of Sociocybernetics at the International Center for Sociocybernetics Studies. -
The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics', Architectural Design, September Issue No 7/6, John Wiley & Sons Ltd (London), 1969, Pp 494-6
The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics The argument designers who hav Gordon Pask interest in the org communication and The discipline of cybernetics, of which Gordon Pask was a leading figure but for some time in the advancement of this intellectual domain, states, in principle, that required. Cyberneti systems are based on regulation, control, adjustment and purpose, filtered of cybernetics can through means of feedback. The transdisciplinary domain, permeating such identified with real disparate fields as engineering, biology, sociology, economics and design, the cybernetic theo institutes a paradigm for thinking which emphasises circular reasoning, interrelating output, adaptation and self-organisation. Pask expresses Historical Roots2 these notions in this article, first published in Architectural Design In or before the ear (1969), as the underpinnings to the comprehension of architecture as a of building. Its rules compilation of active systems, in contrast to the perception of a building by looking at builde as simply a static material object, where the engagement of the human is, different periods an most critically, lost. He locates a source for this distinction in the contrast practice and of his between design formulation based on 'language', defining a finite, often structures with stab historically based, set of possibilities being inherently limited by style, 'pure' architecture, and one derived of environment and action, responsive to the prospects Even in those d of behavioural changes. Cybernetics, intended as a unifying theory and regulation and acco related to architecture here by Pask, contributes to computational thinking sense, their brief w a logic for perceiving architecture as an environmental, social and cultural application of pure device, and proposes the fundamental components of design processes theatre) was largel which may calculate, determine and predict such systems. -
Second Order Cybernetics 31/08/2008 10:08
SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS 31/08/2008 10:08 Search Print this chapter Cite this chapter SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS Ranulph Glanville, CybernEthics Research, UK and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia Keywords: actor, analogy, argument, automata, autopoiesis, behavior, biology, Black_Box, causality, circularity, coding, cognition, communication, computation, concept, consciousness, control, conversation, cybernetics, description, design, distinction, ecology, education, environment, epistemology, error, ethics, feedback, form, function, generosity, goal, homeostasis, idea, identity, individual, information, interaction, internet, knowing, language, learning, logic, management, mathematics, meaning, mechanism, memory, meta-, metaphor, moment, mutualism, network, object, observe, organizational_closure, oscillation, person, phenomenon, philosophical, physics, positivist, (post-)_modernism, praxis, process, program, psychology, purpose, quality, reality, reason, recursion, relative, responsibility, science, second_order_cybernetics, (self-)_reference, semiotics, social, structure, subject, support, system, theory, thinking, time, truth, understanding, variety, whole_(and_part) Contents 1. Introduction: What Second Order Cybernetics is, and What it Offers 2. Background—the Logical Basis for Second Order Cybernetics 3. Second Order Cybernetics—Historical Overview 4. Theory of Second Order Cybernetics 5. Praxis of Second Order Cybernetics 6. A Note on Second Order Cybernetics and Constructivism 7. Cybernetics, Second Order