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Home , Buckminster Fuller, Cyberneticist, Cybernetics, Emergence, Francisco Varela, Heinz von Foerster

196 HISTORICAL IN Second-Order the bydocumented asculture, counter American the of wing intellectual of cybernetics and within the importancegrowing the trends:concurrent other two and BCL the of work the to nent compo university-pedagogical sustained a of sudden the between relation of lines explore will paper This 2011). Scott Hutchinson 2008; Foerster & Broecker 2010; 2007; Martin 2007; (Umpleby courses level team-taught, student-driven,interdisciplinary,cross- and unduplicated certainly and unprecedented these discussing published recent years, a number of accounts have In been Cybernetics.” of “Cybernetics sequence two-semesterthe conclusionof the at 1974, of spring the in closes BCL the until tinues mester sequence titled “Heuristics,” and con earnestinof fall1968three-sethewithin a His career in the university classroom begins classes. organized few taught Foerster, von director,Heinz its (BCL), Laboratory puter CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST In the first decade ofthe BiologicalCom Introduction Laboratory, heuristics, pedagogy, . counterculture. systems the with temology epis constructivist his ally to mainstream academic the left heuristics,Foerster on von course continuing own his of orientation. cognitive new a of constitution broader the for insights those cultivated and moment that of unrest intellectual and social negative”the the in of “positive the found Foerster von those materials the second-order cybernetic concepts of observation, recursion, and paradox. sembles a historical sequence of archival materials for critical analysis, linked to a conceptual eliciting argument from However,this needed.historical nexus is complicated and more often is dismissed than brought into clear focus.counterculture intellectual American the of view wider-angled A 1960s. later the of radicalism landscape.American the on ments ing the last years of the Biological Computer Laboratory is placed against the backdrop of social and intellectual move of second-order cybernetics, the emergence of a pedagogicalsignificant to component ’s work dur > Bruce Clarke and Second-OrderCybernetics Heinz vonFoerster’s Pedagogy, The SystemsCounterculture, From InformationtoCognition: Second-Order Cybernetics Context • In this empirical and conceptual paper on the historical, philosophical, and epistemological backgrounds historical,epistemological philosophical,the and on paper conceptual and empirical this In • s vol. 7,N°3 • Texas Tech University•brunoclarke/at/gmail.com Whole EarthWhole - - - - - h fret f ae16s aps protests campus late-1960s of ferment the Heuris in driver prime their the locates It courses. tics of workings and origins the scientific formations. postmodern of range a to as well as styles - and alternative to cepts trendthatin connectingera concybernetic coincidental.Rather,epitomizelarger they a mentscoincide at the end of the 1960s is not move these of all That cybernetics. order second- called be to came orientationsthat observer-centeredand cognitive the toward theory in base theoretical lier Catalog (BCL) into the realm of pedagogy… The course The pedagogy… Laboratory of realm the Computer into (BCL) Biological the for ture depar a marked course heuristics experimental uprisingsthat were taking place in the USA. Their campus the of the off fed that course ary interdisciplin experimental an offered Brün bert “ ment: move War anti-Vietnam the with aligned

During the Fall of 1968, von Foerstervon1968,HerofandFall the During > rcn atce in article recent A Problem , and von Foerster’s turn from an ear > • Previous discussion in this regard has focused largely on the student student the on largely focused has regard this in discussion Previous • Key words Key Kybernetes • Heinz von Foerster, American counterculture, Foerster,American von Heinz discusses ------> ios ad ae wdrage ve o the of view wider-angled a take and linois, Il Universityofthe atmanifested as 1960s, later the of radicalism student the beyond communal productions, we will need to look projectsas well as the varying tenors of their teaching these ofpersistence Tothe explain 523 pages, Metagames the 1969, in publication:the student-produced collectively-authored a yieldthem addition,five four years. of all In another overiterations more three through go courses Foerster’s von , early the in recede to begin War Vietnam the over upheavals campus the after Even eration. consid further a promptinitiatives gogical Foerster’s peda von of longevity and ation continu However, the hand. at history the ofprecise part crucialmoment certainlya is (Scott 2011: 1149–1150) quiryinperiodofa upheavalsocial on campus. in interdisciplinary radically at attempt an was Implications h cmu fret curn a that at occurring ferment campus The Cybernetics of Cybernetics n 92 ad ot aosy at famously, most and 1972, in EcologicalSourceBook Whole UniversityWholeCatalogue • As a successful student student successful a As • > > Method Results • This essay as • In this period, Biological in 1970, in in 1974. ” ------

Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

American intellectual counterculture as that is not well taken. There are more ways to be also persisted beyond the late 1960s. Within worldly than the material construction of cy- that larger context, the courses coming out bernetic gizmos. What is the elaboration of of the BCL may be seen to join von Foerster’s cybernetic through writing, speak- laboratory to what I will call “the systems ing, conversing, editing, publishing, and counterculture.” teaching if not a “domain of worldly prac- To be sure, the historical nexus I mean tice” that becomes novel to the extent that to cover with this phrase is vexed. It is risky the content of the discourse is innovative? to generalize about it. It is hard to bring into Pickering continues: clear focus because it splinters into so many pieces. But in assessing the most significant “ The other is that I do not understand it (or have and productive outcomes of the interplay perhaps failed to get some key points). I am re- between cybernetic discourses and practices minded of the idea common to early cybernetics and the intellectual legacies of the 1960s, it that closed loops of neurons might be entailed in helps to keep at the center of one’s attention , and I can see how that works, but I can- von Foerster’s unique professional position not see how reentrant loops connect to any idea of and cultural location. Not doing so hampers that I can grasp.” (ibid: 458) an otherwise important contribution to this discussion, Andrew Pickering’s The Cyber- “Reentrant loops” is a weak formula- netic : Sketches of another Future. Pick- tion for the discourse of recursive cognition ering notes that “the sixties were the heyday as that comes out in the work of Maturana of cybernetics, the period when this margin- and von Foerster, through the discourse of Figure 1: The outside front cover of the al and antidisciplinary field made its greatest reentry in George Spencer-Brown, and in Spring 1970 number of the Whole Earth inroads into general ,” and that, as the discourse of in Maturana and Catalog (Brand 1970). a result, his book “might have been the place . This is indeed a radical as for an extended examination of the coun- well as novel of discourses that has set off terculture.” (Pickering 2010: 12) Instead, he all manner of worldly consequences. This es- writes a book with valuable historical and say extends Robert Scott (2011) in the effort remains well-defined throughout the 1970s. archival work about British cybernetics. But to understand better how von Foerster’s BCL In the first rank of the systems countercul- in its theoretical dimension, Pickering tries pedagogy made an important contribution ture I place , Gregory to reinvent the cybernetic wheel for “an- to the emergence of second-order cybernet- Bateson, Heinz von Foerster, Humberto other future.” Unfortunately, in that attempt ics. Perhaps more understanding of the his- Maturana, , Francisco Varela, he discards too much of its actual past. His torical development of von Foerster’s BCL Lynn Margulis, and . In the substantial treatments of the British-born pedagogy can assist as well in conceptual work of such figures, a broadly shared body W. Ross Ashby, Gregory Bate- comprehension of second-order cybernetics. of systems theories shuttles between the nat- son, , and Gordon Pask margin- At the least, the systems counterculture that ural and , and migrates alize second-order cybernetics by reducing the BCL becomes in its final years is indis- from there to new residences in the social 197 von Foerster’s major as their colleague, pensable for its cultivation. sciences, humanities, and literary and plas- collaborator, and frequent benefactor to not tic . Through multifarious mediations, much more than a footnote. it infiltrates both high academic theory and In one footnote, Pickering mentions The systems counterculture popular culture. It enters alternative loca- Beer’s “acknowledgement of inspiration tions and venues where maverick collabo- from Heinz von Foerster. Beer, Pask, and von By “the systems counterculture,” I mean rations become possible and idiosyncratic Foerster were among the leading contribu- to denote a loosely collegial group of seminal appropriations can be assembled and tested. tors to the development of a cybernetic the- scientific thinkers whose particular develop- Major of the systems counterculture ory of consciousness” (Pickering 2010: 457). ments of cybernetic ideas and practices lead are publically registered with the arrival of Pickering goes on to give “two reasons for them beyond mainstream doctrines and the first in 1968 and not going further into the cybernetic analy- institutions. The systems counterculture’s with its periodical continuation, CoEvolution sis of consciousness. One is that it seems to broad cultural effect has been to detoxify the Quarterly, in the 1970s (Figure 1). me largely theoretical, rather than connect- notion of “” of its military, industrial, When the Heuristics courses began, ing to novel domains of worldly practice” and corporate connotations of command however, the BCL was not quite yet a locus of (ibid: 457–458). One reason to take an inter- and control and to redeploy it in the pursuit the systems counterculture. By the they est in the BCL pedagogy I will be discussing of holistic ideals and ecological values. In ended, sixteen months later, it was. In the fall here is that it is nothing if not such a novel the , this disparate cybernetic of 1968, the BCL was as yet a mainstream if worldly domain. But Pickering’s larger point reformation coalesces in the later 1960s and idiosyncratic scientific research center, well-

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke 198 HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN Second-Order Cybernetics (Foerster 2003: 103; see also: 201) problemthesion,andconveniently disappears. one’sintellectualvi intonicelyof tion spot blind with confusing By humandesiredmind,maythe‘information.’yield a by upon looked when onlyretrieved… are that “ to the study of the mental faculty of memory: applied metaphors storage-and-retrieval of cialevocations of with critiquea superfi over impatience expresses Foerster von 2003), Foerster in (reprinted Well?” as that ry It May Have Hindsight and Foresight instance,1969thepaperin “What Memois cursive workings of cognitive operations. For re increasinglytowardthe interestgoes his upheavalspaperslaterhistheofin 1960s, as conceptualthese traces One 1968. ofspring the in rebellions student the to prior years several for work own his in gathering been had that problems cognitive in interest cal body of knowledge. considerable a harvested have years these which during etc.) (1967); Retrieval’ and Storage tion Informa to Approach Epistemological Oriented Systems’ (1968); ‘Cognitive Memory: A Computer ‘Analysis and Synthesis of Cognitive Processes and putational Principles in Cognitive Systems’ (1966); Com Application of and ‘Theory (e.g. cognition in programs research inter-disciplinary of series a ago years several initiatedgroup this problems “ those problems especially bare: laid have uprisings student recent the that and teaching. Von Foerster suggests problemscognitiveofresearchinto of ation continu a as BCL the of work prior the to relation in courses Heuristics the positions Foerster von administration, university the 1969: 1). A year later, in a program review for to be still a fascinating experiment” (Foerster consider all we what in me joined urana… Mat HumbertoDr. later and Brün…, bert Her student[s], curious and concerned of Catalogue sity the to preface the in 1969 of end the at it presents Foerster von how is Thisright. ownitsexperiment in cybernetic a as project Heuristics the venture to tion posi a in andcontracts military by funded CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST

n niiain f h ugny o ov these solve to urgency the of anticipation In Books, tapes, micro-fiches or other documentsmicro-fiches tapes,other or Books, o Fese rfr hr t a theoreti a to here refers FoersterVon information vehicles “ntae b a ml group small a by “Initiated : , one puts the problem of cogni problemof the putsone , ” (Foerster & Brün 1970: 3) o ptnil information potential for s vol. 7,N°3 Whole UniverWhole ” ------

relations in these terms but do not dosystems livingbut terms theserelations in tems that are very well specified, you may describe is a useful notion for design for understanding sys biological systems do not operate in these terms, it because … in notion useless a is it exist, not does ‘Information said: I Illinois in lectures first my of oneduring thatremember ronment. I envi the in information and information about days those in speaking still was Foerster] [Von observer…andistinctionparticipating,by the on circularity,emphasismyonputobserver theI on “ within second-order reformation cybernetics: cognitive coming its from cybernetics informational theoretical thresholdcrossingcontrol-separatinga ofa the BCL, the andFoerster von with actions watersheda momentinterbe histotook in 2007: 39) it. explaining but there, is observer the claiming,merelyobserver, not theexplaining concern: my was observer.That explainingthe of process the in and understanding of generation the in participant active an as observer the ing introduc difference: a made biology of domain wayof facing thequestions about cognition inthe “ marks that he contributed to von Foerster’s thinking, he re research.own BCL Asked what hemay have scores cognition as the central concern of his Müller,KarlH. under demic policies. scientifictudesin concepts aca in as well as atti mechanistic narrow-minded through informatics misapplicationsof instance, for institutionalconstrictionsforofsion vision, expres indirect an as reads cognition”also of “problem the reexamination, social and ontv tr rahs ul ttmn and statement full reaches turn cognitive VonFoerster’scognition. offormulation ist butinstead readyapproachto constructiva apparatuses,transmissionofextensions ical informaticreception drawn from metaphor notcontentcybernetics relytomodelsonof newer a for play into back ” “human operate in those terms.’

When I came back in 1968 for a longertime…afor 1968 in backcame IWhen my which in BCL the tomoment a in …came n i a ea f evsv personal pervasive of era an in And h “rbe o cgiin big the brings cognition” of “problem The he what recollect to on goes Maturana and Müller Albert with interview an In ” (Maturana 2007: 45) ” (Maturana ------ is as it is. information.environment The contains The no 6 that is information, about the environment. “ cognitive in the first instance: are that processes system self-referential of outcome the but – whatever or neuron a – apparatus receiving a to input transmitted formationlongerherenois freestanding the In . information the of credentials NotesonCognition” revokes ontologicalthe environment,”the mationin and“Thoughts mulationMaturanaregarding recalls“infor Metagames publication BCL student-produced the of part as 1972reprinted inCognition” be will of “ later, remark will we As Cognition”(1970). “Neurophysiologyof published in 1970 in tandem with Maturana’s Cognition,” on Notes and “Thoughts of first remarksmaximumcompressionfinal the in largely of a lexical exercise in the closure ofclosure the in exerciselexical a oflargely consists “Heuristics” orientation. cognitive informaticfrom markingshift an a asthe to it read also could one Butpedagogy. group their of self-organizing and ended the Heuristics courses of and justifies aimsthe open- and design the to applies concept that how expounds preface his Ostensibly, Foerster’svonofment time. this at thinking whathindsightrevealsitin about movethe University Catalogue mainstream for the systems counterculture. was a non-stop ticket departing the scientific it 1970, In constructivism. epistemological of form a call now would we what of favor putedrepudiation objectivisticinof truisms dis widely a remains it nonetheless, ment, mo present the in gesture radical a of less somewhat is attitude cognitive of reversal this If environment. its to construction its attribute to on go then may process which process,self-referentialcognitive a of come system-internalout the becomes itRather, being.system-external granted longer no is information formulations, second-order of

5.6 Cognitive processes create descriptions of, descriptionscreate processes Cognitive 5.6 n te wrs i tee al stirrings early these in words, other In Huitc, te rfc t the to preface the “Heuristics,” self- Heuristics as cognitive Adesd iety o h for the to directly Addressed . ” my e xmnd for examined be may , (Foerster 1970b: 47)

Whole ------Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

semantic reference, from which a philo- form heuristics is now the more common us- publications as “the virtual house organ on sophical moral is then drawn. Von Foerster age. It may be that von Foerster had a signifi- the world stage for the popular discussion cites two dictionary definitions of heuristic, cant hand in popularizing this newer usage. of the breadth of cybernetic ” with the observation that both dictionaries In any event, in good later BCL parlance, the (Clarke 2009b: 300). In fact, the connec- “know only of the adjective.” “Heuristic” is heuristics of the Heuristics courses would be tion between Brand and von Foerster is defined variously as “helping to discover the discovery of discovery. highly significant for the further unfolding or learn” and “Designating the educational of second-order cybernetics and for the method in which the student is allowed or great post-BCL phase of his career. The May encouraged to learn independently through The Whole Earth Catalog 1974 appearance of Cybernetics of Cybernet- his own investigation.” The Indo-European and the Whole University ics coincides closely with the first number of root of the term is then cross-listed to the Catalogue CoEvolution Quarterly, the journal Brand dictionary entry for eureka, Greek for “I began about three years after theLast Whole have found (it),” famously attributed to Von Foerster’s cognitive turns and at- Earth Catalog, to which von Foerster would Archimedes. He notes that the American tention to self-referential closures announce contribute a handful of items (Clarke 2009b: Heritage Dictionary entry for “eureka” then the coming of second-order cybernetics as a 300–302). The Whole Earth Catalog may refers the reader once again to the Indo-Eu- deliberately non-informatic have been a product of “U.S. hippie culture” ropean root wer-. Von Foerster comments: to be aligned with the theory of autopoi- (Müller 2008: 62), but it is now recognized esis as directed at nondesigned or natural as a considerable cultural phenomenon and “ With this referral back to –wer closure of the systems. The BCL is cultivating these epis- historical resource edited with high intel- lexical search for ‘heuristic’ has been achieved, temologically radical systems theories con- ligence and filled with mostly impeccable but left to us is to discover, to find, (to invent?), currently with von Foerster’s radical peda- and invaluable content across a range of sci- or to learn the meaning of the words ‘discover,’ gogical experiments (see Müller 2007). They entific, technical, and social topics. (Turner ‘find,’ ‘invent’ and ‘learn,’ which all describe share a late-’60s ambiance, a confrontational 2006; Kirk 2007; Clarke 2011) Each of its those enigmatic processes by which knowledge is attitude against constituted scientific and successively larger iterations begins with a acquired.”(Foerster 1969: 1) academic authorities and methods. Concur- section titled “Whole Systems,” centered on rently, the BCL comes under what proves but not limited to the work of the systems Von Foerster excavates from this circular to be terminal pressure from the Mansfield thinker Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the etymological tour a self-referring process by Amendment’s destruction of its military geodesic and peripatetic academic which one learns how to learn. Although the funding prospects (Umpleby 2003). much in vogue in the American counter- dictionary definitions of heuristic are per- culture. In CoEvolution Quarterly, Gregory fectly well-formed clusters of semantic infor- “ During the final four years of the BCL, there Bateson takes over this central role in Stew- mation – strings of linguistic signifiers suit- were only two successful grants that listed von Brand’s intellectual universe (Clarke able for coding and transmission to storage Foerster as the principal investigator: an air force 2011: 267–282). media and facilities to await decoding and grant in 1970 to support ‘direct access intelli- First published concurrently, as it hap- retrieval – nonetheless, such information, gence systems’ and a small non-military grant pened, with the first semester of the Heu- in and of itself, does nothing “until looked in 1973 to support von Foerster’s final college ristics courses, the Whole Earth Catalog has upon by a human mind.” The circularity of course, which produced the book Cybernetics of cogent treatments of cybernetic pioneers 199 lexical reference is a mere matter of the link- Cybernetics (1974).” (Scott 2011: 1154–1155) such as , Ludwig von Berta- age of informatic . In contrast, the lanffy, Ross Ashby, and Warren McCulloch. self-referential recursion of cognition – such However, the source of the modest ci- One year later, in the fall of 1969, the cap- as that entailed by learning and understand- vilian grant making the large size and con- stone project for the otherwise open-ended ing the meanings not just of words but of the siderable production values of that volume activities of the Heuristics courses is the cre- processes they signify – is a complex sys- possible is not negligible. It is the Point ation of a Whole University Catalogue. This temic operation. Von Foerster then invents Foundation, the non- organization was neither frivolous nor merely faddish. a noun, “plural in form, used with a singular headed by , creator and editor Von Foerster would have vetted the integri- verb,” to name this complex, the manifold of the Whole Earth Catalog.Brand set up the ty of the Whole Earth Catalog as a source of of processes for “The study of the as yet Point Foundation to disburse the consider- cybernetic and other high-level intellectual unknown processes by which knowledge is able profits generated by the distribu- content in the midst of and despite an other- acquired,” heuristics. Although the latest on- tion of the Last Whole Earth Catalog of 1971 wise radical relation to mainstream Ameri- line edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (Turner 2006: 120). Like its BCL predeces- can academic as well as social institutions. as of November 2011 lists usages preceding sor, the Whole University Catalogue, Cyber- As von Foerster declares in its preface, the von Foerster’s course as variants of a singular netics of Cybernetics is also a deliberate hom- Whole University Catalogue is a “tangible re- noun, the plural noun is still not listed in its age to this central document of the systems sult of one class project… stimulated by the own right. However, the Wikipedia entry in counterculture. Elsewhere I have described superb Whole Earth Catalogue” (Foerster English on heuristic indicates that the plural the Whole Earth Catalog and its subsequent 1969: 1). In Spring 1970, it publishes von

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke 200 HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN Second-Order Cybernetics rationale the But signature. group late-60s si-communitarian approach may be a sort of Foerster.signaturevonof sole qua the This the participatingstudents’ namesovermasse en gives preface the Instead, by-lined. is the of article or ative credits like so many gold stars, no piece cre out give to is which of point the publications, college traditional unlike log Culloch’s Introductionto Cybernetics Systems collectionessay the BCL as suchorbit, the in works featuring notices book Catalog, the on modeled closely And joints. beer and restaurants of reviews nail fer“Guidea toT. F.I.G. spots” withthumb andMax Peter of manner the in drawings line and Time,” with photographs of university scenes ofPawn “Oncea poem, free-verse a sperses MiltontoJames Dickey, whilepage 25inter from ranging quotations by accompanied ,”treesphotographs ofnine with page 7 is devoted instance, to “TheOverall Oneness For of yearbook. college a or azine undergraduateanthereofand literarymag unremarkable,andfensivereminiscenthere UniversityWholeCatalogue thecontent ofthe of much English,and ing Engineer Electrical of departments the in classescross-listed in studentsfrom Drawn semesterthisnumber grew to 156” (Foerster 1969: 1). this in and 52, became it [1969] fieldswho and first participated ranks was 23, in Spring all of students of balloons: number “The courses Heuristics the in ment enrollsemesters three its over 500, over to Catalog them. theonlooker who may see what he can learn from contemplated by be to here reproduced are pictures, they or words in delivered were pressions ex the as University.… Unedited, our of Chaos the and Cosmos the world, special a of ceptions “ The cer-Brown’s Foerster’s substantial review of George Spen CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST

conceived as a vehicle for expressingper foronesvehicle a conceivedas , which identifies its contributors, and contributors, its identifies which , However,the unlike the of countpage the Like Whole University Catalogue ” (Foerster 1969: 1). s ucsie dtos on fo 40 from going editions successive ’s , Ross, Ashby’s pages 60–61 have a handful of short Embodiments of Mind YellowSubmarine of Form of Laws Whole UniversityWhole Catalogue Designfor Braina Whole Earth Cata Earth Whole (Foerster 1970a). (Foerster s vol. 7,N°3 , and, Warren Mc . Pagesof36–37. is entirely inofentirely is . hl Earth Whole Whole EarthWhole is Purposive and ------

Jerry Farber’s pie manifesto midst of snippets from Abbie Hoffman’s Yip famousMad Bomber George Matesky in the “FuckSystem”the laudsNewYork ’s Party.in International Youth mock-political acid-fueled, flamboyant the – Yippies the transmutedangerbytheaterabsurdinto cal politi undercurrentofSystem” the thetaps On page 90 a well-written article titled “Fuck U.S.Senate for legalizationthe ofmarijuana. fold of advocating before the center a walls, on posting andclipping for Requirement.”Pages provide,48–49 suitable LanguageForeign the “Fuck title the under sophomoriclengthyrantpresents a 30Page impendingMoratoriumWaran ontrain.of PresidentRichard Nixon railshogtiedtheto then-sittingof cartoon political a with plete com studentsand striking of view of point the fromwritten elsewhere, and campus on graphic account of anti-Vietnam War protest photo a gives 14 Page does. it as far play as out it letting Foerster’s von of spirit, the not if wisdom, the questioncertainly could this shielding his students’ individual identities. is Foerster Von 1). 1969: (Foerster me” to addressed be should Catalogue this in ited exhib projects particular about telephone, of this Catalogue. All inquiries, written or by content the all and form the sponsibilityfor re full assume “I note: a appends he ture signa Tohis that. beyond goes likely it for hrte. egh dsrpin o various of descriptions Lengthy thorities. au local and campus the elude to how on advice with along campus on culture the of drug documentation hard offer to ports pur It Whole?” The or University the and “Drugs – arc narrative its of top the at max publication,entireessentially,cli the the in sequence unified and concerted most the surely is legislature Illinois the and versity The Crying of Lot 49 Lot of Crying The Pynchon’s Thomas of out something like – receptacle trash a over stooped youth a of photograph inset an as such spoofs, geous outra are details its of Some transport. for pot harvested process to bricking a for schematics against off set is drugs ing mainlin for works of set homemade a of image frightening A use. their in structions in by accompanied are substances illegal ot ann i te ys f h uni the of eyes the in damning Most whole, a as taken for might, he well As Catalogue The Student as Nigger Revolution for the Hell of It s eakby uk. One funky. remarkably is wt te caption, the with – . and ------n i cpind Lgsao iset ex inspects “Legislator captioned is photographs. One of page a with hearings the covers newspaper campus his day next The committee. Horsley the before testifies ster Foer von 1970, September 18 disorder.On that the investigate“campus disorders.” deemed isIt resolution that duly creates a special joint a committee to introduces Horsley William G. senator state May, Illinois following The desks. their onlandcomplaints to the begin when administrators Foerster’s scandalized might stumble across them. who squaresany out freak Yippieto theater shockingThese vignettes are studentsatires, .”unsuspecting of dosing the ing facilitat drugs, with cafeteriainjectingfood in aids needle “The caption, alarming the with – mag porno 1950s some in as barred eyes photographhisstudent the – page,a of pus.” Similarly laughable is, on the following cam on spots pick-up pre-arranged in left is which dope his up picks user drug “The (Illinois State Register 1970) are concerned with the deep problems of .’ understandmustsystemyouit,’ ‘Students said.he a regulate to want you ‘If constraints. with lems probsolutions to find “to is class the of purpose beingasked questions, Von Foerster explained the field, about hisright to speak onthe subjectbefore R-Spring Horsley, William G. chairman mittee com with dickering After publication. the from comesharm’ than good ‘more said VonFoerster at a cafeteria and cheat parking meters. supplyfood intothedrugs injectdope, shoot self, your for narcotics makeCounty, Champaign in pany, cheat on rent to the landlord, find Marijuana telephonecheatthecomriot, aConduct to:how as items such were publication the in Included bers of one of his classes. mem bydistributed and written was which tion years at the U. of I., testified concerning a publica “ to von Foerster reads infull: devoted article the of timony.”portion The “‘Radical headline the Teachers Present Tes under hearings the covers newspaper field Spring A 1970). Illini (Daily defense own his andstudents’ his in testifying crophone picturea of von Foerster seated before mi a System.”“Fuck the article the to is Opposite versityCatalogue.’” open is picturethatitIn Foerster’s von fromWhole Uni cerpts ‘The

Heinz Von Foerster, a professor for 21 professorforVonphysics Foerster,Heinz a u sc sblte ae ot pn von upon lost are subtleties such But Whole University Catalogue is such a ” ------

Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

The internal Heuristics report (Foerster & Brün 1970), dated 3 October, two weeks after this public testimony, couches research at the BCL in the same terms. It is applied cybernetics, systems theory in search of solu- tions to social and pedagogical deficiencies.

From Ecological Source Book to Metagames

It would seem that in the semester im- mediately following the Heuristics courses and the distribution of the Whole University Catalogue, von Foerster momentarily sets aside the experimental flair if not the holis- tic aims of the systems counterculture. The Whole Earth Catalog’s models of cybernetic found the next major phase of their expression in Bateson’s Steps to an of Mind, published in 1972. Von Foerster’s course in “Engineering Ecology,” conducted in the spring of 1970 without a cross-listed humanities component, was in broad con- Figure 2: The outside cover of Metagames. ceptual resonance with such nascent ecophi- losophy, but it does not appear to have been a vigorous experimental vehicle. To tell from its mostly sober and earnest student-gener- plodding fashion, it gathers itself up into an Austrian émigré Ivan Illich was not a ated publication, Ecological Source Book, orderly sequence. but a charismatic social critic his pedagogy retreated for a while from the However, von Foerster does not aban- and seminal advocate for radical educational production of innovative or edgy class proj- don his experimental teaching initiatives. reform. His Mexican retreat center and call ects. That may have been what this particu- His subsequent activities would argue in- for “counterfoil institutions” made him an lar collection of students wanted for their stead that he determines to step all the way active sponsor of and major philosopher for project and/or what its professor needed at into the role of “radical teacher” that has the American intellectual counterculture. In the moment. The preface of the Ecological now been scripted for him. His edgy peda- the early 1970s he brought systems thinkers Source Book indicates that while the course gogy pauses only in order to broaden its into his orbit at CIDOC (see Foerster 1971; proceeded to some degree in open-ended philosophical base before leaping forward Varela 2009: 72). “The seminar in Cuer- 201 heuristic fashion, it was now more firmly once more into the vanguard, as he throws navaca amplified the shifts in von Foerster’s guided by the course’s nominal topic and in his lot with the systems counterculture thinking, in his drift away from first-order its instructor’s holistic motivations. Its ap- with a vengeance. Robert Scott (2011: 1153– engineering problems and toward issues of proach was “to develop first the conceptual 1154) has summarized the key event here: observation itself, looking at and framework in which a totality can be con- society” (Scott 2011: 1154). ceived and then to let the search for spe- “ In the summer of 1971, Ivan Illich and Heinz With the writing of the Mansfield cifics fall where they appear to be needed” von Foerster arranged a series of meetings at the Amendment on the wall, in the last three (Foerster 1970c: i). Still, compared to either Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cu- years of its run, the BCL resolves itself into the Whole Earth Catalog or the Whole Uni- ernavaca, Mexico with Herbert Brün, Humberto a virtual counterfoil institution, its research versity Catalogue, with a few exceptions the Maturana, Gordon Pask, and students. The dis- project the design of alternative pedagogies Ecological Source Book looks very much like cussions reflected Illich’s recently published De- to test second-order cybernetics’ forays into a traditional textbook. Once again, no in- schooling Society, as well as Brün and von Foer- cognitive and epistemological issues. The dividual credit is given for its contents. But ster’s reflections on heuristics, Maturana’s recently professor of at its head no longer here this circumstance comes across not as a proposed theory of ‘autopoiesis,’ and Pask’s inter- dabbles but dives headlong into metaphys- countercultural gesture but as a pretense of jections from his nascent ‘conversation theory.’ ics, a development or Nachträglichkeit of Vi- impersonal objectivity. TheEcological Source The meetings with Illich appear to mark a turn- ennese culture waiting to happen ever since Book does not playfully explode in multiple ing point in von Foerster’s thinking about educa- the young von Foerster fell under the spell directions. In an academically proper but tion.” of Wittgenstein, “Uncle Ludwig” (see Clarke

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke 202 HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN Second-Order Cybernetics co-observers of staging cognition through of contentMetagames the Altogether, construction. - for playful as proached ap games board complicated increasingly of series a projects, classroom of products vation (Figure device 2). as apedagogical netics’ attention to the observation of obser cyber second-order of advent the models Significance Epistemological and Sociological, Political, Psychological, of the observation of play – through possibilities cognitive of discovery the declaims that title a above hovers eye cover,front the one observer.On an of eyes leapsout at its viewer, on the focused boldly cover entire Its regimentation. needless its fulness of the purpose coherent the anarchism, traneous CatalogueUniversityWhole the of playfulness explosive the has It the BCL. of publication student 1972 the in ed document amplyreorientationsare radical these of fruits The 27–28). 2009: Hansen & CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST ot of Most draws out the constructedness of Ecological Source Book Metagames meta -tactics -tactics based on the Fgr 3). (Figure Metagames: Games consists of the the of consists s vol. 7,N°3 without its ex its without I brilliantly It . Figure 3: t gives It without ------Co-observers. co-observation: “This class endeavored not endeavored class “This co-observation: of technique classroom a documents and describes who Sloan, Steven spokesperson, and copyright claim of an individual student usual signature Foerster’s the statementstand andsignature von against and Over it. ple observations of the course that produced of coverfront state only the professor’s overview, the inside Foerster 1972:29) description. the for reference a as serves which and himself, observer the is this if even relate,or interact to it observe can he which with and it distinguish can he which from entity other one least at is there if cordingly, the Acobserver can describe entity.an entity only described the of relations and tions interac potential or actual the enumerate to is )it. Tohe canwhen describe describe “ “Neurophysiology of Cognition”: Maturana’s of reprint its in observer” “the approachto this of theorization explicit the For an the observer entity is an entity (a unit of Unlike its predecessors’ openings, which ” Mtrn 17: ; erne in reprinted 4; 1970: (Maturana Metagames introduces multi introduces - - - creating a ‘box’ of ‘goodies’ at the end of the se the of end the ‘goodies’at of ‘box’ a creating Baron’sonSandy presentationinto led then out, handed he directories the about notes few a bled mum Chairman writing. start to forgot Almost the explained timetable that out was passed to class… the and Europe, to trip coming his interest in this general area. HVF then announced an have to seemed groups the of most since ect, creation the ‘gameof posed projclass the box’as Chairman,remarksAfter a few the Sandy by pro “ same events: attitudes regarding the “object matter” of the and moods observational others’ and own room events, while a metascribe itsobserves class exterior observes scribe a statement, Sloan’salongside portions sampletions.” In accompanying the on interacinterpersonal notes took meta-scribes contentand the on notes took Scribes generated. was content the which by processes observable the also but said was what on concentrate to only for the objects. These rules they agree to call ‘The call to agree they rules These objects. the for put they rules ofinventandboard set this themselveson a Then World.’ ‘The call to agree they which it on objects of lots with board large a ate cre They playit.wantplayersto two who atleast “ Metagames expounds of play the of metaphor universal the preface implicit This reality?” tions. play space for the unfolding of creative a conversa up opens observation of recursion The accounts. upon accounts of loop back feed a in accountany embedding by count ac true objectively an of notion entire the suspend to is exercise this of outcome The the nometascribe less, “true” than the other. scribe is no more, the “subjective” account of “objective” the that is course, the accountof of game, second-order this of The meta-point complex. more discourse its self-observation renders of inclusion the because insidethe front cover of Foerster 1972) Heinz. to over floor the turns Sandy The is class quiet and Building. relaxed. gineering En Ceramics 218 in comfortable, and fashioned old- Very room. New possibilities. Manymester. Now,must thereFirst,be reality? isgame what

The first page is titled “What game is game “What is titled page first The lengthier is metascribe the of text The : Metascribe Scribe ” (cited on (cited ------Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

Laws of Nature.’ If, during the game, it turns out that the rules they applied in creating the objects don’t jibe with the rules they invented to play with the objects, they either ignore these objects or change ‘The Laws of Nature.’” In other words, Metagames is a meta- phor for as well as a meta-observation upon the doing of . Von Foerster signs “What game is reality?” not with a by-line but with an image of “the gentleman in the bowler hat,” -known figure, drawn by Gordon Pask, that first shows up in 1960 in “Self-Organizing Systems and their Envi- ronments” (Foerster 2003: 1–19; see Clarke 2009a: 43–46). What appeared in that es- say to be a parenthetical side remark – “it may be interesting to note that reality ap- pears as a consistent reference frame for at least two observers” (Foerster 2003: 4) – has now become, as the passage just cited from “Neurophysiology of Cognition” confirms, a canonical proposition in the emergence of second-order cybernetics. Likewise, the gentleman with the bowler hat makes return appearances – here and a year later in “On Constructing a Reality” – as von Foerster’s abiding icon for the co-construction of re- ality out of a conversation among mutually enclosed consciousnesses (see Müller 2008; Clarke 2009a: 51–58). In this role it pops up throughout Metagames to provide visual Figure 4: Visual association of “self-reference” in Metagames. continuity. However, the primary content of Metagames is made to be scissored into bits – board games along with their game pieces, scorecards, tokens, and other ludic para- of epistemological . It con- a fascinating text whose title would appear 203 phernalia. To leave no unoccupied space sists of four scholarly articles: in addition to (from its bold font) to be “self-reference” on its pages, the obverse sides of the game the reprint of Maturana’s “Neurophysiology (Figure 4). Once again, there is no by-line boards and pieces are decorated with as- of Cognition,” there is an untitled reprint of for this lay-out, so one can only speculate sorted Wittgenstein quotations and what ap- a Gordon Pask essay on self-organization in whether von Foerster himself is the author pear to be Rorschach blots. I will leave it to technological and social systems, to which or just the instigator of this set of plays upon other commentators to retrieve those games the documentation appends the title “My the paradoxes of self-reference. I will assume and characterize their play. However, as we Prediction for 1984” and the date 1962; run- that he is indeed its author. Perhaps this too have already noted, interspersed with this ning upside down with reverse pagination is a metagame to indicate the meta-dialec- is scholarly content from the BCL research beside the Maturana article is Herbert Brün’s tical character of second-order conceptual shop. This is the first time that professorial “ and the Composer”; and at the formations. On one side of the eye of the content has entered one of the student-pro- end of the magazine, its closing statement, is observer is a series of negations, either lexi- duced magazines from von Foerster’s cours- von Foerster’s “ of the Future and cal or propositional. On the other side is a es. In this way Metagames sets the stage for the Future of Perception.” contrasting series of positive statements or the full-fledged scholarly documentation I will touch briefly on two more sections phrases. What one can now observe in com- project to be enacted two years later by Cy- of Metagames. After the last of the board paring them is that negativity is self-correct- bernetics of Cybernetics. Here such content game content, page 83 duplicates the image ing, whereas positivity is self-amplifying. provides conceptual scaffoldings for the cog- of the eye on the cover, framed now to form But this is much more that a first-order cy- nitive exploration of game play as a species a kind of asymmetrical vessel surrounded by bernetic lesson in mechanisms.

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke 204 HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN Second-Order Cybernetics destruction”“continuity,”yields “self-denial” “destructiondestruction”the of asunfolded “Self-course.positive a on back itself get to out, itselfwork toaberration allows – ment Enlightenoccludedblindthespotofbythe ofthe language.”are languageintroduction of The tiveform of its own absolutism: “All theories .” govern “There are no must absolutes” unfolds “Law aposi legality: of concept the self-referentialofnature the positsproperly counterpartpositive its as nullification, just own its performs all” at not governs which true.”best statement governmentis is “That “This falsity:ownits of truth very formsthe per false” is statement “This counterparts. positive their suggesting byoverstatements own their propositionscorrect these selves, There are no absolutes. That governmentwhichbest is governs not all. at “ propositions on top the left the figure:of CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST This statement is false. In each case, when referred back to them paradoxical three the take instance,For self- functionlongso – interdicted and Figure 5: ” The photography ofphotography 1. s vol. 7,N°3 - - - - sweeps across the airy high-ceilinged room, high-ceilinged airy the across sweeps have been combined. A suite of photographs 491 Biophysics and 490 and En 272 gineering Electrical where classroom the from photographsof portfolio presenta 84–85 es publication’s the composite Pagbrain trust. cal page of tual reformation. counterculturescientisticasa modeof spiri rectlyto the wider aspirations of the systems di joinsmetaphysics second-order such of guidance neocybernetic The impasses. cal epistemologi of overcoming the inspire to abiding promise of second-order cybernetics It seems to me that this page encapsulates the edgment of paradox makes all the difference. negative.”the self-acknowl“positive of The paradoxical of explicitly the negative”into the “power paradoxical implicitly Hegel’s of page this on demonstrated dynamics self-correcting the assertion.” In of “assertion the in itself far,“self-assertion”so come ing compounds hav “assertion.” And yields unfolded tion” unfolded yields “acceptance,” and “self-nega Immediately following this quite magi quite this following Immediately Metagames Metagames is the self-reference of , von Foerster turns Foerster von , Figure 6: ------The photography ofphotography 2. and exit then of acast at end the of aplay. bows multiple the floor, like empty an then seats, empty photographs: last two Finally, 8). (Figure room the of sides opposite on class the assemble photographs stationary dent desk chair (Figure 7). Beneath that, two stu a from smiling Maturana with board, black the at Pask with dialogue in Foerster von shows page next The Foerster. von of picture a taking is first the that now vealing re photographers, two same the of shot a is Adjacentthatphotographer 6). to (Figure second a by photographed being tographer phooneof shot a observation, of servation to that image is another depiction of the ob goes the subject/object distinction. Adjacent photographer her ofphotograph a taking photographed time, same the at another’s then, andphotograph graphs. A young woman is firstthe object of photo taking students show photographs meta-dynamics going on. A series of student the gist of the co-observational methods and capture page this from details few A dents. amidstanimatedminglingan throng ofstu showing its bright windows and its professor Fgr 5). (Figure on again Down ------Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

Figure 7: Maturana in a student desk chair. Figure 8: The class.

Conclusion themselves and bring the one that posits It marks the sublation or transcending of them back, not to where they started pre- Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics of communi- To restate the key philosophical issue I cisely, but to an enhanced view on the posi- cation and control through “the control of have ventured to extract from these playful- tivity of what may be constructed. Just as control and the communication of commu- ly oblique materials: behind the dialectical the environment contains no information, nication.” It remedies the blindness of the power of the negative as codified in Hegel’s either positive or negative, nature knows supposed objectivity of the cybernetics of preface to The Phenomenology of Mind, no negation. We may agree with Spinoza observed systems with the observation of there is the more basic power and produc- that “all determination is negation,” but observation, the participation of observa- tivity of the paradoxical. Rather than dis- nonetheless, the environment contains no tion in the construction of its own objects. card his insights into the “positive of the determination. Such information-creating Collectively bootstrapped from his last negative,” von Foerster seeks the means distinctions are self-wrought upon the university course, this final student vol- to learn from and teach them. Although it flux of some observer’s description. In the ume would indicate that von Foerster was got him into hot water, such a conviction metagame of reality, the world is the game a successful student of his own continuing 205 regarding the positive of the negative may board and its objects are tokens for (eigen) course on heuristics. Over the previous six have been one rationale for his refusal to behaviors – that is, for the recursive co- years, he has learned how to discover, to in- censor what others deemed to be the ob- constructions of co-observing systems and vent, and to teach the second cybernetics jectionable content of the Whole Univer- their environments. that lay implicit but unrecognized behind sity Catalogue. Welcoming the positivity of Viewed against the prehistory I have the first cybernetics. It is a comprehensive paradox must have been, in a sense, a phase told in this article, Cybernetics of Cybernet- shift from a communicational and com- in his conversion to constructivism, for ics, the student mega-publication subvened putational informatics to a new cognitive which, in the end, the previous mainstream by the Point Foundation and published in ecology of biological, dialogical, and socio- career of the BCL had to be sacrificed. the spring of 1974, appears as the compre- logical processes. This is not the informatic The play of paradox teaches that, just hensive final compendium of the cybernet- process of self-organization from noise he as all observation is self-referential in the ic contexts and collegial co-productions of celebrates a decade earlier (Foerster 2003: first instance, all things are self-positing the BCL. It seems likely that von Foerster 11–14). It is self-complexification from a within their own “domain of interactions.” already knew he was bringing his organized heuristic dialogue self-applied to his own And to that extent, there is no negativity research operation to a close. Cybernetics scientific and professional life. What he can except that which we construct through of Cybernetics marks the formal initiation do now, more so than before, and what he the power of language to produce negative of second-order cybernetics as an all-out will do for the rest of his intellectual career, constructions. For when pressed back upon mobilization of the power of paradox and is to make explicit the difference that sec- their own premises, negations will negate of its gentle handmaiden, self-reference. ond-order cybernetics makes.

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke 206 HISTORICAL CONCEPTS IN Second-Order Cybernetics (eds.) N. B. M. Hansen & B. Clarke (2011) B. Clarke (2009b) B. Clarke (2009a) B. Clarke (ed.) S. Brand Congress, , , November 2011. Foerstervon Heinz the atdelivered was per pa this of version earlier Riegler.An ander Alex Umpleby,and Stuart Muller, H. Karl Hutchinson,JamieSchroeder,Paul to tance been assis invaluable for well have as Thanks written. not could essay this guidance CONSTRUCTIVIST FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTIVIST sity Press: Durham. Press: sity Univer theory. Duke systems second-order in essays New embodiment. and Emergence 259–288. U.S.Amsterdam: Rodopi, cultures. and theory systems Social modernity: ing Address (eds.) C. Schinko & H. Bergthaller In: holism. systemic and Earth Whole 293–314. Cambridge: Press, MIT crisis. of age an in earth and change,biodepletion, Climate turmoil: in Gaia (eds.) B.Rinker H. & Crist E. In: theory. Gaia second-order of emergence 34–61. UniversityDurham: Press: theory. Duke systems second-order in essays New embodiment. and Emergence (eds.) B.N. M. Hansen B.& theory.Clarke In: systems second-order of emergence The CA. PortolaInstitute, Park Menlo 1970. Spring References andMüller’s generosity Albert Without Acknowledgements (1970) Whole earth catalog, catalog, earth Whole (1970) Steps to an ecology of systems: systems: of ecology an to Steps Heinz vonFoerster’sHeinz demons: Neocybernetics of Gaia: The The Gaia: of Neocybernetics s vol. 7,N°3 (2009) (2009) { - - - - - English at English at Texas Tech University. Hisresearch focuseson19th-and20th-century is Paul Whitfield HornProfessorofLiterature of andScienceintheDepartment BRUCE CLARKE Theory collections (2001), include andMediaPhilosophy, Bauhaus-University Weimar. Hispublications hewastheInternationalResearch InstituteforCultural SeniorFellowat In 2010–11 He editsthebookseries literature andscience, withspecialinterestsinsystemstheoryandnarrative theory. Foerster H. von (2003) von H. Foerster (ed.) von H. Foerster (ed.) von H. Foerster (ed.) von H. Foerster (ed.) von H. Foerster (1970b) von. H. Foerster (1970a) von H. Foerster (1969) von H. Foerster (1970) Illini Daily Institute, Menlo Park CA: 14. Institute, Park Menlo CA: Portola catalog. earth Whole (1970) (ed.) S. tion. Springer, tion. York.New cogni and cybernetics on Essays standing. MN. FutureMinneapolis Systems, by 1995 in Republished IL. Champaign atUrbana-Champaign, UniversityIllinois of ComputerLaboratory, Biological bernetics. IL. Rantoul Press, Rantoul 72.3. Publication No. 1014. Cuaderno Documentacion, de Intercultural Centro networks. relational IL. Rantoul Press, Rantoul 70.3. Publication BCL book. 25–48. York:New view.Books, multiple A Spartan P. Garvin In: Cognition. cognition. on (ed.) operation. company, printing a just editorial an not was Press Rantoul BCL. bythe publication butrather, for prepared BCL, atbythe or published literally not were volumes These fordistribution. copies printed actual the company produced that local the was Press 1. IL: Rantoul Press, Rantoul No. Publication 69.3. BCL catalogue. sity univer whole The von(ed.) H. Foerster 18. 1970: September 19 Urbana-Champaign, at Illinois of University line. firing the on (2009), andthe Posthuman Metamorphosis: Narrative andSystems Energy Forms: AllegoryandScienceintheEra ofClassical Emergence andEmbodiment: NewEssaysinSecond-Order Systems Witchhunt? Universities Universities Witchhunt? (1974) Cybernetics of cy of Cybernetics (1974) BCL Metagames. (1972) Interpersonal (1971) source Ecological (1970c) Heuristics: a preface. In: preface. a Heuristics: Understandingunder . In: Brand In: form. of Laws Thoughts and notes and Thoughts Routledge CompaniontoLiterature andScience Meaning Systems Note: Rantoul Rantoul - - - - , publishedbyFordhamUniversityPress. Foerster H. von & Broecker M. S. (2010) S. M. Broecker & von H. Foerster Maturana H. R. (1970) R. H. Maturana (2007) R. Martin (2007) G. A. Kirk (1970) State Register Illinois HutchinsonJ. (2008) (1970) H. Brün & von H. Foerster Originally published in German as: Foerster Foerster as: German in published Originally Urbana-Champaign. UniversityIllinois, of ComputerEngineering, and Electrical of byJ. edited Hutchinson. Department Translated acts. three byB.Anger-Diaz, in drama A ethics. of world. the of 3–23. York:New view.Books, multiple Spartan P. A Garvin In: Cognition. cognition. (ed.) Vienna: 117–129. Echoraum, 1958–1976. ComputerLaboratory/BCL Biological the and vonFoerster Heinz tion? revolu unfinished An (eds.) H. K. Müller & A. Müller In: for cybernetics. school a – nars Lawrence. University Kansas, of Press ronmentalism. envi American and Catalog Earth Whole 19. September testimony.present Illinois, Springfield, 2011. December 29 on index.htm http://bcl.ece.illinois.edu/hutchinson/ from ComputerLaboratory. Retrieved Biological the and vonFoerster Heinz world: bernetic IL. paign Cham atUrbana-Champaign, Illinois of University 13.1. Report Research BCL tion. acquisi knowledge on course a on report Heidelberg. Carl-Auer-Systeme Verlag, Akten. drei in Drama Welt:Ein Ethik. einer Fraktale Teil (2002) S. M. einer Broecker von& H. (2008), andtheedited BCL and the heuristics semi heuristics the and BCL Counterculture green. The The green. Counterculture “Nerve center” of the cy the of center” “Nerve Neurophysiology of Neurophysiology “Radical teachers” “Radical (2010). Heuristics. A Heuristics. Part

------Second-Order Cybernetics From Information to Cognition Bruce Clarke

Maturana H. R. (2007) Interview on von Foer- 62–69. Available at http://www.univie.ac.at/ Umpleby S. (2007) Interview on Heinz von ster, autopoiesis, the BCL and Augusto Pino- constructivism/journal/4/1/062.foerster Foerster, the BCL, second-order cybernetics chet. In: Müller A. & Müller K. H. (eds.) An Pickering A. (2010) The cybernetic brain. and the American society for cybernetics. unfinished revolution? Heinz von Foerster Sketches of another future. Chicago, Univer- In: Müller A. & Müller K. H. (eds.) and the Biological Computer Laboratory/ sity of Chicago Press. An unfinished revolution? Heinz von BCL 1958–1976. Echoraum, Vienna: 37–51. Scott R. (2011) Heinz von Foerster’s heuristics Foerster and the Biological Computer Müller A. (2007) A brief history of the BCL. course: A factor in the development of Laboratory/BCL 1958–1976. Echoraum, Heinz von Foerster and the Biological Com- second-order cybernetics in the United Vienna: 77–87. puter Laboratory. In: Müller A. & Müller States. Kybernetes 40(7–8): 1149–1150. Varela F. J. (2009) The early days of autopoiesis. K. H. (eds.) (2007) An unfinished revolu- Turner F. (2006) From counterculture to cyber- In: Clarke B. & Hansen M. B. N. (eds.) tion? Heinz von Foerster and the Biological culture. Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Emergence and embodiment. New essays in Computer Laboratory/BCL 1958–1976. network, and the rise of digital utopianism. second-order systems theory. Duke Univer- Echoraum, Vienna: 277–321. Press, Chicago. sity Press: Durham: 62–76. Müller A. (2008) Computing a reality: Heinz von Umpleby S. (2003) Heinz von Foerster and the Foerster’s lecture at the A.U.M. Conference Mansfield amendment. Cybernetics & Hu- Received: 3 January 2012 in 1973. Constructivist Foundations 4(1): man Knowing 10(3–4): 187–190. Accepted: 6 April 2012

OF RELATED INTEREST EMERGENCE AND EMBODIMENT { The book Emergence and Embodiment: New Essays on Second-Order Systems Theory edited by Bruce Clarke and Mark Hanson is a collection of essays on second-order cybernetics that draws together ideas related to self-organization, autopoiesis, organizational closure, self-reference, and . For an extended review see Peter Cariani’s “On the Importance of Being Emergent” in Constructivist Foundations 5(2): 86–91, available at http://www.univie.ac.at/ constructivism/journal/5/2/086.cariani Duke University Press, Durham, 2009. ISBN 978-0-6223-4600-5. 296 pages. 207

OF RELATED INTEREST AN UNFINISHED REVOLUTION? { This book provides a two-fold access to Heinz von Foerster’s legacy and his work at the Biological Computer Laboratory, the institution he founded and directed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1958 to 1976. See Stefano Franchi’s Review “Blunting the Edge of Second-Order Cybernetics” in Constructivist Foundations 3(1): 53–54, available at http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/3/1/053.franchi Echoraum, Vienna, 2007. ISBN 978-3-901941-12-2. 512 pages.

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/7/3/196.clarke