From Rosenblueth to Richmond: A Historical Review of Cybernetics

10 Aug 2011 - 14:00

Ask someone on the street what ‘cybernetics’ is, and they’re likely to say it’s got something to do with robots, computers, and / or the Internet. Ask someone in academia, and they’re likely to say it’s an antiquated atomic era meme or a transdisciplinary experiment that spawned (e.g.) robotics, AI, control theory, and a variety of organizational management theories before fading away. Ask anyone why a cybernetics society would hold a conference on ‘listening’, and the likely response would be ‘huh?!?’. This tutorial will provide a historical review of selected themes and developments explaining how ‘cybernetics’ isn’t what most people think it is, and why in its current second-order form cybernetics indeed has a proper interest in interpersonal communication (e.g., ‘listening’).

Tutorial facilitator: Randall Whitaker
Tutorial duration: 3 hours

You can sign up for this event below (not more than once, please. You need to log on to this website first to access the sign-up interface). If you signed up and you would like to cancel, please email the ASC Secretary.

This tutorial will be conducted in parallel to Phillip Guddemi’s tutorial Gregory Bateson’s Epistemology. Please choose one to take part in and do not sign up for both tutorials.

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