Feb 7, 2022
Cybernetics is broadly defined as the study of control
and communications, with a special emphasis on feedback-based
systems. Put another way: cybernetics is the study of the flow of
data. Predating computer science by decades, cybernetics offers up
an interesting view of computing. But of course, there's a lot more
to the picture than just computers. This episode we are looking at
Project Cybersyn, an attempt to automate Chile's economy via
cybernetics. To talk about this specific case we are going to dive
deep into the history of cybernetics itself.
Selected Sources:
https://sci-hub.se/10.1086/286788 - Behavior, Purpose,
and Teleology
https://sci-hub.se/10.1057/jors.1984.2 - The Viable
System Model, by Beer
https://web.archive.org/web/20181222110043/http://ada.evergreen.edu/~arunc/texts/cybernetics/Platform/platform.pdf
- Beer on Cybersyn
https://web.archive.org/web/20200619033457/https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/edenm/EdenMedinaJLASAugust2006.pdf
- Designing Freedom, Regulating a Nation, by Eden
Medina
