Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary science that focuses on control and communication within systems, whether they are biological organisms, machines, or societal structures. It examines how these systems process information and adapt their functioning in response to feedback, establishing a relationship between monitors that gather data and controllers that initiate necessary changes. The term "cybernetics" comes from the Greek word for "steering," and its modern interpretation began with Norbert Wiener's groundbreaking work in the 1940s, which linked communication and control mechanisms in both living beings and machines.
Cybernetics encompasses a variety of fields, including mathematics, biology, and sociology, and can be understood through simple examples, like how the human brain operates as a controller responding to sensory feedback. This principle extends to mechanical systems, where components like microprocessors respond to input devices. While often misassociated with robotics or artificial intelligence due to popular culture, cybernetics is distinct in its broader application to any system that relies on feedback and control processes. Overall, it provides valuable insights into the functioning of complex systems across diverse contexts.
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the science of control and communication in living organisms, machines, and other systems. The primary focus of cybernetics is how a system—biological or otherwise—processes information and initiates changes to improve its functioning in response to the information it receives. Accordingly, cybernetics is concerned with system models in which some sort of monitor sends information about what is happening within or around said system at a given time to a controller. This controller then initiates whatever changes are necessary to keep the system operating within normal parameters. Cybernetics is a broad scientific field that often intersects with and involves many other scientific studies, including mathematics, biology, logic, and sociology. Although it has roots that date back to antiquity, cybernetics as it is known today first emerged as a significant field of study in the 1940s and has continued to develop since that time.
History
The term cybernetics is derived from the Greek word kybernetikos, which means "good at steering." This derivation emphasizes the fact that cybernetics first emerged as a concept in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who used it in reference to systems of government. This definition never enjoyed widespread popularity or use, but the idea of cybernetics as a science that investigates the control of governments persisted for centuries. Among the greatest modern advocates of this interpretation was French physicist André-Marie Ampère, who tried with little success to popularize cybernetics as a government science in the nineteenth century. Despite Ampère's best efforts, the concept of cybernetics as it was known up to that point fell from favor and virtually disappeared by the early twentieth century.
The modern interpretation of cybernetics first arose when American mathematician Norbert Wiener published a book called Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine in 1948. As its subtitle suggests, Wiener's landmark book laid the groundwork for cybernetics as a science that connects control with communication, implying a direct relationship between the action a system's control mechanism takes to achieve a certain goal and the connection and flow of information between the control mechanism and the surrounding environment. In short, Wiener's primary argument was that communication is necessary for effective action. In addition, Wiener's subtitle further indicates that the principles of cybernetics apply equally to biological and non-biological systems, meaning that machines can and do rely on communication and control as much as living organisms do. Two years after his original publication, Wiener subsequently suggested that societal systems could be considered a third realm of cybernetics. Thus, the contemporary definition of cybernetics was established.
Basics of Cybernetics
Although the study of cybernetics can be quite complex, the underlying principles of cybernetics as a concept are relatively simple. The basic premise of cybernetics is perhaps most easily understood when examined in a biological context. Seen through that particular lens, cybernetics is closely tied to the physiology of living things and the concept of automatic control. In humans and other animals, the brain frequently functions as a controller that receives information called feedback from monitors—such as the eyes, ears, or fingertips—and issues instructions meant to initiate a physical response to the feedback in question. For example, if a person is attempting to pick up a glass of water, the eyes, functioning as monitors, send critical feedback to the brain, which acts as a controller, about the distance between the person's hand and the glass of water. In response to this feedback, the brain may instruct the person's body to move the hand closer to the glass of water to help the person pick it up. In other words, it is cybernetics, or the combination of control and communication, that enables the person to pick up the glass of water.
The same principles apply to mechanical systems. In a computer, the microprocessor may act as a controller that receives feedback from a peripheral device such as a mouse or keyboard, which acts as a monitor. When input is received from the mouse or keyboard, the microprocessor responds by issuing instructions to other system components to allow the computer to complete a specific task.
Just as cybernetics plays an important role in the function of living things and machines, it also plays a role in the function of societal systems. On the societal level, one might consider the citizens of a town to be the town's monitors. If these citizens notice an increase in crime, they may choose to alert members of the town council to their concerns about the rising crime rate. The council members, who act as the controllers in this example, may respond to the citizens' concerns by enacting new ordinances or hiring more police officers—actions that may facilitate the ultimate goal of lowering the crime rate. In this way, the town citizens and council members have used communication and control—or cybernetics—to achieve a desired end.
Common Misconceptions
In general, few people outside the cybernetics field have an accurate understanding of cybernetics. Because of the widespread use of terms like cyberspace and cyborgs and the proliferation of books, films, and television shows that use the word cybernetics to reference computers and robots, many people who are unfamiliar with the actual principles of cybernetics believe that the term has something to do with robotics or artificial intelligence. Although cybernetics can certainly play an important role in robotic and artificial intelligence systems, it would be incorrect to use the words cybernetics or cybernetic to describe either of these systems as a whole.
Bibliography
Cibu, Bianca, et al. "Mapping the Evolution of Cybernetics: A Bibliometric Perspective." Computers, vol. 12, no. 11, 16 Nov. 2023, p. 237, doi.org/10.3390/computers12110237. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.
"'Getting Started' Guide to Cybernetics." Pangaro.com. Paul Pangaro. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2016. http://www.pangaro.com/definition-cybernetics.html
"History of Cybernetics." American Society for Cybernetics. American Society for Cybernetics. Web. 14 Mar. 2016. http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/history.htm
Kline, Ronald R. The Cybernetics Movement, or Why We Call Our Age the Information Age. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2015. Print.
Novikov, D.A. Cybernetics: From Past to Future. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2016. Print.