#3 Cybernetics - The way of thinking about thinking

"Cybernetics - the biggest bite out of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that mankind has taken in the last 2000 years." - Gregory Bateson

(Image source: William Daros, 2017)

First publicly coined with the written publication of Cybernetics by Norbert Wierner in 1948, the notion of cybernetics is the scientific study of control, communication and regulation mechanism in human and machine systems, (University of St Andrews, 2015).

The central feature of cybernetics is that of artificial intelligence, where the aim is to show how artificially manufactured systems can demonstrate intelligent behaviour and to explore their structures, constraints and possibilities.

Cybernetics doesn't treat 'things', but rather ways of behaving. Nor does it ask "what is this thing?" but rather "what does it do?" and "what can it do?"

"Because numerous systems in the living, social and technological world may be understood in this way, cybernetics cuts across many traditional disciplinary boundaries. The concepts which cyberneticians develop thus form a metadisciplinary language through which we may better understand and modify our world", (American Society for Cybernetics, 2000) .

For many years the movie industry has taken fascination to the topic of cybernetics, and merge of robotics and biology, seen in such films such as; iRobot, The Matrix, Transcendence, Iron Man, The Terminator, Blade Runner, and RoboCop. Machines as such are commonly known as a cyborgs, which is an organism that has both artificial and natural systems. This type of organism can be seen as a self-regulating human-machine that make use of sensor, artificial intelligence and feedback control systems. These styles of film fall into a science fiction genre of film and an artistic culture dubbed as Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk blurs the distinction between humans and machines within an advanced technological dystopian setting, that often entails themes of anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian views.

While motifs of these films may be a prediction of our near future as a society, a more common real life example of current cybernetics can be seen through the revolutionary development and increasing use of prosthetics. The sciences of prosthetics and cybernetics overlap as the artificial devices require the knowledge of theories of human behaviour to mimic in the body-powered devices. A process of the purest form of communication occurs within this merge of anatomy and technology, as an exchange of information transpires between your vital organs and limbs that allows its functionability within the human body.

As the developments of cybernetics are still widely perceived as a new, non-understood, ungraspable foreign concept to many, an associated fear exists with the notion. This perhaps stems from a deep-routed fear (and highly probably possibility), of the science surpassing human capabilities, beyond our control, and taking over as the dominant species. Food for thought.

Below is a short video sourced from Youtube, displaying one of the worlds most advanced prosthetic limbs in action - a truely groundbreaking innovation, all thanks to the cutting-edge developments of Cybernetics.

References

American Society for Cybernetics. (2000). ASC: Foundations: Defining 'Cybernetics'. [online] Available at: http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/definitions.htm [Accessed 3 Aug. 2017].

University of St Andrews. (2015). What is Cybernetics?. [online] Available at: https://mkw.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/IC_Group/What_is_Cybernetics.html [Accessed 3 Aug. 2017].