Be useful in biology. Cybernetic methods may be decisive in the
Treatment of certain difficult problems not by a direct winning of
The solution but by a demonstration that the problem is wrongly
Conceived, or based on an erroneous assumption.
Some of today’s outstanding problems about the brain and
Behaviour come to us from mediaeval and earlier times, when the
Basic assumptions were very different and often, by today’s stand-
Ards, ludicrously false. Some of these problems are probably
Wrongly put, and are on a par with the problem, classic in medi-
Aeval medicine: what are the relations between the four elements
And the four humours? This problem, be it noticed, was never
Solved— what happened was that when chemists and pathologists
Got to know more about the body they realised that they must
Ignore it.
Some of our classic problems in the brain— perhaps some of
Those relating to localisation, causation, and learning— may well
Be found to be of this type. It seems likely that the new insight
Given by cybernetics may enable us to advance to a better discrim-
Ination; if this happens, it will dispose of some questions by a
Clear demonstration that they should not be asked.
191
PART THREE
R EGUL ATI ON AND CO NTR OL
The fourldation of all physiology must be the physiology
Of permanence.
(Darlington)
R EG U LA TIO N IN BI OL OG I CA L SY STEMS
Chapter
10
R EG UL AT ION IN BI OLOGIC AL
SYS TE M S
The two previous Parts have treated of Mechanism (and the
Processes within the system) and Variety (and the processes of
Communication between system and system). These two subjects
Had to be studied first, as they are fundamental. Now we shall use
Them, and in Part III we shall study what is the central theme of
Cybernetics — regulation and control.
This first chapter reviews the place of regulation in biology, and
Shows briefly why it is of fundamental importance. It shows how
Regulation is essentially related to the flow of variety. The next
Chapter (11) studies this relation in more detail, and displays a
Quantitative law— that the quantity of regulation that can be
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Achieved is bounded by the quantity of information that can be
Transmitted in a certain channel. The next chapter (12) takes up the
Question of how the abstract principles of chapter 11 are to be
Embodied— what sort of machinery can perform what is wanted.
This chapter introduces a new sort of machine, the Markovian,
Which extends the possibilities considered in Part I. The remain-
Ing chapters consider the achievement of regulation and control as
The difficulties increase, particularly those that arise when the sys-
Tem becomes very large.
At first, in Part III, we will assume that the regulator is already
Provided, either by being inborn, by being specially made by a
Manufacturer, or by some other means. The question of what
Made the regulator, of how the regulator, which does such useful
Things, came itself to be made will be taken up at S.13/10.
The present chapter aims primarily at supplying motive to
The reader, by showing that the subjects discussed in the later
Chapters (11 onwards) are of fundamental importance in biology.
The subject of regulation in biology is so vast that no single chap-
Ter can do it justice. Cannon’s Wisdom of the Body treated it ade-
Quately so far as internal, vegetative activities are concerned, but
195
A N I N T R O D UC T I O N T O C Y B E R NE T I C S
R EG U LA TIO N IN BI OL OG I CA L SY STEMS
There has yet to be written the book, much larger in size, that shall
Show how all the organism’s exteriorly-directed activities— its
“higher” activities— are all similarly regulatory, i.e. homeostatic.
In this chapter I have had to leave much of this to the reader’s
Imagination, trusting that, as a biologist, he will probably already
Be sufficiently familiar with the thesis. The thesis in any case has
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Been discussed to some extent in Design for a Brain.
The chief purpose of this chapter is to tie together the concepts
Of regulation, information, and survival, to show how intimately
They are related, and to show how all three can be treated by a
Method that is entirely uniform with what has gone before in the
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