Equilibrium in part and whole . . . . . . . . . . 82
THE BLACK BOX. . . . . . . . .
Isomorphic machines . . . . .
Homomorphic machines . . . .
The very large Box . . . . . .
The incompletely observable Box
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REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
ANSWERS TO EXERCISES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
PART TWO: VARIETY
QUANTITY OF VARIETY. .
Constraint . . . . . .
Importance of constraint
Variety in machines.. .
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Ix
Chapter
1
WHAT IS NE W
Cybernetics was defined by Wiener as “the science of control
And communication, in the animal and the machine”— in a word,
As the art of steermanship, and it is to this aspect that the book will
Be addressed. Co-ordination, regulation and control will be its
Themes, for these are of the greatest biological and practical inter-
Est.
We must, therefore, make a study of mechanism; but some
Introduction is advisable, for cybernetics treats the subject from a
New, and therefore unusual, angle. Without introduction, Chapter
Might well seem to be seriously at fault. The new point of view
Should be clearly understood, for any unconscious vacillation
Between the old and the new is apt to lead to confusion.
The peculiarities of cybernetics. Many a book has borne the
Title “Theory of Machines”, but it usually contains information
About mechanical things, about levers and cogs. Cybernetics, too,
Is a “theory of machines”, but it treats, not things but ways of
Behaving. It does not ask “what is this thing?” but “what does it
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Do?” Thus it is very interested in such a statement as “this variable
Is undergoing a simple harmonic oscillation”, and is much less
Concerned with whether the variable is the position of a point on
A wheel, or a potential in an electric circuit. It is thus essentially
Functional and behaviouristic.
Cybernetics started by being closely associated in many ways
With physics, but it depends in no essential way on the laws of
Physics or on the properties of matter. Cybernetics deals with all
Forms of behaviour in so far as they are regular, or determinate, or
Reproducible. The materiality is irrelevant, and so is the holding or
Not of the ordinary laws of physics. (The example given in S.4/15
Will make this statement clear.) The truths of cybernetics are not
Conditional on their being derived from some other branch of sci-
Ence. Cybernetics has its own foundations. It is partly the aim of
This book to display them clearly.
1
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
W H A T I S NE W
Cybernetics stands to the real machine— electronic, mechani-
Cal, neural, or economic— much as geometry stands to a real object
In our terrestrial space. There was a time when “geometry” meant
Such relationships as could be demonstrated on three-dimensional
Objects or in two-dimensional diagrams. The forms provided by
The earth— animal, vegetable, and mineral— were larger in number
And richer in properties than could be provided by elementary
Geometry. In those days a form which was suggested by geometry
But which could not be demonstrated in ordinary space was suspect
Or inacceptable. Ordinary space dominated geometry.
Today the position is quite different. Geometry exists in its own
Right, and by its own strength. It can now treat accurately and
Coherently a range of forms and spaces that far exceeds anything
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That terrestrial space can provide. Today it is geometry that con-
Tains the terrestrial forms, and not vice versa, for the terrestrial
Forms are merely special cases in an all-embracing geometry.
The gain achieved by geometry’s development hardly needs to
Be pointed out. Geometry now acts as a framework on which all
Terrestrial forms can find their natural place, with the relations
Between the various forms readily appreciable. With this increased
Understanding goes a correspondingly increased power of control.
Cybernetics is similar in its relation to the actual machine. It
Takes as its subject-matter the domain of “all possible machines”,
And is only secondarily interested if informed that some of them
Have not yet been made, either by Man or by Nature. What cyber-
Netics offers is the framework on which all individual machines
May be ordered, related and understood.
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