Cybernetics is a transdisciplinary science focused on “control and communication in the animal and the machine”. Coined by Norbert Wiener in 1948, the term is derived from the Greek word kybernetes, meaning “steersman” or the art of navigation, a metaphor Plato used to compare steering a ship with steering the state.
At its core, cybernetics is the study of purposeful systems and how they regulate themselves through feedback. It is not concerned with what a system is made of, but rather with what it does and its ways of behaving.
Strands of Cybernetics
Over time, cybernetics has branched into several interconnected strands, each offering unique insights and approaches to understanding systems, feedback, and control. These strands highlight the diversity and evolution of cybernetic thought, shaping its application across various disciplines. Below are three key strands that have significantly influenced the field:
- First-Order Cybernetics: This is described as the “cybernetics of observed systems”. It is an engineering-oriented approach that seeks objective knowledge about feedback loops to control systems from the outside. It assumes the observer is independent of the system being studied.
- British Cybernetics: This strand, associated with thinkers like W. Ross Ashby and Stafford Beer, developed a distinctive philosophy centred on a “performative idiom”. It views the brain not as a device for creating true representations of reality, but as an “embodied organ” that helps beings adapt and learn in a world they can never fully know. Its ontology is one of “unknowability” and “becoming,” exploring what is possible when systems engage with the world.
- Second-Order Cybernetics: This is defined as the “cybernetics of observing systems”. The term was introduced by Heinz von Foerster to shift the focus to include the observer as a component of the system under study. This approach recognizes that “anything said is said by an observer”. It is strongly influenced by the biological theory of autopoiesis (self-production) from Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela and the philosophy of radical constructivism from Ernst von Glasersfeld. It emphasizes agency, choice, context, and the idea that observers construct their own reality.