Cybernetics

When our lecturer talk about cybernetics i think that it is a very scientific term. Something that connect to cyborgs or something mechanical. So i do some research on what is cybernetics.

what is cybernetics by Paul Pangora

part 1

part 2

Cybernetics was originally defined in 1947 by Wiener as the science of communication and control in the animal and machine , and grew out of Shannon's information theory, which was designed to optimize the transfer of information through communication channels (e.g. telephone lines), and the feedback concept used in engineering control systems. Information and control technologies have gone a very long way since, especially through the introduction of the computer as an all-purpose information processing tool. Most of the presently most fashionable computing applications derive from ideas originally proposed by cyberneticians several decades ago: AI, neural networks, machine learning, autonomous agents, artificial life, man-machine interaction, etc.

While doing research i found this statement below, and prove that no only me that misunderstood the meaning, there are lot of people misunderstood too.

The term "cybernetics" has been widely misunderstood, perhaps for two broad reasons. First, its identity and boundary are difficult to grasp. The nature of its concepts and the breadth of its applications, as described above, make it difficult for non-practitioners to form a clear concept of cybernetics. This holds even for professionals of all sorts, as cybernetics never became a popular discipline in its own right; rather, its concepts and viewpoints seeped into many other disciplines, from sociology and psychology to design methods and post-modern thought. Second, the advent of the prefix "cyb" or "cyber" as a referent to either robots ("cyborgs") or the Internet ("cyberspace") further diluted its meaning, to the point of serious confusion to everyone except the small number of cybernetic experts.


However, the concepts and origins of cybernetics have become of greater interest recently, especially since around the year 2000. Lack of success by AI to create intelligent machines has increased curiosity toward alternative views of what a brain does [Ashby 1960] and alternative views of the biology of cognition [Maturana 1970]. There is growing recognition of the value of a "science of subjectivity" that encompasses both objective and subjective interactions, including conversation [Pask 1976]. Designers are rediscovering the influence of cybernetics on the tradition of 20th-century design methods, and the need for rigorous models of goals, interaction, and system limitations for the successful development of complex products and services, such as those delivered via today's software networks.

There are more information about cybernetics and it is hard for me to share out every information about it. Feel free to explore it if you interested with it.
this are some link that i found useful during my research to understand cybernetics

• http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/INTRO.html
• http://www.pangaro.com/published/cyber-macmillan.html
• http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cybernetics
• http://www.youtube.com/topic/EiMqiGkHtIg/cybernetics?feature=relchannel