- Sketch, Heinz von Förster
Cybernetics is a way of thinking
The corporate and management consultant Stafford Beer defined cybernetics as the science of organisation. The neural philosopher Warren McCulloch spoke of cybernetics as cognitive science that deals with the generation of knowledge through communication. In a statement by the American Society for Cybernetics you can read: “Cybernetics is a way of thinking, not a collection of facts”. And Gordon Pask put it in general: “It might be an art, or a philosophy, a way of life”.
In his so typically humorous way Heinz von Foerster says: “That is the most fascinating thing about cybernetics: You ask a few people for a definition - you won´ t learn much about cybernetics, but a lot about the defining person. You will learn about his area of expertise, his approach to the world, his passion for playing with metaphors, his enthusiasm for management, his interest for communication and messaging theories. This way I get to know my friends Stafford Beer, Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener and Gordon Pask even better. Isn´ t that great? The fundamental principle of cybernetic thinking is – so I believe - circularity. Everything begins there, from there one must begin all thought, and it is the basis. The circularity principle shows huge effects when taken into depth and pursued to the end and connected with questions of historic perceptional nature. All of a sudden you are entering forbidden territory. You are now dealing with self-reference, which is greatly frowned upon by logicians.
Norbert Wiener says:"Cybernetics is the science of circuits and data transfer in creatures and machines."
Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician and co-founder of cybernetics, was once approached by a student on the university campus, who had a mathematical question. Wiener stopped and discussed the problem with the student. When they were done he asked: "Did I come from this direction or the opposite, before you questioned me?" The student told him, which direction he had come from. "Aha", said Wiener, "then I have not eaten yet", and proceeded in direction of the canteen.