The cybernetics map

Everything on these pages, as one map. The ideas on the family tree, and against each one the primers, talks, playlists, books, essays and math that cover it, and my own words where I have them. It shows where the material is thick, where it is thin, and where to go next.

It is also a map of what I know. Every fact on it says what kind of fact it is. Something with a source behind it, something disputed, something counted, something I chose, or something I said about myself. Those are different things, and the map never mixes them.

On this page 4 sections
Ideas
52
People
128
Works and primers
17 · 17
Talks
5
Links between them
603

Coverage, idea by idea

Down the side, every idea on the tree, in its era. Across, the kinds of material. The more a cell stands out, the more there is. An empty cell means nothing there yet, which says nothing about whether it is worth having. Open an idea, or a number, to see what is behind it.

Era
Only ideas with no

Before the name 1788 to 1934

Watt's governor Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 1

Spinning flyballs rise as the engine speeds up and close the steam valve, so the engine holds its own speed. 1788

Led to Maxwell, On Governors3

People named on it James Watt3, Matthew Boulton3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Maxwell, On Governors Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 3My words 1 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.6 On my trail Study cards 2

The first mathematics of when a regulator settles down and when it hunts back and forth. 1868

Grew from Watt's governor3

Led to Feedback amplifiers2 (partial); Servomechanisms at MIT2 (partial); Wiener, Cybernetics3

People named on it James Clerk Maxwell3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 2.6, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 2, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail my note

Math

My words

  • I'm working my way through this one, and it sent me to learn its math. my note on the tree · my word

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Feedback amplifiers Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.6 Study cards 0

Feed part of the output back, inverted, and you trade raw gain for steadiness; Nyquist showed how to tell when such a loop will ring. 1927 to 1945

Grew from Maxwell, On Governors2 (partial: the same stability problem met again in electronics, at Bell Labs)

Led to A Mathematical Theory of Communication2 (partial)

People named on it Harold Black3, Harry Nyquist3, Hendrik Bode3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 2.6, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

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Servomechanisms at MIT Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 0

A theory of motors that follow a command, and the wartime fire-control work that grew from it. 1934 to 1945

Grew from Maxwell, On Governors2 (partial: part of the control engineering line Bennett and Mindell trace)

Led to Behavior, Purpose and Teleology3; Modern control theory3; System dynamics3

People named on it Harold Hazen3, Gordon Brown3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Milieu intérieur to homeostasis Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

A living body keeps its insides steady while the world outside changes. 1865 to 1932

Led to Behavior, Purpose and Teleology3; Ashby, requisite variety3

People named on it Claude Bernard3, Walter B. Cannon3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine, study cards.

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Ampère's cybernétique Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 1

A name in a classification of all the sciences for the art of governing a state. 1834 to 1843

People named on it André-Marie Ampère3

Evidence 1 line with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The roots 1943 to 1956

Behavior, Purpose and Teleology Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Purpose described in machine terms: behavior steered by feedback about how far it still is from its goal. 1943

Grew from Milieu intérieur to homeostasis3 (Rosenblueth came from Cannon's lab); Servomechanisms at MIT3 (Wiener and Bigelow's wartime anti-aircraft predictor)

Led to The Macy conferences3; Wiener, Cybernetics3

People named on it Arturo Rosenblueth3, Norbert Wiener3, Julian Bigelow3

Evidence 7 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

A Logical Calculus of neurons Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 0

Treat a neuron as an on-off switch, and a network of them can compute logic. 1943

Led to The Macy conferences3; Von Neumann's automata3; The perceptron3; The name "artificial intelligence"2 (partial)

People named on it Warren McCulloch3, Walter Pitts3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Craik, The Nature of Explanation Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 2.5 Study cards 0

A mind carries small working models of the world and runs them to see what will happen. 1943

Led to Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises3; Cognitive science, extended mind2 (partial); The free energy principle2 (partial)

People named on it Kenneth Craik3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.5, strongest 3: plain on average

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The Macy conferences Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 4.5 Study cards 1

Ten meetings where engineers, physiologists, mathematicians and anthropologists tried to talk about circular causality in one shared language. 1946 to 1953

Grew from Behavior, Purpose and Teleology3; A Logical Calculus of neurons3 (McCulloch chaired them)

Led to Wiener, Cybernetics3; Ashby, requisite variety2 (partial); Man-Computer Symbiosis3; General systems theory2 (partial); Ecosystems as loops3; Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind3; Von Foerster, the observer inside3; Mead, Cybernetics of Cybernetics3

People named on it Warren McCulloch6, Norbert Wiener6, John von Neumann6, Gregory Bateson6, Margaret Mead6, Walter Pitts6, G. Evelyn Hutchinson3, Heinz von Foerster6

Evidence 27 lines with a weight, mean 4.5, strongest 6: strong on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Wiener, Cybernetics Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 1 Kinds 3/6 Evidence 2.4 On my trail Study cards 0

One mathematics of feedback and messages for machines, animals and societies, and the name for it. 1948

Grew from Behavior, Purpose and Teleology3; The Macy conferences3; Maxwell, On Governors3 (cited by Wiener as the first paper on feedback)

Led to Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises2 (partial); Modern control theory2 (partial); Man-Computer Symbiosis3; Soviet cybernetics3; System dynamics1 (contested); Complexity science1 (contested)

People named on it Norbert Wiener3

Evidence 10 lines with a weight, mean 2.4, strongest 3: faint on average

On my trail my note

Primer

Math

My words

  • I picked this one up as a teenager and put it down; I don't think I understood it. Time to revisit it. my note on the tree · my word

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

A Mathematical Theory of Communication Primer 0Talks 1Shelf 0Essays 1Math 2My words 1 Kinds 4/6 Evidence 2.7 On my trail Study cards 1

Information can be measured in bits, and every channel has a top speed for sending it reliably. 1948

Grew from Feedback amplifiers2 (partial: the same Bell Labs; Shannon cites Nyquist's earlier telegraph work)

Led to Information theory3

People named on it Claude Shannon3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail watched 1 talk on it; wrote 1 essay on it

Talks

Math

My words

Nothing yet: primer, playlists or books.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Von Neumann's automata Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.7 Study cards 0

A logic of machines that compute, copy themselves and stay reliable though built from unreliable parts. 1944 to 1948

Grew from A Logical Calculus of neurons3

Led to The name "artificial intelligence"2 (partial)

People named on it John von Neumann3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 0

A London dining club for the British cyberneticians; Walter's small robot tortoises wander, seek light and find their way home to recharge. 1948 to 1958

Grew from Craik, The Nature of Explanation3; Wiener, Cybernetics2 (partial: the club formed the year after Wiener's book, around the same questions)

Led to Ashby, requisite variety3; Robotics and control3; Reinforcement learning2 (partial)

People named on it W. Grey Walter3, W. Ross Ashby3, Alan Turing3, John Bates3

Evidence 9 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Ashby, requisite variety Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.9 Study cards 0

Only variety can absorb variety: a regulator needs at least as many ways to respond as the world has ways to disturb it. 1948 to 1956

Grew from Milieu intérieur to homeostasis3 (his homeostat, built in 1948); Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises3; The Macy conferences2 (partial: a guest in 1952)

Led to Every Good Regulator3; Management cybernetics, the VSM3; Von Foerster, the observer inside3

People named on it W. Ross Ashby3

Evidence 7 lines with a weight, mean 2.9, strongest 3: plain on average

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

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First branches 1950s to 1970s

Modern control theory Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 3My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.9 Study cards 1

Steering written as state, estimate and optimal action: filters that guess what you cannot see, and plans that minimize cost over time. 1956 to 1960

Grew from Servomechanisms at MIT3; Wiener, Cybernetics2 (partial: the Kalman filter builds on Wiener's filtering mathematics, but Kalman worked outside the movement)

Led to Robotics and control3; Control loops in software3; Reinforcement learning3

People named on it Rudolf Kalman3, Lev Pontryagin3, Richard Bellman3

Evidence 8 lines with a weight, mean 2.9, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Every Good Regulator Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 1

Whatever regulates a system best has to carry a model of that system. 1970

Grew from Ashby, requisite variety3

Led to Control loops in software2 (partial); The free energy principle3

People named on it Roger Conant3, W. Ross Ashby3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The perceptron Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 1

A net of artificial neurons that learns its own weights from examples instead of being wired by hand. 1958 to 1969

Grew from A Logical Calculus of neurons3

Led to Neural nets, deep learning3

People named on it Frank Rosenblatt3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The name "artificial intelligence" Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.7 Study cards 1

The Dartmouth summer project gave thinking machines a new name, and with it a new field built on symbols rather than feedback. 1955 to 1956

Grew from Von Neumann's automata2 (partial); A Logical Calculus of neurons2 (partial)

People named on it John McCarthy3, Marvin Minsky3, Claude Shannon3, Nathaniel Rochester3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Information theory Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 3

Coding, compression and channel capacity grew into their own field, and kept their distance from cybernetics on purpose. 1949 to 1956

Grew from A Mathematical Theory of Communication3

Led to Morin's complex thought2 (partial); Entropy, coding, compression3

People named on it Claude Shannon3, Warren Weaver3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 3, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Man-Computer Symbiosis Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 On my trail Study cards 1

A person and a computer coupled in a tight loop, each doing what it is good at; then the research money that built interactive computing. 1960

Grew from The Macy conferences3 (a guest in 1950); Wiener, Cybernetics3 (a member of Wiener's weekly circle at MIT)

Led to Interaction design, HCI3

People named on it J. C. R. Licklider3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Essays

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Management cybernetics, the VSM Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Every viable organization does five jobs, and each of its parts is itself a viable system doing the same five. 1959 to 1972

Grew from Ashby, requisite variety3 (Beer was Ashby's friend and built the VSM on requisite variety)

Led to Project Cybersyn3; Pask's conversation theory3; Organizational design3

People named on it Stafford Beer3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Project Cybersyn Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 0My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 On my trail Study cards 0

A telex network, software and an operations room to steer Chile's nationalized industries in near real time, ended by the coup. 1971 to 1973

Grew from Management cybernetics, the VSM3

Led to Organizational design2 (partial)

People named on it Stafford Beer3, Fernando Flores3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Essays

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, math, words of mine, study cards.

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Soviet cybernetics Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Condemned as reactionary pseudoscience, rehabilitated a year later, then the plan for a national computer network to run the economy, which was never built. 1954 to 1970s

Grew from Wiener, Cybernetics3 (Kitov and Lyapunov read Wiener)

People named on it Anatoly Kitov3, Alexey Lyapunov3, Sergei Sobolev3, Viktor Glushkov3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

General systems theory Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.6 Study cards 0

The same patterns of organization show up in cells, societies and machines, so study the patterns. 1954 to 1968

Grew from The Macy conferences2 (partial: sibling movements: Gerard sat at Macy, but Bertalanffy treated cybernetics as one special case of his theory and kept them apart)

Led to Rittel's wicked problems2 (partial); Systems thinking2 (partial)

People named on it Ludwig von Bertalanffy3, Kenneth Boulding3, Anatol Rapoport3, Ralph Gerard3

Evidence 7 lines with a weight, mean 2.6, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

System dynamics Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.5 Study cards 1

Stocks, flows and delays simulated on a computer, to see why firms and cities keep producing behavior nobody chose. 1956 to 1971

Grew from Servomechanisms at MIT3 (Forrester trained in the Servomechanisms Laboratory); Wiener, Cybernetics1 (contested: George Richardson argues system dynamics grew from a separate servomechanisms thread of feedback thought, distinct from cybernetics; Forrester never attended Macy)

Led to The Limits to Growth3

People named on it Jay Forrester3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.5, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The Limits to Growth Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

A system dynamics model of the whole world economy, run forward to see where growth hits its limits. 1972

Grew from System dynamics3

Led to Systems thinking3

People named on it Donella Meadows3, Dennis Meadows3, Jørgen Randers3, William Behrens3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Ecosystems as loops Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Energy and nutrients move through an ecosystem in circuits, and the circuits hold it steady. 1948 to 1981

Grew from The Macy conferences3 (Hutchinson was a core member; Howard Odum was his student)

People named on it G. Evelyn Hutchinson3, Eugene Odum3, Howard T. Odum3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 0 Kinds 3/6 Evidence 2.9 On my trail Study cards 0

Families and cultures run on loops of communication, and information is a difference that makes a difference. 1956 to 1972

Grew from The Macy conferences3 (Bateson credited the conferences for his turn to systems)

Led to Mead, Cybernetics of Cybernetics3; Whole Earth, counterculture3; Family and systemic therapy3; Cognitive science, extended mind2 (partial)

People named on it Gregory Bateson3, Don D. Jackson3, Jay Haley3, John Weakland3

Evidence 9 lines with a weight, mean 2.9, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Primer

Essays

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, words of mine, study cards.

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Second order 1967 to 1990s

Von Foerster, the observer inside Primer 1Talks 1Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 1 Kinds 5/6 Evidence 3 On my trail Study cards 1

There is no description without someone describing: second-order cybernetics is the cybernetics of observing systems. 1958 to 1979

Grew from The Macy conferences3 (he edited the transcripts); Ashby, requisite variety3 (Ashby worked at his Biological Computer Laboratory in Illinois)

Led to Autopoiesis3; Radical constructivism3; Pask's conversation theory3; Morin's complex thought3

People named on it Heinz von Foerster3

Evidence 7 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail watched 1 talk on it; wrote 1 essay on it

Primer

Talks

Essays

Math

My words

  • I’ve watched it.On YouTube (@kyvernetes): At 19:47 von Foerster asks Maturana, "You mean the searching procedure has the finding already included?" Maturana says yes, and von Foerster calls it a lovely idea. It made me rethink how every measurement I use shapes what it can find. And at 9:00, the difference between truth as something you check and trust as something you share, which Maturana puts as what we can do together without doubting. Two old friends doing what they describe. Thank you to the ASC and Pille Bunnell for keeping this conversation.Two things stayed with me. First, von Foerster's point that the English truth comes from trust: verifying means checking the world, trusting means not having to, and Maturana answers that trust is what we can do together without doubting. Second, the moment at 19:47 when the two agree that the searching procedure already contains the finding, like a net that decides which fish exist. It joined something I had just worked out in calculus: the derivative never sets the step to zero, yet names the limit exactly. Observation never leaves the observer, and still converges on what is so. on Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster · my word

Nothing yet: playlists or books.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Mead, Cybernetics of Cybernetics Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 1

A society that studies self-correcting systems should turn the same tools on itself. 1967, printed 1968

Grew from Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind3; The Macy conferences3

People named on it Margaret Mead3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Autopoiesis Primer 1Talks 1Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 1 Kinds 4/6 Evidence 2.7 On my trail Study cards 0

A living thing is a network that keeps making the parts that make the network, and draws its own edge while it does. 1972 to 1980

Grew from Von Foerster, the observer inside3 (Maturana worked at the Biological Computer Laboratory)

Led to The Embodied Mind3; Luhmann's social systems1 (contested)

People named on it Humberto Maturana3, Francisco Varela3, Ricardo Uribe3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail watched 1 talk on it

Primer

  • Autopoiesis Varela, Maturana and Uribe, 1974 the cybernetics family tree · my choice

Talks

Math

My words

  • I’ve watched it.On YouTube (@kyvernetes): At 19:47 von Foerster asks Maturana, "You mean the searching procedure has the finding already included?" Maturana says yes, and von Foerster calls it a lovely idea. It made me rethink how every measurement I use shapes what it can find. And at 9:00, the difference between truth as something you check and trust as something you share, which Maturana puts as what we can do together without doubting. Two old friends doing what they describe. Thank you to the ASC and Pille Bunnell for keeping this conversation.Two things stayed with me. First, von Foerster's point that the English truth comes from trust: verifying means checking the world, trusting means not having to, and Maturana answers that trust is what we can do together without doubting. Second, the moment at 19:47 when the two agree that the searching procedure already contains the finding, like a net that decides which fish exist. It joined something I had just worked out in calculus: the derivative never sets the step to zero, yet names the limit exactly. Observation never leaves the observer, and still converges on what is so. on Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster · my word

Nothing yet: playlists or books, essays, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Radical constructivism Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Knowledge is built to fit experience, not copied from a world outside. 1974 to 1995

Grew from Von Foerster, the observer inside3

People named on it Ernst von Glasersfeld3

Evidence 2 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Primer

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

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The Embodied Mind Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Cognition is enacted by a body acting in a world, not computed on a picture of it. 1991

Grew from Autopoiesis3

Led to Cognitive science, extended mind3

People named on it Francisco Varela3, Evan Thompson3, Eleanor Rosch3

Evidence 5 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

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Pask's conversation theory Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 1 Kinds 4/6 Evidence 3 On my trail Study cards 0

Knowledge is made in conversation: two participants learning each other until they agree, and machines built to take part. 1953 to 1980

Grew from Von Foerster, the observer inside3 (Pask worked at the Biological Computer Laboratory); Management cybernetics, the VSM3 (Beer was his friend and collaborator)

Led to Nelson's hypertext3; Interaction design, HCI3

People named on it Gordon Pask3, Ranulph Glanville3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail my note; wrote 1 essay on it

Primer

Essays

Math

My words

  • I haven't read Pask yet. I've listened to some of Paul Pangaro's lectures about him, and his conversations with Pangaro are next. my note on the tree · my word

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, study cards.

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Whole Earth, counterculture Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.5 Study cards 0

Cybernetic ideas carried into the counterculture, and from there into the personal computer. 1968 to 1976

Grew from Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind3 (Brand interviewed Bateson and Mead in 1976; Bateson was a Whole Earth hero)

Led to Nelson's hypertext2 (partial); Interaction design, HCI2 (partial)

People named on it Stewart Brand3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.5, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

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Nelson's hypertext Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 0 Kinds 0/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 0

Writing as a web of linked pieces read in your own order, and computers for everyone, not a priesthood. 1965 to 1974

Grew from Pask's conversation theory3 (offices on the same floor at Chicago Circle; Nelson wrote that Pask's formal structure of relations complements hypertext (Dream Machines, 1974)); Whole Earth, counterculture2 (partial: Computer Lib is the same counterculture push to put computing in everyone's hands)

Led to Interaction design, HCI3

People named on it Ted Nelson3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, math, words of mine, study cards.

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Rittel's wicked problems Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 0My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.3 On my trail Study cards 0

Some problems have no definitive statement and no stopping rule; experts cannot solve them alone, because everyone involved holds part of what is needed to know. 1967 to 1973

Grew from General systems theory2 (partial: named against the systems approach to planning: Churchman put Rittel's term into print (Management Science, 1967), and Rittel and Webber (1973) argue that approach fails on problems like these)

Led to Interaction design, HCI2 (partial)

People named on it Horst Rittel3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 2.3, strongest 3: faint on average

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Essays

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, math, words of mine, study cards.

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Luhmann's social systems Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2 Study cards 1

Society as communication producing more communication, a system that draws its own boundary. 1984

Grew from Autopoiesis1 (contested: Luhmann borrowed autopoiesis for society; Maturana himself rejected applying it to social systems)

People named on it Niklas Luhmann3

Evidence 2 lines with a weight, mean 2, strongest 3: faint on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Morin's complex thought Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 0 Kinds 3/6 Evidence 2.5 On my trail Study cards 0

Think the parts and the whole together, and let order and disorder, observer and observed, stay in the same picture. 1977 to 2004

Grew from Von Foerster, the observer inside3 (Morin draws on von Foerster's order from noise); Information theory2 (partial: he calls his method a reorganization of systems theory, cybernetics and information theory)

Led to Complexity science2 (partial)

People named on it Edgar Morin3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.5, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Primer

Essays

Math

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

On the shelf today now

Robotics and control Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 1Math 1My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 On my trail Study cards 1

Simple loops between sensing and acting, layered up, give a body sensible behavior in a messy world. 1984 to now

Grew from Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises3 (Brooks names Grey Walter's robots as built on cybernetic principles); Modern control theory3

People named on it Valentino Braitenberg3, Rodney Brooks3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Essays

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Control loops in software Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 1Essays 2Math 1My words 0 Kinds 3/6 Evidence 2.5 On my trail Study cards 1

A controller watches the actual state of a cluster, compares it with the desired state, and acts on the difference, forever. 2014 to now

Grew from Modern control theory3 (the Kubernetes docs explain controllers as control loops, with a thermostat); Every Good Regulator2 (partial: readers draw this line, this site included; Kubernetes descends from control engineering and Google's Borg, and shares only the root word, helmsman)

Evidence 2 lines with a weight, mean 2.5, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail wrote 2 essays on it

Playlists and books

Essays

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Neural nets, deep learning Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 3Essays 0Math 3My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 1

Many layers of simple units, trained by sending the error backward, learn what nobody programmed into them. 1986 to now

Grew from The perceptron3

People named on it David Rumelhart3, Geoffrey Hinton3, Ronald Williams3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Playlists and books

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Reinforcement learning Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 2Essays 0Math 2My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 0

An agent learns to act by trial and error, from reward, with nobody showing it the right answer. 1980s to now

Grew from Modern control theory3 (Bellman's optimal control, one of the three threads Sutton and Barto trace); Ratio Club, Grey Walter's tortoises2 (partial: Grey Walter's learning tortoise and Shannon's maze mouse appear as early precursors)

People named on it Richard Sutton3, Andrew Barto3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Playlists and books

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Entropy, coding, compression Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 1Essays 1Math 2My words 1 Kinds 4/6 Evidence 3 On my trail Study cards 1

The measure of information under every network, every compressed file and the loss function most models train on. 1948 to now

Grew from Information theory3

Evidence 1 line with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail my note; wrote 1 essay on it

Playlists and books

Math

My words

  • I've read Gleick's The Information. my note on the tree · my word

Nothing yet: primer, talks.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Interaction design, HCI Primer 1Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 0My words 1 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.8 On my trail Study cards 0

Design the loop between a person and a system, so the system can take part in a conversation instead of only taking orders. 1960s to now

Grew from Man-Computer Symbiosis3; Pask's conversation theory3; Whole Earth, counterculture2 (partial: Turner traces the counterculture into personal computing; the line into design practice is looser); Nelson's hypertext3 (Dubberly and Pangaro: hypertext and conversation theory both lay foundations for human-computer interaction); Rittel's wicked problems2 (partial: IBIS, his issue-based way of arguing a design through, became the design rationale work in HCI)

People named on it Hugh Dubberly3, Paul Pangaro3, Ranulph Glanville3

Evidence 8 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail my note

Primer

My words

  • I've watched some of Paul Pangaro's videos, and read his essay with Hugh Dubberly on how cybernetics connects computing, counterculture and design. It connected so many of my pathways, readings and heroes at once. my note on the tree · my word

Nothing yet: talks, playlists or books, essays, math, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Organizational design Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 1Essays 1Math 0My words 0 Kinds 2/6 Evidence 2.7 On my trail Study cards 0

Design an organization so its parts can act on their own and the whole still holds together. 1972 to now

Grew from Management cybernetics, the VSM3; Project Cybersyn2 (partial: the cautionary and the inspiring case at once)

People named on it Stafford Beer3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Playlists and books

Essays

Nothing yet: primer, talks, math, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Systems thinking Primer 0Talks 1Shelf 1Essays 1Math 0My words 2 Kinds 4/6 Evidence 2.8 On my trail Study cards 0

See the stocks, flows, delays and loops behind a problem before trying to push on it. 1990 to now

Grew from The Limits to Growth3; General systems theory2 (partial)

People named on it Donella Meadows3, Peter Senge3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

On my trail my note; watched 1 talk on it; wrote 1 essay on it

Talks

Playlists and books

Essays

My words

  • I've read some of Donella Meadows' shorter essays online, not her book yet. my note on the tree · my word
  • I’ve watched it, and I go back to it.I thought it was simple at first, a thermostat and a room. Then it quietly opened up into how much of everyday life is systems. I'm watching it a second time.I love how it starts small and takes you from one system to the next to another. It is the Russian nested dolls exactly, showing universe processes. on In A World of Systems · my word

Nothing yet: primer, math, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Family and systemic therapy Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 3 Study cards 0

Treat the family's pattern of communication, not one person in it, as what keeps a problem going. 1958 to now

Grew from Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind3 (the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto grew beside Bateson's project)

People named on it Don D. Jackson3, Paul Watzlawick3

Evidence 3 lines with a weight, mean 3, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Cognitive science, extended mind Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.7 Study cards 0

A mind can reach past the skull into tools, notebooks and the people around it. 1990s to now

Grew from The Embodied Mind3; Craik, The Nature of Explanation2 (partial: cognitive science's own histories count the 1940s work among its precursors); Bateson: the double bind, an ecology of mind2 (partial: Bateson's blind man and his stick is the precursor often noted; whether Clark and Chalmers cite it is unchecked)

People named on it Andy Clark3, David Chalmers3, Evan Thompson3

Evidence 6 lines with a weight, mean 2.7, strongest 3: plain on average

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine, study cards.

Open in the graphOn the tree

The free energy principle Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 0Essays 0Math 1My words 0 Kinds 1/6 Evidence 2.8 Study cards 1

To stay alive a system must carry a model of its world and act to keep its predictions coming true. 2006 to now

Grew from Every Good Regulator3 (Friston cites Conant and Ashby and calls his result consistent with the good regulator theorem); Craik, The Nature of Explanation2 (partial)

People named on it Karl Friston3, Anil Seth3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.8, strongest 3: plain on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, playlists or books, essays, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

Complexity science Primer 0Talks 0Shelf 1Essays 1Math 2My words 0 Kinds 3/6 Evidence 2.3 On my trail Study cards 1

Many simple agents interacting give rise to patterns no single agent holds: markets, ecologies, cities. 1984 to now

Grew from Wiener, Cybernetics1 (contested: the Santa Fe Institute's founders came from physics and Los Alamos and do not claim cybernetics; Pickering and others read complexity science as its continuation); Morin's complex thought2 (partial: Morin's general complexity is the philosophical line; he credits the Santa Fe kind and argues it needs his)

People named on it Murray Gell-Mann3, George Cowan3

Evidence 4 lines with a weight, mean 2.3, strongest 3: faint on average

Study cards 1, in the cybernetics deck

On my trail wrote 1 essay on it

Playlists and books

Math

Nothing yet: primer, talks, words of mine.

Open in the graphOn the tree

A primer is an audio primer for the idea’s paper. Talks are on the watching path. Playlists and books are the reading shelf. Essays are posts on this site tied to the idea. Math is the languages it is written in. My words are where I have said I started on it, or watched a talk on it. Evidence is the mean weight of the idea’s lines to other ideas and to people, counted from the sources that record each line, the same weights and bands as the graph, and my own placing weighs nothing. My trail is an idea I have a note on, watched a talk on, or written about. Study cards are cards in my study deck that drill this idea, counts only, never what is on them or how I do with them, and not one of the six kinds. Each item says where it comes from and what kind of fact it is.

What the map answers

Where is the material richest?
Von Foerster, the observer inside (5 of 6 kinds); A Mathematical Theory of Communication (4 of 6 kinds); Entropy, coding, compression (4 of 6 kinds).
Which era is best covered?
On the shelf today, for the number of its ideas.
Which papers have a primer but no talk yet?
Requisite Variety (W. Ross Ashby, 1956); Behavior, Purpose and Teleology (Rosenblueth, Wiener and Bigelow, 1943); Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System (Conant and Ashby, 1970); Cybernetics, the introduction (Norbert Wiener, 1948); Cybernetics and Design (Dubberly and Pangaro, 2015); The Viable System Model (Stafford Beer, 1984); Cybernetics of Cybernetics (Heinz von Foerster, 1979); Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics (Heinz von Foerster, 1991); Cybernetics of Cybernetics (Margaret Mead, 1968); Form, Substance and Difference (Gregory Bateson, 1970); Autopoiesis (Varela, Maturana and Uribe, 1974); Developments in Conversation Theory (Gordon Pask, 1980); What Is Conversation? (Dubberly and Pangaro, 2009); Restricted Complexity, General Complexity (Edgar Morin, 2006); Destruction and Creation (John Boyd, 1976)
Where should the next talk go?
Craik, The Nature of Explanation (0 of 6 kinds), Soviet cybernetics (0 of 6 kinds) and Ecosystems as loops (0 of 6 kinds). The ideas with no talk and the fewest kinds of material, from the roots onward, the earliest first.

What kind of fact each thing is

Every node and link on the map carries one standing. Checked is not read, found is not watched, and begun is not read. A status moves only on my word. Open a standing to see the facts that carry it.

Asserted, sourceda claim about the world with a source behind it: a documented descent, who is named on an idea737
  • People 128 James Watt; Matthew Boulton; James Clerk Maxwell; and 125 more
  • A person named on an idea 107 Watt's governor → James Watt; Watt's governor → Matthew Boulton; Maxwell, On Governors → James Clerk Maxwell; and 104 more
  • An idea came out of a discipline 93 Watt's governor → Engineering and physics; Maxwell, On Governors → Engineering and physics; Maxwell, On Governors → Mathematics and logic; and 90 more
  • Worked together (Dubberly) 90 Apple → Alan Kay; Alan Kay → Bob Taylor; Alan Kay → Ivan Sutherland; and 87 more
  • An idea written in a kind of math 59 Ashby, requisite variety → Sets, logic and machines as tables; Every Good Regulator → Sets, logic and machines as tables; A Logical Calculus of neurons → Sets, logic and machines as tables; and 56 more
  • Organizations and events (Dubberly) 53 Arturo Rosenblueth → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Julian Bigelow → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Norbert Wiener → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; and 50 more
  • Ideas on the tree 52 Watt's governor; Maxwell, On Governors; Feedback amplifiers; and 49 more
  • An idea grew from another 51 Maxwell, On Governors → Watt's governor; Behavior, Purpose and Teleology → Milieu intérieur to homeostasis; Behavior, Purpose and Teleology → Servomechanisms at MIT; and 48 more
  • Influence (Dubberly) 26 Bill Atkinson → Ted Nelson; Bill Atkinson → Tim Berners-Lee; Bob Taylor → J. C. R. Licklider; and 23 more
  • Wrote a paper or a book 24 W. Ross Ashby → Requisite Variety; Arturo Rosenblueth → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Norbert Wiener → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; and 21 more
  • Labs, schools and conferences 20 Apple; ARPA; Biological Computer Laboratory; and 17 more
  • Papers with a primer 17 Requisite Variety; Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System; and 14 more
  • Older disciplines 10 Engineering and physics; Mathematics and logic; Physiology and the brain; and 7 more
  • Someone speaks in a talk 4 Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster → Humberto Maturana; Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster → Heinz von Foerster; The Future of Cybernetics | Paul Pangaro → Paul Pangaro; and 1 more
  • Publications 2 Design Patterns; Design Rationale
  • Places 1 London
Partiala descent the sources only half support: shared ideas, some contact22
Contesteda descent that is claimed and disputed3
  • System dynamics grew from Wiener, Cybernetics: George Richardson argues system dynamics grew from a separate servomechanisms thread of feedback thought, distinct from cybernetics; Forrester never attended Macy
  • Luhmann's social systems grew from Autopoiesis: Luhmann borrowed autopoiesis for society; Maturana himself rejected applying it to social systems
  • Complexity science grew from Wiener, Cybernetics: the Santa Fe Institute's founders came from physics and Los Alamos and do not claim cybernetics; Pickering and others read complexity science as its continuation
Observedcounted by a machine on a date: views, how a talk was found (on the method pages)0
Curatedmy choice, not a claim about the world: a talk kept on a shelf, a primer written, a playlist128
  • A talk, playlist, book or essay placed on an idea 34 Observability · SRE (the governor in production) → Control loops in software; Math 3 · Math for neural networks → Neural nets, deep learning; Math 4 · Build a network → Neural nets, deep learning; and 31 more
  • Playlists 26 Data science · Statistics to analysis; Languages, Linux and tools; Cloud and app security; and 23 more
  • A primer explains a paper 17 Primer: Requisite Variety → Requisite Variety; Primer: Behavior, Purpose and Teleology → Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Primer: Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System → Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System; and 14 more
  • My primers 17 Primer: Requisite Variety; Primer: Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Primer: Every Good Regulator of a System Must Be a Model of That System; and 14 more
  • An idea’s primer 13 Behavior, Purpose and Teleology → Primer: Behavior, Purpose and Teleology; Wiener, Cybernetics → Primer: Cybernetics, the introduction; Ashby, requisite variety → Primer: Requisite Variety; and 10 more
  • Steps of the math 9 Sets, logic and machines as tables; Programming: run the loop; Logarithms, polynomials and complex numbers: the floor under calculus; and 6 more
  • A talk on a playlist 5 The Strange Math That Predicts (Almost) Anything → Cybernetics · Founders; Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster → Cybernetics · Second order; The Future of Cybernetics | Paul Pangaro → Cybernetics · Today; and 2 more
  • Talks on the watching path 5 The Strange Math That Predicts (Almost) Anything; Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster; The Future of Cybernetics | Paul Pangaro; and 2 more
  • A talk opens onto a paper 2 Truth and Trust: Maturana and Von Foerster → On Constructing a Reality; The Future of Cybernetics | Paul Pangaro → Questions for Conversation Theory
My wordmy own account of myself: started, read, watched, a note, what led to what13
  • My essays 11 my review of Gleick's The Information; The Hacker Ethic Meets Cybernetics; the podcasts on the gentler shelf; and 8 more
  • Books on my shelf 2 The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society; Runatic Year

What the map is made of

A property graph, labelled things with typed links between them. Each label and link maps to a public vocabulary (SKOS, schema.org, CiTO, PROV), so the map can be read by people and machines alike, and the same shape can carry the next domain.

ThingIsVocabularyCount
Ideaa box on the family tree: a field, a theory, a schoolskos:Concept52
Disciplinean older discipline an idea came out ofskos:Concept10
Personsomeone named on the tree, speaking in a talk, or in Dubberly’s social graphschema:Person128
Worka paper or book the primers coverschema:ScholarlyArticle17
Primermy audio primer and sheet for a workschema:LearningResource17
Talka recording on the watching pathschema:VideoObject5
Collectiona shared playlist, on O’Reilly or YouTubeschema:Collection26
Booka book I have marked read or skimmed, or one I am reading now, marked readingschema:Book2
MathStepa step of the math under the papersschema:LearningResource9
Postan essay on this siteschema:BlogPosting11
Institutiona lab, school, conference or movement in Dubberly’s social graphschema:Organization20
Publicationa publication in Dubberly’s social graphschema:CreativeWork2
Placea place in Dubberly’s social graphschema:Place1
LinkVocabularyCount
ASSOCIATED_WITHschema:about107
CAME_FROMskos:related93
PERSONAL_TIEschema:knows90
DESCENDS_FROMskos:broader76
WRITTEN_INschema:teaches59
RELATED_TIEschema:affiliation53
ABOUTschema:about34
INFLUENCE_TIEprov:wasInfluencedBy26
AUTHOREDschema:author24
EXPLAINScito:reviews17
PRIMER_FORschema:isBasedOn13
ONschema:isPartOf5
FEATURESschema:actor4
OPENS_ONTOcito:discusses2

The other maps: the family tree, the field’s history · ideas and people, as one graph · the people, who worked with whom · how the watching path was made · the Atlas, this whole site