Special issue abstracts

Special issue abstracts

Article Type: Special issue abstracts From: Kybernetes, Volume 44, Issue 8/9.

When Newton meets Heinz Von Foerster, complexity vanishes and simplicity reveals

Raman Kumar Agrawalla - Business Systems and Cybernetics Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, Bhubaneswar, India

Abstract

Purpose – Complexity is the real beast that baffles everybody. Though there are increasing inter-disciplinary discussions on it, yet it is scantly explored. The purpose of this paper is to bring a new and unique dimension to the discourse assimilating the important ideas of two towering scientists of their time, Newton and Heinz von Foerster. In the tradition of Foersterian second-order cybernetics the paper attempts to build a bridge from a cause-effect thinking to a thinking oriented towards “understanding understanding” and in the process presents a model of “Cybernetics of Simplification” indicating a path to simplicity from complexity.

Design/methodology/approach – The design of research in the paper is exploratory and the paper takes a multidisciplinary approach. The model presented in the paper builds on analytics and systemics at the same time.

Findings – Simplicity can be seen in complex systems or situations if one can construct the reality (be that the current one that is being experienced or perceived or the future one that is being desired or envisaged) through the Cybernetics of Simplification model, establishing the effect-cause-and-effect and simultaneously following the frame of iterate and infer as a circular feedback loop; in the tradition of cybernetics of cybernetics.

Research limitations/implications – It is yet to be applied.

Practical implications – The model in the paper seems to have far reaching implications for complex problem solving and enhancing understanding of complex situations and systems.

Social implications – The paper has potential to provoke new ideas and new thinking among scholars of complexity.

Originality/value – The paper presents an original idea in terms of Cybernetics of Simplification building on the cybernetics of the self-observing system. The value lies in the unique perspective that it brings to the cybernetics discussions on complexity and simplification.

Keywords: Causality, Complexity, Second-order cybernetics, Cybernetics of Simplification, Self-observing system, Simplification

Paper type Conceptual paper

A quantitative examination of two different teaching paradigms in a Germiston based pre-school: a pilot study

Philip Baron - Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Anne Catherine Baron - Little People's Montessori Pre-School, Germiston, South Africa

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is value in performing studies comparing a cybernetic approach over a traditional teaching approach in regards to improved pre-school tuition.

Design/methodology/approach – A two independent groups design was implemented with each group receiving a different treatment. The first group had their lesson presented in the traditional teaching approach while the second group were part of a cybernetic approach. After each group had their lesson, each child was assessed and asked a series of ten questions. The total correct answers for the traditional group was compared to the total correct answers of the cybernetic group. The results were statistically examined using a t-test and Pearson r correlation.

Findings – The group who took part in the cybernetic lesson had a 46 per cent increase in the total number of correct answers. The cybernetic approach to the pre-school lesson was an improvement in terms of memory retention. This initial study justifies a series of further experimental designs.

Research limitations/implications – This study provides a basis for further studies of comparative educational approaches to pre-school education and learner memory performance. A cybernetic approach to pre-school instruction has a lot to offer and is especially beneficial for children who are learning language, whether first or second language. This is a model to develop further, for use in the teaching-learning environment.

Practical implications – The use of Teachback within a pre-school context may have additional benefits such as improved language acquisition through additional practice of verbal expression. A practical method of addressing the challenge of cybernetics training was also presented in this study.

Social implications – When the Teachback is performed, the person creates a verbal expression based on their language and background. As the Teachback occurs in a social context amongst peers, an opportunity for an exploration into the diverse backgrounds of the individual pre-school children can take place, especially beneficial when in a multi-cultural setting.

Originality/value – There are few cybernetics studies conducted on pre-school aged children. This is the first study whereby cybernetic tools such as Teachback have been used in pre-school education.

Keywords: Cybernetics, Language, Multicultural, Pre-school, Teachback, Teacher

Paper type Research paper

Outline of a cybernetic theory of brain function based on neural timing nets

Peter Cariani - Hearing Research Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline an integrative, high-level, neurocomputational theory of brain function based on temporal codes, neural timing nets, and active regeneration of temporal patterns of spikes within recurrent neural circuits that provides a time-domain alternative to connectionist approaches.

Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual-theoretical paper draws from cybernetics, theoretical biology, neurophysiology, integrative and computational neuroscience, psychology, and consciousness studies.

Findings – The high-level functional organization of the brain involves adaptive cybernetic, goal-seeking, switching, and steering mechanisms embedded in percept-action-environment loops. The cerebral cortex is conceived as a network of reciprocally connected, re-entrant loops within which circulate neuronal signals that build up, decay, and/or actively regenerate. The basic signals themselves are temporal patterns of spikes (temporal codes), held in the spike correlation mass-statistics of both local and global neuronal ensembles. Complex temporal codes afford multidimensional vectorial representations, multiplexing of multiple signals in spike trains, broadcast strategies of neural coordination, and mutually reinforcing, autopoiesis-like dynamics. Our working hypothesis is that complex temporal codes form multidimensional vectorial representations that interact with each other such that a few basic processes and operations may account for the vast majority of both low- and high-level neural informational functions. These operational primitives include mutual amplification/inhibition of temporal pattern vectors, extraction of common signal dimensions, formation of neural assemblies that generate new temporal pattern primitive “tags” from meaningful, recurring combinations of features (perceptual symbols), active regeneration of temporal patterns, content-addressable temporal pattern memory, and long-term storage and retrieval of temporal patterns via a common synaptic and/or molecular mechanism. The result is a relatively simplified, signal-centric view of the brain that utilizes universal coding schemes and pattern-resonance processing operations. In neurophenomenal terms, waking consciousness requires regeneration and build up of temporal pattern signals in global loops, whose form determines the contents of conscious experience at any moment.

Practical implications – Understanding how brains work as informational engines has manifold long-reaching practical implications for design of autonomous, adaptive robotic systems. By proposing how new concepts might arise in brains, the theory bears potential implications for constructivist theories of mind, i.e. how observer-actors interacting with one another can self-organize and complexify.

Originality/value – The theory is highly original and heterodox in its neural coding and neurocomputational assumptions. By providing a possible alternative to standard connectionist theory of brain function, it expands the scope of thinking about how brains might work as informational systems.

Keywords: Cognition, Consciousness, Neural nets, Cybernetics, Autopoiesis, Brain

Paper type Conceptual paper

Blind spots obscuring circular causality in design and elsewhere

Thomas Fischer - Department of Architecture, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China

Abstract

Purpose – Circular causality is one of several unorthodox assumptions underlying cybernetics. This paper identifies “blind spots” which obscure the soundness of this assumption, rendering cybernetics liable to rejection. The purpose of this paper is to aid students of cybernetics in appreciating circular causality.

Design/methodology/approach – The presented argument is based on textual and diagrammatic explication of several more or less obvious causal scenarios. Some of these modes are shown to obscure circular causality from observation.

Findings – Previously discussed “blind spots” obscuring circular causality are referenced. The notion of probabilistic causality is developed from the notion of collateral effects, which is introduced by extension of the notion of contributory causality. The possible “lossiness” of probabilistic causation is shown to constitute another “blind spot” obscuring circular causality, for example in design.

Research limitations/implications – The presented argument aims to promote acceptance of circular causality. Assuming a radical-constructivist perspective, it discusses the construction of mental models of causal relationships.

Originality/value – Ignorance of circular causality has previously been attributed to preferences for description in terms of energy, and in terms of timeless logic. Additionally, this paper proposes the obscuring effect of probabilistic causality, and the possible co-occurrence of multiple “blind spots.”

Keywords: Reciprocity, Perception, Circular causality, Linear causality, Mutuality

Paper type Research paper

An explanatory framework for understanding teachers resistance to adopting educational technology

David Griffiths and Timothy Goddard - Institute for Educational Cybernetics, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a way of understanding the resistance shown by teachers to the adoption of some educational technologies.

Design/methodology/approach – The Wookie Widget Server is taken as a case study. This has been a long-term development project at the Institute for Educational Cybernetics, located at the University of Bolton, and has been used with teachers in a number of implementations. The efforts to enhance teachers' adoption of the system are outlined, and an explanatory framework is proposed called “MegaTech and MiniTech” which clarifies the reasons for teachers' resistance to adoption.

Findings – The explanatory framework combines theoretical approaches from Harré's positioning theory, Heidegger's concept of “to hand” and Popper's utopian and piecemeal social engineering. Application of this framework indicates that in deploying the Wookie Widget Server with teachers the researchers were adopting a position of power in relation to teachers. The nature of this power is explored by building on Bateson's writings.

Practical implications – The explanatory framework and analysis of power provide a tool for analysis of the adoption of educational technologies.

Social implications – Increasingly ambitious claims are being made for educational technology. This paper recognises the potentially oppressive nature of these technologies, and provides a starting point for a coherent analysis, which enables this danger to be avoided.

Originality/value – The combination of theories which makes up the proposed explanatory framework is new, as is the application to educational technology of Bateson's writing on power.

Keywords: Bateson, Education, Heidegger, Adoption of technology, Popper, Positioning theory

Paper type Conceptual paper

Second-order cellular automata to support designing

Christiane M. Herr - Department of Architecture, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify two ways of conceptualizing cellular automata (CA) systems: a utility-focussed approach focussed on modeling, simulation and prediction as typically found in science-based disciplines, and a second, exploration and speculation-focussed approach typically found in design-related contexts. These two approaches to CA are linked to first-order cybernetics and second-order cybernetics, respectively.

Design/methodology/approach – The author illustrate and support the argument made by showing in a review of earlier work as well as three case studies of CA use in architectural design work how linear, science-based “first-order CA” cannot adequately support design processes. In such contexts, CA are typically adapted to allow for circular, conversational processes and to take involved observers into account.

Findings – The analysis of the three case studies shows that design-oriented approaches to CA aimed at generating novelty require “second-order CA” – CA that are based on second-order cybernetic principles.

Research limitations/implications – Limitations of this paper arise from the limited number of reported and analyzed case studies as well as from a necessary simplification and generalization of observations for the sake of brevity.

Originality/value – Findings resulting from the investigation emphasize and extend early experimental approaches to CA in design-related contexts that conceived CA systems as part of conversational design processes. The transition from first-order to second-order CA is necessary to allow for speculative and explorative design conversations that support designers in generating novelty in conversational settings.

Keywords: Design, Creativity, Second-order cybernetics, Conversation, Cellular automata

Paper type Conceptual paper

Living in cybernetics: Polynesian voyaging and ecological literacy as models for design education

Michael Hohl - Faculty of Design, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Dessau, Germany

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn from successful educational frameworks how to inform a possible framework for design education that includes ecological literacy, systems thinking leading to more sustainable and ecological designs.

Design/methodology/approach – The author comparing two models for education, the first being that of the Polynesian Voyaging Society which re-emerged as a cultural and educational framework in Hawaii. Second that of the Center for Ecological Literacy in connection with the edible schoolyard. Both frameworks involve systems thinking.

Findings – Certain elements that may inform design education. Among these are attention and vision, values, care for nature, culture, community and learning based on systems thinking, exploration and perception of the environment. Language, traditions and a strong local grounding also play a role in the Hawaiian framework.

Research limitations/implications – The sources are from personal observations in design education and documentation material provided by educators. The groups with which these principles were enacted are children, whereas my goal is to inform a framework for higher education.

Practical implications – The shared characteristics used in the two frameworks might be used to inform curricula for design education from both theoretical perspectives and practical applications.

Social implications – Increasingly ambitious claims are being made for educational technology. This paper recognises the potentially oppressive nature of these technologies, and provides a starting point for a coherent analysis, which enables this danger to be avoided.

Originalit/value – Polynesian voyaging and ecological literacy have both been very successful as educational frameworks since their implementation. Designing is necessary and design education can possibly learn much from these two examples to adapt to future changes. Ecological literacy, an educational perspective, incorporates ideas around sustainability, networks, nested systems, circularity and flows, and using this knowledge to create “sustainable human communities.” Traditionally this is not part of design education.

Keywords: Design, Systemic thinking, Ecology, Learning, Education, Social change

Paper type Conceptual paper

The cybernetics of humour: introducing signature analysis to humour research

Faisal L. Kadri - ArtificialPsychology.com, Montreal, Canada

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce signature analysis to humour research. Signature analysis is not widely used in the fields of humanities, the introduction of a new technique will invite comparison with the long standing factor analysis method.

Design/methodology/approach – A signature presumes the existence of a model with ideal attributes for the purpose of identification. The model derived from types of humour which describe four types of age dependence. Age dependence contrast sharply with factor analysis which usually ignores age differences in humour. The signatures of four types of humour were calculated from the average scores of all line scores of each type. The Cramer-Rao Bounds were also calculated from the same groups, this defines the centre points and the limits of best type estimators. The age profiles of individual lines were plotted against their type signatures. The error distributions were plotted, with and without offset compensation.

Findings – The error plot with offset compensation showed a spike close to the zero error, indicating the existence of significant matching between profiles and signature.

Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory analysis of responses from 277 participants in an online long survey. More participation is required/hoped for to confirm these findings.

Practical implications – The graphical identification of context in sentences, humorous and non-humorous.

Originality/value – Signature analysis is well known in the physical sciences, the author knows of no application in psychology or humour research.

Keywords: Behaviour, Mathematical modelling, Cybernetics, Artificial intelligence, Experimental psychology

Paper type Research paper

The relevance of cybernetics for a positive psychology approach to dyslexia

Chathurika Sewwandi Kannangara - Department of Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK

David Griffiths - Institute for Educational Cybernetics, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK

Jerome Carson - Department of Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, UK

Samurdhi Munasinghe - Parker Sandford, Wigan, UK

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the relevance of the literature of cybernetics for a positive psychology approach to dyslexia.

Design/methodology/approach – A selective bibliography is presented, which reflects the exchange of ideas between the authors, two of whom work in the field of psychology, one in educational cybernetics and the other in information systems.

Findings – Examination of the literature suggests that there is scope for the application of positive psychology to dyslexia. In the cybernetic literature there is little direct discussion of either positive psychology or dyslexia. However, these areas are linked by the themes of self-steering systems and of levels of learning. Cybernetics identifies systemic constraints and therapeutic approaches which can inform the use of positive psychology techniques with dyslexics.

Originality/value – The paper documents the relevance of cybernetic analysis to the self-regulation carried out by dyslexics, and in so doing also enriches discourse on dyslexia in the field of psychology. The paper will be of value to those carrying out research into dyslexia, and to those who are supporting or working alongside people with dyslexia.

Keywords: Self-regulation, Positive psychology, Dyslexia, Second-order cybernetics

Paper type Literature review

Information-energy metasystem model

Cadell Last - Global Brain Institute, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Purpose – The human system is developing into a global biocultural superorganism. However, in the process of aligning a stable global goal state, contemporary human control systems appear to be inadequate structures. The purpose of this paper is to help humanity contextualize the nature of our highest control systems and guide future structural control system decisions, by proposing the application of an Information-Energy Metasystem Model (IEMM).

Design/methodology/approach – IEMM is an evolutionary-cybernetic model built with biological, anthropological, and historical data, and constructed utilizing two cybernetic theories: metasystem transition theory and control information theory (CIT). The IEMM suggests that major control transitions are dependent on specific information-energy control and feedback properties.

Findings – Throughout our evolutionary history humans have stabilized three distinct metasystems in the general organization of bands/tribes stabilized by language-hunting feedback, chiefdoms/kingdoms stabilized by writing-agricultural feedback, and nation-states stabilized by printing press-industrial feedback. In the future, IEMM predicts that new global (or “glocal”) controls based on the internet as an information medium, and renewable energy as an engine for stabilization, could potentially generate a fourth metasystem. However, this is largely dependent on our own ability and willingness for fundamental structural control innovation.

Originality/value – This is the first paper to analyze the contemporary control system structure within the context of the whole of human evolution.

Keywords: Governance, Communications technologies, Cybernetics, Control systems, Complexity, Energy technology

Paper type Research paper

Non-trivial philosophy: cybernetics, data analytics, and the biophysics of information theory

Clarissa Ai Ling Lee - Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to recuperate Heinz von Foerster's “Quantum Mechanical Theory of Memory” from Cybernetics: Circular, Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems and John von Neumann's The Computer and the Brain for present-day, and future, applications in biophysics, theories of information and cognition, and quantum theories; the main objective is to ground cybernetic theory for a critical evaluation of the historical evolution of the Monte Carlo method, with potential for application to quantum computing.

Design/methodology/approach – Close-reading of selected texts, historiography, and case studies in current developments in the Monte Carlo method of high-energy particle physics (HEP) for developing a platform for bridging the apparently incommensurable differences between the physical-mathematical and the biological sciences.

Findings – First, usefulness of the cybernetic approach for historicizing the Monte Carlo method in relation to digital computing and quantum physics. Second, development of an inter/trans-disciplinary approach to the hard sciences through a critical re-evaluation of the historical texts of von Foerster and von Neumann for application to developments in quantum theory, biophysics, and computing.

Research limitations/implications – This work is largely theoretical and uses dialectical thought experiments to engage between sciences operating across different ontological scales.

Practical implications – Consideration of developments of quantum computing and how that would change one's perception of information, data, and the way in which analysis is currently performed with big data.

Originality/value – This is the first time that von Neumann and von Foerster have been contrasted and compared in relation to their epistemic compatibility, historical importance, and relevance for producing a creative approach to current scientific epistemology. This paper hopes to change how the authors view trans-disciplinary/inter-disciplinary practices in the sciences and produce new vistas of thought in the history and philosophy of science.

Keywords: Cybernetics, History, Monte Carlo simulation, Philosophy of science, Automata theory, Physics

Paper type Research paper

The Christchurch earthquakes' impact on the Convergence gathering

Victor Ronald David MacGill - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to take a cybernetic perspective on the impact of the earthquakes on the Convergence gathering. Convergence is an organisation formed by a network of alternative life-stylers almost 30 years ago in Canterbury, New Zealand. It holds an annual six-day gathering of 300-500 people over the New Year. Convergence evolved an acephalous structure in that there is no ongoing structured leadership. Leadership occurs in distributed, low key, transient and self-selected ways. Convergence has had its challenges and generally proved itself to be resilient.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses the concepts of circularity, resilience, system archetypes, requisite variety, appreciative systems, network theory, antifragility, autopoiesis, structural coupling and learning organisations in relation to the Convergence gathering.

Findings – The Christchurch earthquakes of late 2010 and 2011 had an enormous impact on the people of Christchurch. While the earthquakes have not had any significant direct effects on Convergence, a significant number of people involved in Convergence suffered major chronic trauma or changes to life circumstances, which has impacted on the organisation. Nearly five years later many participants are still traumatised, while others are energised to develop Convergence as an organisation pioneering an innovative way of operating.

Research limitations/implications – This research is a part of an ongoing PhD research project so results to date are provisional.

Practical implications – It may assist Convergence to understand the dynamics of perturbations.

Originality/value – There is little written on acephalous operation especially in the medium scale range. It is also hoped this research will help other organisations considering an acephalous structure.

Keywords: Resilience, Acephalous, Christchurch earthquakes, Convergence gathering, Perturbation

Paper type Case study

The role of experience in the ASC's commitment to engage those outside the cybernetics community in learning cybernetics

Robert John Martin - Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The key ideas of cybernetics have remained unknown or misunderstood by contemporary technological societies. The purpose of this paper is to consider how best to assist individuals outside the cybernetics and systems communities in learning key concepts of cybernetics.

Design/methodology/approach – The main approach used to make this case is consideration of how individuals can come to understand circular systems and circular causality. The paper makes a case that if we want to assist interested others in learning cybernetics, we can best do so either by identifying where interested others already have experiences that they can reinterpret in terms of causality through investigation, analysis, and conversation or by designing experiences such as interactive models and simulations that become the basis of each user's inventing an understanding of circular causality, and then, through analysis and conversation, refining that understanding. It provides examples, in particular, the example of how learning to sail a small boat involves the sailor in creating an intuitive (and possibly formal) understanding of wind, water, and boat as elements of a circular system. The paper considers the ethics of assisting others in learning cybernetic concepts such as circular causality.

Findings – The paper provides an approach to understanding cybernetic concepts that can be used with students and adults of all ages.

Research limitations/implications – This paper ties together theoretical and practical considerations from a constructivist viewpoint.

Practical implications – Through the development of the example of the Greek helmsman, the kybernetes, the paper provides a point of departure for those in the cybernetics and systems communities involved in designing teacher-based or web-based materials for cybernetics.

Originality/value – The paper has value as a guide to practice.

Keywords: Causality, Experience, Ethics, Gregory Bateson, Learning, Circularity

Paper type Conceptual paper

Avec un“s”: histories of cybernetics and the ASC

Albert Müller - Department of Contemporary History, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to target the problem of awareness of the history of cybernetics as a field with different actors inside and outside cybernetics. It provides a short overview on research and literature during the last two decades and pleads for a multiplicity of historical views.

Design/methodology/approach – Historical research, review of literature.

Findings – While it can be found that there was a growing historical interest in cybernetics, this cannot be claimed for the history of the American Society of Cybernetics (ASC) as an organization and a productive network. One reason seems to be the lack of archival sources. The article provides a proposal to reconstruct such an archive for the history of the ASC.

Originality/value – Stimulation of historical awareness for and in cybernetics.

Keywords: Cybernetics, History

Paper type General review

Change in consciousness as an ecological strategy

Kent C. Myers - Leidos Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Abstract

Purpose – Pursue Gregory Bateson's observation that human consciousness as we see it today is tightly focussed on finding and pursuing purposes. Taken too far, the wider world of nature suffers from imbalance. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach – Bateson's cybernetic speculation suggests that strategies to avoid ecological catastrophe need to take human consciousness into account. The author searches for cases of consciousness better aligned with reality and consider current possibilities for developing such consciousness.

Findings – Findings from the literature of philosophical anthropology are reviewed, showing that consciousness that is better aligned with reality has occurred in history, including with the San Bushmen and in the Greek polis. Yet these cases are rare and quite different from today's culture. In addition, there are several distinct features of current culture that prevent the development of aligned consciousness.

Originality/value – Philosophical anthropology is outside the normal constraints of social science but points in the direction of further holistic cybernetics inquiry that can produce a different diagnosis and strategy for the global ecological challenge.

Keywords: Philosophy, Consciousness, Ecology

Paper type Conceptual paper

Homunculus strides again: why “information transmitted” in neuroscience tells us nothing

Lance Nizami - Independent Research Scholar, Palo Alto, California, USA

Abstract

Purpose – For half a century, neuroscientists have used Shannon Information Theory to calculate “information transmitted,” a hypothetical measure of how well neurons “discriminate” amongst stimuli. Neuroscientists' computations, however, fail to meet even the technical requirements for credibility. Ultimately, the reasons must be conceptual. That conclusion is confirmed here, with crucial implications for neuroscience. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach – Shannon Information Theory depends upon a physical model, Shannon's “general communication system.” Neuroscientists' interpretation of that model is scrutinized here.

Findings – In Shannon's system, a recipient receives a message composed of symbols. The symbols received, the symbols sent, and their hypothetical occurrence probabilities altogether allow calculation of “information transmitted.” Significantly, Shannon's system's “reception” (decoding) side physically mirrors its “transmission” (encoding) side. However, neurons lack the “reception” side; neuroscientists nonetheless insisted that decoding must happen. They turned to Homunculus, an internal humanoid who infers stimuli from neuronal firing. However, Homunculus must contain a Homunculus, and so on ad infinitum – unless it is super-human. But any need for Homunculi, as in “theories of consciousness,” is obviated if consciousness proves to be “emergent.”

Research limitations/implications – Neuroscientists' “information transmitted” indicates, at best, how well neuroscientists themselves can use neuronal firing to discriminate amongst the stimuli given to the research animal.

Originality/value – A long-overdue examination unmasks a hidden element in neuroscientists' use of Shannon Information Theory, namely, Homunculus. Almost 50 years' worth of computations are recognized as irrelevant, mandating fresh approaches to understanding “discriminability.”

Keywords: Information theory, Brain, Homunculus, Neuron, Observer, Symmetry

Paper type Research paper

Proto-cybernetics in the Stanislavski System of acting: past foundations, present analyses and future prospects

Tom Scholte - Department of Theatre and Film, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the cybernetics community at large to the remarkably prescient work of nineteenth century theatrical pioneer Konstantin Stanislavski whose revolutionary System of Acting has, thus far, been largely overlooked in cybernetic literature and to suggest potential paths of future research in this vein.

Design/methodology/approach – Close reading, analysis, and comparison of key excerpts from Stanislavski's corpus, the writings of later proponents of his System, the literature of early cybernetics, and contemporary scholarship in cognitive science. Also, description of current and potential future applications of the theories presented.

Findings – Stanislavski's success in formulating an approach to acting capable of generating performances of previously unrealized naturalness and believability lay in his utilization of heuristics later to be taken up, under different nomenclature, by the field of cybernetics and substantiated by contemporary cognitive science. A conscious interdisciplinary research effort to explore these linkages promises benefits for both fields.

Practical implications – Cyberneticians in various sub-disciplines may be inspired to view the theatre rehearsal hall as a potential site of interdisciplinary research projects; particularly in the fields of the behavioral and social sciences.

Originality/value – This paper is the first to synthesize existing and original cybernetic analyses of the Stanislavski System with contemporary developments in cognitive science in a manner specifically geared toward the cybernetic community. The current and potential future research projects described are unique.

Keywords: Creativity, Consciousness, Behaviour, Cognition, Cybernetics, Feedback

Paper type Conceptual paper

Cybernetic narrative: modes of circularity, feedback and perception in new media artworks

Eser Selen - Department of Communication Design, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how second-order cybernetics (von Foerster, 2002) functions in new media artworks, specifically through information, system and user. While formulating the relationship between new media artworks and the discourses surrounding cybernetics the paper analyzes Popp's (2006) Bit.Fall, Wojtowicz's (2007) Elsewhere News and Zeren Göktan's (2013) The Counter, as exemplars of alternative methods of narration. This study further argues that these new media artworks employ a cybernetic narrative via modes of “circularity,” “feedback,” and “perception.”

Design/methodology/approach – This paper offers a theoretical approach to new media art and cybernetics in order to analyze three select works. Since the works mentioned have diverse takes on the presented concepts each is discussed and analyzed in their frame of production in relation to cybernetics and new media standpoints.

Findings – It is significant that these three artists attempt to invert the quotidian into the concept of new media while cybernetics facilitates their interactive art installations. The fully functioning circularity in these works breaks down the linear narrative structure while regenerating a non-linear narrative together with the flow of information, utilization of the systems and the user interaction. In these works narrative functions as a tool for interaction, which is cybernetically generated by the user (human) and the systems (machine).

Originality/value – New media artworks at least suggest a possibility of observing contemporary art and its history in the making if not generating it altogether through cybernetic modes of “circularity,” “feedback” and “perception.” The experience of these artworks for each user differs depending on their choice to either reject or become immersed in the work. The possible sensoria, however, may still be betrayed by the mind's willingness to cooperate or at times by the ability to perceive.

Keywords: Internet, Creativity, Art, Design, Narratives, Cybernetics

Paper type Conceptual paper

The machine for living in the conversational age

Mateus van Stralen - Lagear, School of Architecture, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate possibilities for a more intersubjective digital design process that amplifies the potential for novelty to arise.

Design/methodology/approach – First the author will explore the metaphorical concept of the house as a machine in two different contexts, the industrial age, and conversational age, discussing how each concept can generate variety in the built environment. Second, the author presents some examples of conversational customization in architecture along with the Woka, an ongoing research project that attempts to create a more conversational design process. Finally, the author will discuss the possibility of conversational customization in design as a possible solution to a more open and intersubjective process in design.

Findings – The author finds that a possible way to reach a true paradigm shift in the process of production of architectural space is to use conversation as a design approach, from design to use, shifting the focus from the object to the process, amplifying variety and the potential for novelty to arise.

Practical implications – The objective is to offer designers a new way of thinking about design that focusses on conversation and intersubjective processes.

Originality/value – The notion of conversational customization may offer a conceptual base for architects to explore conversation in design.

Keywords: Design, Creativity, Architecture, Cybernetics, Conversational customization

Paper type Research paper

Cybernetics of practice

Ben Sweeting - Architecture, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

Abstract

Purpose – By examining a cybernetic understanding of practice, the author explores ways in which cybernetics leads to distinctive ways of acting. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach – Paralleling von Foerster's argument that it makes more sense to speak of the cybernetics of epistemology than the epistemology of cybernetics, the author argues that cybernetics is not one form of practice amongst others but an account of what it is to practice, understood as where we relate how we act to how we understand so that each informs the other. The author explores the potential difference that adopting this understanding of practice makes in practice and show its significance by establishing connections between the eponymous cybernetic example of steering and questions regarding teleology in ethics.

Findings – While all practice is cybernetic in the sense of involving a relationship between understanding and acting, the relationship between cybernetics and practice is not a neutral one. Understanding practice in cybernetic terms enables us to pursue goods internal to the practice, which, in turn, makes a difference to how we act.

Practical implications – The author argues that how we understand the relation between the understanding and the acting (the theories of theory and practice) leads to significant differences of action in practice.

Originality/value – The author argues that cybernetics has non-neutral, and ethically significant, consequences in practice that are beyond the application of cybernetics to practice or the advantages of adopting explicitly conversational ways of acting.

Keywords: Design, Ethics, Cybernetics, Epistemology, Purpose, Theory and practice

Paper type Conceptual paper

A challenge to objective perception in hearing and seeing in counselling psychology

Philip Baron - Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Purpose – Mainstream counselling psychology with its Western epistemology implies several assumptions about the therapeutic conversation. One assumption is the ability of the therapist to hear and see accurately during the therapy session. Apart from language difficulties and multi-cultural awareness, training in psychological counselling does not adequately address aspects of hearing and seeing as cognitive processors that are observer dependent and circular in nature. The purpose of this paper is to address this missing link by providing a single document addressing errors in hearing and seeing, which can then be used for training new therapists.

Design/methodology/approach – Using a Western epistemology, an argument based on multidisciplinary research findings is used to challenge the ideas of objective hearing and seeing in the therapeutic conversation of the counselling activity.

Findings – Research findings show that the act of hearing and seeing are personal and subjective. This would be in keeping with a cybernetic epistemology; however, cybernetic psychology is not well known nor widely accepted in mainstream institutions. Teaching counsellors who have a Western epistemology poses challenges when attempting to negate the objective reality of the trainees. Training counsellors to incorporate a cybernetic ethic of participation has obstacles, especially when the training has time constraints. Using Western positivistic research findings as a basis for providing an argument for subjectivity in perception may be a quicker method to achieve at least partial observer dependent thinking for counsellors in a short-time space during training sessions.

Research limitations/implications – This paper presents a concentration of multidisciplinary research that can be used as part of counsellor training for the purposes of providing a basis for the error and filtering that take place in human perception of sound and vision.

Originality/value – The modalities of hearing and seeing are not readily addressed in counselling psychology praxis. The errors in human sense perception are integral in framing the therapeutic conversation as one of subjective co-construction between observers, moving closer to an empathetic position. This paper provides a research-based argument in denying objectivity in human perception during the therapeutic conversation.

Keywords: Cybernetics, Teaching, Objectivity, Empathy, Counselling, Hearing and seeing

Paper type Conceptual paper