Kybernetes: Volume 40 Issue 7/8

Introduction: a conference doing the cybernetics of cybernetics

This paper introduces the other papers in this issue, describing and arguing for the context in which they were written – a conference that was, unusually, based in conversation…

Why the arts need cybernetics for our long‐term viability

The purpose of this paper is to encourage critics and artists to make use of a cybersystemic perspective in their work to improve its potency and long‐term value to humankind and…

A cybernetic model approach for free jazz improvisations

The purpose of this paper is to better understand communication between musicians in a free jazz improvisation in comparison to traditional jazz.

Multiple objectivity: an anti‐relativist approach to situated knowledge

The paper aims to describe the inadequate nature of both “mono‐objectivist” approaches, which deny any role of social influence in science, and relativist social constructions…

When is analog? When is digital?

The purpose of this paper is to present a cybernetic way of seeing analog and digital along with a basic vocabulary for discussing assumptions underlying the use of both terms.

An introduction to hyperseeing and hypersculptures

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the cybernetics audience to the fundamental interdisciplinary concept of hyperseeing and its application to hypersculptures.

The hypothesis of interactive evolution

This paper aims to formulate the hypothesis of interactive evolution as evolutionary development of interactivity in relation to complex spatial relations. It also attempts to…

Mutually arising abstract and actual

This paper connects the notions of abstract and actual based on a reflection of the Chinese notions of xiangsheng (mutual arising) and xushi (abstract/actual, empty/full). These…

From abstract to actual: art and designer‐like enquiries into data visualisation

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that physiological experience can contribute to the comprehension of visualisation of scientific data, especially artistic approaches.

Do you like paleolithic op‐art?

The purpose of this paper is to consider the history of certain modular elements: Truchet tiles, Op‐tiles, Kufic tiles, and key‐patterns, which occur as ornamental archetypes from…

Building(s), cybernetically

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of the architectural design process as a set of interlinked conversations, to explain the role of the artifacts of the design…

Music, memory and cognition: a cybernetic approach

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to the perception of music and the understanding of memory using cybernetic tools.

The design and validation of an artificial personality

A US patent was recently granted for an artificial psychology dialog player with two artificial personalities and aging simulation. The purpose of this paper is to expose the…

Don't give up! Media art as an endless conversational process

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the potential for contemporary media art production is based on the productive action itself, and that this activity supports the…

Norwich's Entropy Theory: how not to go from abstract to actual

The purpose of this paper is to ask whether a first‐order‐cybernetics concept, Shannon's Information Theory, actually allows a far‐reaching mathematics of perception allegedly…

A spatial color‐sound model for mixed reality

The objective of this paper is two‐fold: to share information about color and to solicit information about sound, with the ultimate goal of producing a simple formula for…

Towards digitally integrated urban places

Digital media has been firmly established in contemporary society and now is a time of unprecedented growth and innovation in the world of digital technologies. Conversely, before…

Future “designing” and the Chinese notions of “Li”

This paper aims to fuse some ideas within different domains perceived to have some resonance together with the purpose to assist the development of the artificial world using a…

Heinz von Foerster's heuristics course: A factor in the development of second‐order cybernetics in the United States

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the heuristics course co‐taught by Heinz von Foerster, Herbert Brün, and Humberto Maturana (1968‐1969) influenced cybernetic…

Conversing with drawings and buildings: from abstract to actual in architecture

The purpose of this paper is to describe the various movements from abstraction to actuality in the context of design, with particular reference to architecture, first in terms of…

Geometric reconstruction of Amir‐Chakhmagh Square through backward‐perspective

Geometry, as the visual depiction of mathematics, has always comprised a major communicative language in architecture. Thus, geometry has traditionally been taught in…

Human:machine:human: Gesture, Sound and Embodiment

The purpose of this paper is to present an embodied view on human/machine co‐creation in general, and musical improvisation in particular.

Resonances of the unknown

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of second‐order cybernetics for a theory of architectural design and related discourse.

Re‐thinking metaphor, experience and aesthetic awareness

The purpose of this paper is to explore current questions about metaphor, experience and aesthetic awareness that persist through the variations of critical approaches and…

Climate change again, MIT plans, exoskeleton, WikiLeaks

The purpose of this paper is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.

Special announcements

A cybernetic model approach for free jazz improvisations

When is analog? When is digital?

The hypothesis of interactive evolution

Building(s), cybernetically

From abstract to actual: art and designer-like enquiries into data visualisation

The design and validation of an artificial personality

Norwich’s entropy theory: how not to go from abstract to actual

Towards digitally integrated urban places

Geometric reconstruction of Amir-Chakhmagh Square through backward-perspective

Heinz von Foerster’s heuristics course: a factor in the development of second-order cybernetics in the United States

Resonances of the unknown

Obituary notice

The Creation of Reality: A Constructivist Epistemology of Journalism and Journalism Education

Announcements

Why the arts need cybernetics for our long-term viability

Multiple objectivity: an anti-relativist approach to situated knowledge

An introduction to hyperseeing and hypersculptures

Mutually arising abstract and actual

Music, memory and cognition: a cybernetic approach

Do you like paleolithic op-art?

Don’t give up! Media art as an endless conversational process

A spatial color-sound model for mixed reality

Future “designing” and the Chinese notions of “Li”

Human:machine:human: Gesture, Sound and Embodiment

Conversing with drawings and buildings: from abstract to actual in architecture

Re-thinking metaphor, experience and aesthetic awareness

Jerome Y. Lettvin: February 23, 1920-April 23, 2011

Editorial and preface