Feedback : Cybernetics

“Cybernetics In History” , Norbert Wiener

In this article, the author defines cybernetics as the study of messages as a means of controlling machinery and society. Even though the article is originally published in 1950, it gives a very relevant perspective towards communications that are used today.”Like any form of information, these commands are subject to disorganisation in transit” as stated by weiner, this statement is very similar to a game ‘message’ we as kids used to play, where a bunch of kids used to sit in a circle and one generates a message and tells it to the next person when the message goes around the circle and comes back to him, the message would be very different from the original. This could even happen when we communicate with our surroundings (could be with humans, machines or animals). This article also sheds light on how input and output are related and mutual like the example, a cat reacts to our calls and as a human we respond to it’s reaction. He also mentions this mutual interaction or transfer of messages can also occur between human to human, human to machine, and machine to machine. He also discusses how memory (stored information form input) could be further used as a tool as an output for a situation that could happen in the future.

“The Disregarded Tools of Modern Man” , Stafford Beer

Variety, Beer introduces the reader to this term through this article and how it effects our society and institutions which in turn depend on cybernetics. He states “Variety absorbs variety, nothing else can”. In support,he provides examples like the departmental store, where the variety of products attracts variety of consumers who in turn require variety of salesman to accommodate them. If the store fails to provide enough salesman the system become unstable. He also relates the same example to a governing body for a country, but in this case the citizens have to bare with instability caused due to unavailability of requires variety. The article also informs that cybernetics could be a solution for the changing society where the variety( needs, developments etc) could be met with constant feedback from the society and translating it into output with variety of organisations that could take care of these needs.

He also mentions that cybernetics should be used on the right side of the system and it could act as a platform where we can test different outcomes with the information acquired from the society and experiment possible solutions and derive the best solution for the future of that particular society.

“The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics” , Gordon Park

This article establishes a connection between cybernetics and architecture. Even though historically art had played a significant role in architecture, as the technology developed the need of architecture for new programs had arose. The author points out that this need or this new architecture have no theory,even though it is evidently using computational machines to design the designs provided are very static in nature. He suggests that the structures need to be dynamic and should interact with the changing needs of inhabitants.

Final thoughts:

Although as an architect we use computational tools to create a stable environment to the end user we might need to understand the data that different sources provide us like internet, magazines and try to adapt to the changing trends, required varieties by the user and provide a design only after attaining the best solution through experimenting.