A tale of Cybernetics

The first time I read the seminal Norbert Wieners' book "Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine"  I was eleven years old. It was a beautiful challenge that changed my life. Of course, that time I did not understand the mathematics inside the book; but it was the moment to decide studying Computer Sciences.

A few years later, when I was researching for my PhD, I read the book again. Now, after about 30 years later, I am reading the book third time.

Why is this book a MUST READ?

It explores the evolution and implications of Cybernetics, highlighting how the study of information, communication, and control has evolved from a novel field to a fundamental discipline in diverse areas.

Norbert Wiener, in 1948, emphasized the importance of feedback in engineering and biology, and how systems, both artificial and living, operate under shared principles. 

The book also deeps into machine learning and self-organization, examining everything from artificial intelligence in games to the complex physiology of brain waves, and how the new statistical mechanics is just as mechanistic as the old, but with a deeper understanding of time and probability. 

Finally, the text addresses the social dangers of these technologies and the need for an interdisciplinary perspective for their study.

Contents:

PART I ORIGINAL EDITION (1948) <= The one that I have as a printed book, and have read twice.

• Introduction 
• Newtonian and Bergsonian Time 
• Groups and Statistical Mechanics 
• Time Series, Information, and Communication 
• Feedback and Oscillation
• Computing Machines and the Nervous System 
• Gestalt and Universale 
• Cybernetics and Psychopathology 
• Information, Language, and Society 

PART II SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS (1961) <= Additional chapters found in the PDF - Reading.

• On Learning and Self-Reproducing Machines 
• Brain Waves and Self-Organizing Systems 

NOTE: I strongly recommend take your time and read the book. I understand that most of us "do not have enough time", and it would be faster to summarize the book by using your favourite LLM. It is up to you; but if you do so, you will miss the opportunity of  enjoy the pleasure of "letting your imagination fly!".