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The information age can be dated to the work of Norbert Wiener and Claude Shannon in the 1940s. Their work on cybernetics and information theory, and many subsequent developments, had a profound influence on reshaping the field of psychology from what it was prior to the 1950s. Contemporaneously, advances also occurred in experimental design and inferential statistical testing stemming from the work of Ronald Fisher, Jerzy Neyman, and Egon Pearson. These interdisciplinary advances from outside of psychology provided the conceptual and (...) methodological tools for what is often called the cognitive revolution but is more accurately described as the information-processing revolution. Cybernetics set the stage with the idea that everything ranging from neurophysiological mechanisms to societal activities can be modeled as structured control systems with feedforward and feedback loops. Information theory offered a way to quantify entropy and information, and promoted theorizing in terms of information flow. Statistical theory provided means for making scientific inferences from the results of controlled experiments and for conceptualizing human decision making. With those three pillars, a cognitive psychology adapted to the information age evolved. The growth of technology in the information age has resulted in human lives being increasingly interweaved with the cyber environment, making cognitive psychology an essential part of interdisciplinary research on such interweaving. Continued engagement in interdisciplinary research at the forefront of technology development provides a chance for psychologists not only to refine their theories but also to play a major role in the advent of a new age of science. (shrink)

Despite the frequent use of the term systems by academicians and management practitioners, there is little agreement as to what the term really means. Experts in different fields talk about accounting systems, production systems, electronic data processing systems, market systems, financial systems, reward and motivation systems, and so on, but the student of management is confused by the nebulous and, at times, seemingly contradictory terms. This article uses the term Systems Approach as a convenient handle to pull together a few (...) basic ideas about the systems concept. Systems Approach organizes one's thinking to understand more clearly the complexity of a real world phenomenon. It consists of two main parts: (1) Systems Thinking (ST), and (2) Information Technology (IT). ST provides the knowledge for developing a Theory of Systems, such as General Systems Theory and Cybernetics, while IT supplies the tools for testing and improving this theory. The relationship between the two parts is a complementary one. Advances in theory lead to the development of better technology, while improvement in technology makes theory development easier and more reliable. (shrink)

The history of British cybernetics offers us a different form of science and engineering, one that does not seek to dominate nature through knowledge. I want to say that one can distinguish two different paradigms in the history of science and technology: the one that Heidegger despised, which we could call the Modern paradigm, and another, cybernetic, nonModern, paradigm that he might have approved of. This essay focusses on work in the 1950s and early 1960s by two of Britain’s leading (...) cyberneticians, Stafford Beer and Gordon Pask, in the field of what one can call biological computing. My object is to get as clear as I can on what Beer and Pask were up to. At the end, I will discuss Beer’s hylozoist ontology of matter, mind and spirit. This material is not easy to get the hang of—but that is what one should expect from an unfamiliar paradigm. (shrink)

In the 1950s and 1960s, cyberneticians defined and utilized a concept previously described by electronic engineers: the black box. They were interested in how it might aid them, as both a metaphor and as a physical or mathematical model, in their analysis of complex human-machine systems. The black box evolved as they applied it in new ways, across a range of scientific fields, from an unnamed concept involving inputs and outputs, to digital representations of the human brain, to white boxes (...) that might be used to replicate black boxes. The diversity of understandings of the black box reflected the diversity of scientific perspectives and goals brought under the label of cybernetics. In this paper, I examine how cyberneticians drew upon the black box in their personal writings and publications. My goal is to unpack what the black box meant to these theorists as a starting framework from which we may understand the initial shape of the black box. (shrink)

The organization of cutting-edge HEP laboratories has evolved in the intersection of academia, state agencies, and industry. Exponentially ever-larger and more complex knowledge-intensive operations, the laboratories have often faced the challenges of, and required organizational solutions similar to, those identified by a cluster of diverse theories falling under the larger heading of organization theory. The cluster has either shaped or accounted for the organization of industry and state administration. The theories also apply to HEP laboratories, as they have gradually and (...) uniquely hybridized their principles and solutions. Yet scholarship has virtually ignored this linkage and has almost exclusively focused on the laboratories’ presumably unique egalitarian organizational aspects. Guided by the principles developed in the organization theory cluster, we identify the basic organizational features of HEP laboratories in relation to their pursuit of narrow and broad epistemic goals. We also provide a set of criteria and methods for assessing the efficiency of the identified organizational features in achieving such goals. (shrink)

Following media-theoretical studies that have characterized digitization as a process of all-encompassing cybernetization, this paper will examine the timely and critical potential of Günther Anders’s oeuvre vis-à-vis the ever-increasing power of cybernetic devices and networks. Anders has witnessed and negotiated the process of cybernetization from its very beginning, having criticized its tendency to automate and expand, as well as its circular logic and ‘integral power’, including disruptive consequences for the constitution of the political and the social. In this vein, Anders’s (...) works, particularly his magnum opus Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen [The Obsolescence of Man], sheds new light on the technologically organized milieus of the contemporary digital regime and also highlights a new form of cybernetic ‘conformism’. The goal of the essay is therefore, not only to emphasize the contemporary nature of Anders’s thought but also to use it to frame a critique of current neo-technocratic and, ultimately, post-political concepts, such as ‘algorithmic regulation’, ‘smart states’, ‘direct technocracy’, and ‘government as platform’. This essay argues that cybernetic capitalism is causing what Anders terms ‘ Unfestgelegtheit’ to disappear; that is, we are losing the originary possibility of technologically structuring our world in alternative ways, particularly given the determinist character of current technologies. (shrink)

: Few concepts have created more sound and fury than the concepts of development and environment. The difficulty associated with these concepts increases exponentially when one attempts to clarify them by adding some attributes such as concrete definitions and measurements pertaining to the quantity and quality of these concepts. This essay deals with the private, for-profit corporation as the primary agent in the process of satisfying the human struggle for survival. This agent has been the epicenter of the "development-environment" issue (...) for quite some time. Further, this agent has been frequently singled out as the most important, if not the exclusive, contributor to society's inability to achieve the desired "sustainable development," whatever meaning one attaches to it. We present a framework for designing a "new" type of organization which will be environmentally sustainable. This Environmentally Sustainable Organization (ESO) resembles a living organism that pursues its own survival in an environment with finite natural resources and infinite human desires. (shrink)

Few concepts have created more sound and fury than the concepts of development and environment. The difficulty associated with these concepts increases exponentially when one attempts to clarify them by adding some attributes such as concrete definitions and measurements pertaining to the quantity and quality of these concepts. This essay deals with the private, for-profit corporation as the primary agent in the process of satisfying the human struggle for survival. This agent has been the epicenter of the "development-environment" issue for (...) quite some time. Further, this agent has been frequently singled out as the most important, if not the exclusive, contributor to society's inability to achieve the desired "sustainable development," whatever meaning one attaches to it. We present a framework for designing a "new" type of organization which will be environmentally sustainable. This Environmentally Sustainable Organization (ESO) resembles a living organism that pursues its own survival in an environment with finite natural resources and infinite human desires. (shrink)

As part of our exploration of a new conceptual framework for an economy that works for 100% of humanity, this conceptual paper asks why all talk about the purpose of organizations seems to suffer from a certain bias, namely the bias of scarcity, and how this myth of scarcity influences our understanding of corporate responsibility. The mainstream understanding of corporate purpose always contains partly normative and partly functional aspects designed to cope with the purported problem of scarcity. According to economic (...) and CSR reasoning, this bias concerning the purpose of business organizations triggers two quite distinct understandings of the essence of corporate responsibility. The economic view interprets it as responsibility towards the company, while CSR and business ethics argue that it reflects, or at least ought to reflect, a broader responsibility towards society. To overcome this responsibility gap, we need to affect a paradigm shift in economic reasoning, a shift which reconciles economic responsibility on the micro-level logic of raising profit with the greater demands of the meso, macro, and supra levels. Only then do we obtain a truly meaningful lever for changing real-world business practice from within the micro-logics of running a corporation. This paradigm shift requires a different mental model - a model of resource growth and natural abundance, rather than of scarcity - on the part of both economists and business ethicists. It can be labeled the economic model of future viability. This paper develops a conceptual argument for a future viable model of business practice which, first and foremost, takes seriously the need for the kind of micro-level decision-making which keeps individual organizations afloat, but which also, and crucially, delivers a solution for future viable business models and business behavior which breaks the apparent downward spiral of modern wealth creation, i.e. the spiral of continuous acceleration, disruption, concentration and resource exploitation, and which, thirdly, delivers a proper definition of purpose which can be applied in measurement systems which are free of biased assumptions of scarcity. (shrink)

When URUCIB was created, we did not know we were making an Executive Information Systems. In those days, the development of information technology was very nascent, and its impact on developing countries was even more limited. This paper tells how a government imagined using these resources and put them at the service of its management to have real-time information to guide decision-making. It shows how an interdisciplinary team of professionals from informatics, cybernetics, economics, statistics, and politics worked to create a (...) state-of-the-art system in its time, using available information and communication technologies. It shows the challenges that had to be overcome, both technological and cultural, and how this was carried out. It compares the experience of Uruguay with a previous and similar one in Chile fourteen years earlier. It then argues some of the main problems faced and claims the innovative character of the project. Finally, it draws some conclusions from experience. Distinguished British cybernetics expert Prof. Stafford Beer was hired as an advisor, the President of the Republic, Dr. Julio María Sanguinetti, gave his enthusiastic support and project leader Eng. Víctor Ganón and his devoted team were instrumental in making this trailblazing design and successfully implemented the system. (shrink)

… in which we pass through eleven episodes in the history of cybernetics, each episode focusing on one of its perspectives on learning. We end with a coda where we define ‘cybersocial systems’ and...

Network concepts are omnipresent in contemporary diagnoses, management practices, social science methods and theories. Instigating a critical analysis of network concepts, this article explores the sources and relevance of networks in Foucault’s social theory. I argue that via Foucault we can trace network concepts back to cybernetics, a research programme that initiated a shift from ‘being’ to ‘doing’ and developed a new theory of regulation based on connectivity and codes, communication and circulation. This insight contributes to two debates: Firstly, it (...) highlights a neglected influence on Foucault’s theory that travelled from cybernetics via structuralism and Canguilhem into his concept of power. Secondly, it suggests that network society and governance are neither a product of neoliberalism nor of technological artefacts, such as the Internet. They rather resulted from a distinct tradition of cybernetically inspired theories and practices. (shrink)

The contemporary use of the term ‘complexity’ frequently indicates that it is considered a unified concept. This may lead to a neglect of the range of different theories that deal with the implications related to the notion of complexity. This paper, integrating both the English and the Latin traditions of research associated with this notion, suggests a more nuanced use of the term, thereby avoiding simplification of the concept to some of its dominant expressions only. The paper further explores the (...) etymology of ‘complexity’ and offers a chronological presentation of three generations of theories that have shaped its uses; the epistemic and socio‐cultural roots of these theories are also introduced. From an epistemological point of view, this reflection sheds light on the competing interpretations underlying the definition of what is considered as complex. Also, from an anthropological perspective it considers both the emancipatory as well as the alienating dimensions of complexity. Based on the highlighted ambiguities, the paper suggests in conclusion that contributions grounded in contemporary theories related to complexity, as well as critical appraisals of their epistemological and ethical legitimacy, need to follow the recursive feedback loops and dynamics that they constitute. In doing so, researchers and practitioners in education should consider their own practice as a learning process that does not require the reduction of the antagonisms and the complementarities that shape its own complexity. (shrink)

Since the Enlightenment, there have been advocates for the rationalizing efficiency of enlightened sovereigns, bureaucrats, and technocrats. Today these enthusiasms are joined by calls for replacing or augmenting government with algorithms and artificial intelligence, a process already substantially under way. Bureaucracies are in effect algorithms created by technocrats that systematize governance, and their automation simply removes bureaucrats and paper. The growth of algorithmic governance can already be seen in the automation of social services, regulatory oversight, policing, the justice system, and (...) the military. However, there have also always been justified democratic and economic criticisms of autocracy, bureaucracy, technocracy, and algorithmic governance. Bureaucrats, technocrats, and algorithms embody biases that tend to serve the interests of elites, and all require transparency and democratic accountability, oversight individual citizens are ill equipped to exercise. As state apparatuses are increasingly automated, mechanisms for collective action and democratic oversight also need to be automated. Algorithms and cyborg citizenry will enable a posthuman democracy. Democratically accountable algorithmic governance, enabled by artificial intelligence and human enhancement, can automate bottom-up citizen surveillance, inform debate, aggregate decision making, and ensure the efficient working of the gradually withering state. As paid work disappears and we transition to a postcapitalist economy with a universal basic income, market mechanisms can be replaced with democratic planning. Indeed, only algorithmic governance can secure our future against accelerating threats from technological innovation. (shrink)

The ubiquitousness of failures in new information systems designs and implementations indicates that the design methodologies that the field has developed are inadequate or faulty. This paper points to the body of knowledge developed from design research as a potential source of expertise for developing design methods that are more successful. The paper describes a meta-theoretical method for classifying theories in the Information Systems field, and identifying areas that need farther development.

In the present article we analyze the relationships between K-waves and major technological breakthroughs in history and offer forecasts about features of the sixth Kondratieff wave. We use for our analysis the basic ideas of long cycles' theory and related theories (theories of the leading sector, technological styles etc.) as well as the ideas of our own theory of production principles and production revolutions. The latest of production revolution is the Cybernetic Revolution that, from our point of view, started in (...) the 1950s. We assume that in the 2030s and 2040s the sixth K-wave will merge with the final phase of the Cybernetic Revolution (which we call a phase of self-regulating systems). This period will be characterized by the breakthrough inmedical technologies which will be capable to combine many other technologies into a single system of MANBRIC-technologies (medico-additive-nano-bio-roboto-info-cognitive technologies). The article also presents a forecast of the process of global ageing and argueswhy the technological breakthrough will occur in health care sector and connected spheres. (shrink)

The quest of developing the logistics discipline, with a more theoretical foundation, is something several authors have emphasized and called for. Today one could argue that most of the research on logistics has a strong connection to the positivistic paradigm where there is a great emphasis on prediction, rationality and control in the solutions produced. In order to challenge the common assumptions and develop the logistics discipline, the process of knowledge creation i.e. the epistemological considerations, are central. Since a paradigm (...) consists of metatheoretical assumptions i.e. ontology and epistemology, the paradigmatic question is the key in order to change the frame of reference of the logistics discipline. The overall purpose of this licentiate thesis is to propose a paradigmatic view and a pragmatic approach based on the science of complexity that contribute to the further development of the logistics discipline. Two main methods have been used; one focusing on my main research method, which is my study of literature related to the field, and the other on the empirically oriented case studies that have been conducted The paradigmatic view proposed in this thesis is based on insights gained from the science of complexity. Assumptions made concerning how to approach and transfer knowledge attained from our perceived reality, drive the choices of methods when conducting research and have, of course, great influence on the results obtained and presented from any research process. Adopting a complexity perspective means taking a step away from the common positivistic influenced view, which dominates the logistics discipline, and approaching the phenomena of interest with a different set of assumptions and prerequisites in the research process. This set of assumptions is in line with the complex adaptive system platform developed in the thesis. The CAS platform is the foundation for the proposed pragmatic approach. The first properties of the proposed platform i.e. the CAS feature covering internal properties, are of central importance in order to grasp fully the complexity of a studied system and to understand where it is derived from. The proposed pragmatic approach means vi taking into consideration the smallest elements of, and agents relevant to, the study being conducted. From this internal approach the mindset of the researcher or practitioner is of great importance in the event of what such an approach might reveal about the problem being studied. In order to capture emergent phenomena and identify self-organization on different levels of description, we need a perception of the context as being “gray”; that is not considering the context as something which is static or stable, nor as something totally disoriented and uncontrollable. The metaphorical description of a fitness landscape where coevolution and continuous changes caused by the actions performed by agents inside and outside the perceived system under study, could be beneficial in the research process. This is the case since too many reductions of various factors could result in “far-from-reality” based solutions. The fundamental aspects of the pragmatic approach are a bottom-up perspective, where the smallest elements relevant to a certain logistics problem are considered, the system built up from this and, of course, an alignment with the paradigmatic view based on the science of complexity. (shrink)

Logistics is gaining increased attention in companies since interconnectivity is increasing, and the interdependence among actors is enhanced due to challenges organizations are facing today . While the logistics discipline has been characterized by an efficiency focus based on positivistic assumptions, the challenges of today require a focus on effectiveness i.e. adaptive logistics based on extended assumptions. As firms are becoming more complex themselves in their relationships with suppliers and customers, and there is increased turbulence facing almost all industries, this (...) complexity needs to be taken into consideration by logistics researchers and practitioners in order to increase their understanding, and for the sense-making of logistics phenomena. The purpose of the thesis is to contribute to the further development of logistics research and practice by exploring, from a complexity perspective, how increased adaptation can enhance logistics effectiveness. In order to gain knowledge and understanding of how a complexity perspective could impact logistics, several methods have been used. Through extensive literature reviews from several disciplines, insights into what type of underlying assumptions dominates the discipline were gained. In order to understand logistics in its ?real? empirical setting, a topical study entitled ?real logistics? was performed, in which logistics practitioners were interviewed with a grounded theory-inspired approach. Case studies have also been performed, focusing on issues of effectiveness. Furthermore, for me to be able provide the logistics discipline with an approach which is ?proven? to be applicable and where ?operationalization? of the complexity perspective could be achieved, combined case and simulation studies have been performed. It is the firm conclusion that adaptive logistics is not a concept separated from human-mind and involvement, instead it is a transformative concept realized in the individual and collective sense-making processes guided by assumptions related to both filters. Hence, in order to move towards adaptive logistics it is the conclusion that this is a process involving reflections on assumptions and their impacts on logistics phenomena and processes, and operationalization of a new way of thinking through sense-making methods with close connection to the perceived contexts in question. For the reflective part, theoretical frameworks are needed, which are in line with assumptions similar to real-life experience by managers i.e. of a less mechanical character, with emphasis on the extended assumptions comprised in the complexity perspective. Secondly, in order to operationalize a different way of thinking and acting i.e. change mind-sets to embrace more complex considerations, and provide tangible results in a reasonable time period, it has been concluded that agent-based modeling provides a feasible and applicable method and tool. (shrink)

The article centres on a single document, the 1968 doctoral thesis of L. Bruce Archer. It traces Archer’s earlier publications and the sources that informed and inspired his thinking as a way of understanding his influential work at the Royal College of Art from 1962. Analysis suggests that Archer’s ambition for a rigorous ‘science of design’ inspired by linear algorithmic approaches was increasingly threatened with disruption by his experience of large, complex design projects. Reflecting on Archer’s engagement with other models (...) of designing, the article ends with Archer’s retrospective view and an account of his significantly altered opinions. Archer is located as both a theorist and someone fascinated by the commercial and practical aspects of designing. (shrink)

Various media-theoretical studies have recently characterized the fourth industrial revolution as a process of all-encompassing technicization and cybernetization. Against this background, this paper seeks to show the timely and critical potential of Günther Anders’s magnum opus Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen vis-à-vis the ever-increasing power of cybernetic devices and networks. Anders has both witnessed, and negotiated, the process of cybernetization from its very beginning, having criticised not only its tendency of automatization and expansion, but also the circular logic and the “integral (...) power” it rests upon, including the destructive consequences for the constitution of the political and the social. In this vein, Anders’s oeuvre can indeed shed new light on the techno-logically organized milieus of the contemporary digital regime. The aim of the essay is, thus, not only to emphasize the contemporariness of Anders’s critical thought, but also use it to frame a critique vis-à-vis current neo-technocratic and, ultimately, post-political concepts, such as “algorithmic regulation”, “smart states”, “direct technocracy”, and “government as platform”. The essay finally seeks to, through Anders’s lens, address the question of the position and role of the critic in relation to ever expanding technical environments. (shrink)

In this chapter, we analyze the relationship between Kondratieff waves and major technological revolutions on the basis of the theory of production principles and production revolutions, and offer some forecasts about the features of the Sixth Kondratieff Wave/the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We show that the technological breakthrough of the Sixth Kondratieff Wave may be interpreted as both the Fourth Industrial Revolution and as the final phase of the Cybernetic Revolution. We assume that the sixth K-wave in the 2030s and 2040s (...) will merge with the final phase of the Cybernetic Revolution (which we call a phase of selfregulating systems). This period will be characterized by the breakthrough in medical technologies which will be capable of combining a number of other technologies into a single system of new and innovative technologies (we denote this system as a system of MANBRIC-technologies—i.e. medical, additive, nano-, bio-, robo-, info-, and cogno-technologies). (shrink)