Abstract

Upshot: Kline focuses on the aspects of American cybernetics that gave rise to the narrative of the information age and the development of its leading technologies. He primarily follows the first-order perspective, which may be disappointing for constructivists. However, the book manages to beautifully capture the vibrant, magnetic moments of early cybernetics at a time when what would become a great divide among theorists was still only a little crack. The narrative tracks the following boundary work, contributed from all sides, making the book a valuable manual on how to fail to construct a trans-disciplinary bridge.