Cybernetics

Cybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. The term cybernetics stems from the Greek Κυβερνήτης (kybernetes - meaning steersman, governor, pilot, or rudder; the same root as government).

Scope

In scholarly terms, cybernetics is the study of systems and control in an abstracted sense — that is, it is not grounded in any one empirical field.

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The emphasis is on the functional relations that hold between the different parts of a system, rather than the parts themselves. These relations include the transfer of information, and circular relations (feedback) that result in emergent phenomena such as self-organization, and autopoiesis. The main innovation brought about by cybernetics is an understanding of goal-directedness or purpose as resulting from a negative feedback loop which minimizes the deviation between the perceived situation and the desired situation (goal).

Related Topics:
Information - Feedback - Self-organization - Autopoiesis - Purpose - Negative feedback

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Ampère's earlier use of the term echoes in the development of second-order cybernetics, which includes observers as part of whatever system is being studied.

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