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Many workers in the biological sciences—physiologists, psychologists, sociologists—are interested in cybernetics and would like to apply its methods and techniques to their own speciality. Many have, however, been prevented from taking up the subject by an impression that its use must be preceded by a long study of electronics and advanced pure mathematics for they have formed the impression that cybernetics and these subjects are inseparable.
The author is convinced, however, that this impression is false. The basic ideas of cybernetics can be treated without reference to electronics, and they are fundamentally simple so although advanced techniques may be necessary for advanced applications, a great deal can be done, especially in the biological sciences, by the use of quite simple techniques, provided they are used with a clear and deep understanding of the principles involved. It is the author’s belief that if the subject is founded in the common-place and well understood, and is then built up carefully, step by step, there is no reason why the worker with only elementary mathematical knowledge should not achieve a complete understanding of its basic principles. With such an understanding he will then be able to see exactly what further techniques he will have to learn if he is to proceed further and, what is particularly useful, he will be able to see what techniques he can safely ignore as being irrelevant to his purpose.
The book is intended to provide such an introduction. It starts from common-place and well-understood concepts, and proceeds, step by step, to show how these concepts can be made exact, and how they can be developed until they lead into such subjects as feedback, stability, regulation, ultrastability, information, coding, noise, and other cybernetic topics. Throughout the book no knowledge of mathematics is required beyond elementary algebra in particular, the arguments nowhere depend on the calculus (the few references to it can be ignored without harm, for they are intended only to show how the calculus joins on to the subjects discussed, if it should be used). The illustrations and examples are mostly taken from the biological, rather than the physical, sciences. Its overlap with Design for a Brain is small, so that the two books are almost independent. They are, however, intimately related, and are best treated as complementary each will help to illuminate the other.
Cybernetics is here defined as «the science of control and communication, in the animal and the machine» - in a word, as the art of steersmanship and this book will interest all who are interested in cybernetics, communication theory and methods for regulation and control. W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972) was an English psychiatrist and a pioneer in cybernetics, the study of complex systems. His two books, «Design for a Brain» and «An Introduction to Cybernetics,» were landmark works. They introduced exact and logical thinking into the nascent discipline and were highly influential.
What is new
The peculiarities of cybernetics
The uses of cybernetics
Mechanism
Change
Transformation
Repeated change
The Determinate Machine
Vectors
The Machine with Input
Coupling systems
Feedback
Independence within a whole
The very large system
Stability
Disturbance
Equilibrium in part and whole
The Black Box
Isomorphic machines
Homomorphic machines
The very large Box
The incompletely observable Box
Variety
Quantity of Variety
Constraint
Importance of constraint
Variety in machines
Transmission of Variety
Inversion
Transmission from system to system
Transmission through a channel
Incessant Transmission
The Markov chain
Entropy
Noise
Regulation and control
Regulation in Biological Systems
Survival
Requisite Variety
The law
Control
Some variations
The Error-controlled Regulator
The Markovian machine
Markovian regulation
Determinate regulation
The power amplifier
Games and strategies
Regulating the Very Large System
Repetitive disturbance
Designing the regulator
Quantity of selection
Selection and machinery
Amplifying Regulation
What is an amplifier? .
Amplification in the brain
Amplifying intelligence
References
Answers to exercises
Index