Newsgroups: bit.listserv.csg-l
Date:         Thu, 12 Nov 1992 22:10:00 GMT
From:         Dag Forssell <0004742580@MCIMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Revised Intro. Manipulation

[From Dag Forssell (921112)]

For Gary Cziko, Bill Silvert, Mary and others.

The CSGINTRO.DOC posted by Gary yesterday lost the formatting when Gary
called up the file from my disk into his Macintosh. Loss of hard returns
meant that part of the post got scrambled and lost its clarity.

The best way to get the file to Gary is to post it, so here it is. Gary
will post it regularly. Since Gary has asked me to assume responsibility
for this document, I will incorporate any sensible suggestions for
clarification and updates and then post again.

This posting already incorporates the information on how Bill Silvert
created a new subdirectory and a suggestion by Gary to incorporate Usenet
address information. With Mary's permission I am incorporating her posting
of yesterday and substituting her literature list (I fiddled with it, Mary).
I have also merged some of Mary's info in the CSG group section. OK?

Bill Silvert, please substitute this file on the server. I suggest you delete
the readme file. It was for you and Gary, not for posterity.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTROL SYSTEMS GROUP NETWORK (CSGnet)
                 AND TO THE CONTROL SYSTEMS GROUP
                 Prepared by Dag Forssell 921112.

This introduction provides information about:

   Why you might want to join the CSG and read CSGnet
   Our subject: The control paradigm and Perceptual Control Theory
   The evolution of the control paradigm
   Demonstrating the Phenomenon of Perceptual Control
   The purpose of CSGnet
   CSGnet participants
   How to ask effective questions
   The Control Systems Group
   Subscribing to CSGnet
   How to obtain text and program files
   Literature references


WHY YOU MIGHT READ THE CSGnet

If you have an interest in how people and organisms work.
If you are dissatisfied with the explanations in many of the life
   sciences and would like a more rigorous approach....
If you insist on thinking things through for yourself....


OUR SUBJECT: THE CONTROL PARADIGM AND PERCEPTUAL CONTROL THEORY

Human control is the primary subject of CSGnet, but all forms of control are
game. Here are two introductions, first by Bill and then by Mary Powers:

  There have been two paradigms in the behavioral sciences since the
  1600's. One was the idea that events impinging on organisms make them
  behave as they do. The other, which was developed in the 1930's, is
  PERCEPTUAL CONTROL THEORY (PCT). Perceptual Control Theory explains how
  organisms control what happens to them. This means all organisms from
  the amoeba to humankind. It explains why one organism can't control
  another without physical violence. It explains why people deprived of
  any major part of their ability to control soon become dysfunctional,
  lose interest in life, pine away and die. It explains what a goal is,
  how goals relate to action, how action affects perceptions and how
  perceptions define the reality in which we live and move and have our
  being. Perceptual Control Theory is the first scientific theory that can
  handle all these phenomena within a single, testable concept of how
  living systems work.

                           William T. Powers,  November 3, 1991

  PERCEPTUAL CONTROL THEORY

  While the existence of control mechanisms and processes (such as
  feedback) in living systems is generally recognized, the implications of
  control organization go far beyond what is generally accepted. We
  believe that a fundamental characteristic of organisms is their ability
  to control; that they are, in fact, living control systems. To
  distinguish this approach from others using some version of control
  theory but forcing it to fit conventional approaches, we call ours
  Perceptual Control Theory, or PCT.

  PCT requires a major shift in thinking from the traditional approach:
  that what is controlled is not behavior, but perception. Modelling
  behavior as a dependent variable, as a response to stimuli, provides no
  explanation for the phenomenon of achieving consistent ends through
  varying means, and requires an extensive use of statistics to achieve
  modest (to the point of meaningless) correlations. Attempts to model
  behavior as planned and computed output can be demonstrated to require
  levels of precise calculation that are unobtainable in a physical
  system, and impossible in a real environment that is changing from one
  moment to the next. The PCT model views behavior as the means by which
  a perceived state of affairs is brought to and maintained at a reference
  state. This approach provides a physically plausible explanation for the
  consistency of outcomes and the variability of means.

  The PCT model has been used to simulate phenomena as diverse as
  bacterial chemotaxis, tracking a target, and behavior in crowds. In its
  elaborated form, a hierarchy of perceptual control systems (HPCT), it
  has lent itself to a computer simulation of tracking, including learning
  to track, and to new approaches to education, management, and
  psychotherapy.

  Control systems are not new in the life sciences. However, numerous
  misapprehensions exist, passed down from what was learned about control
  theory by non-engineers 40 or 50 years ago without further reference to
  newer developments or correction of initial misunderstandings.
  References in the literature to the desirability of positive feedback
  and the assertion that systems with feedback are slower than S-R systems
  are simply false, and concerns about stability are unfounded.

  The primary barrier to the adoption of PCT concepts is the belief - or
  hope - that control theory can simply be absorbed into the mainstream
  life sciences without disturbing the status quo. It is very hard to
  believe that one's training and life work, and that of one's mentors,
  and their mentors, must be fundamentally revised. Therefore, PCT appeals
  to those who feel some dissatisfaction with the status quo, or who are
  attracted to the idea of a generative model with broad application
  throughout the life sciences (plus AI and robotics). There are very few
  people working in PCT research. Much of its promise is still simply
  promise, and it meets resistance from all sides. It is frustrating but
  also tremendously exciting to be a part of the group who believe that
  they are participating in the birth of a true science of life.

                                 Mary Powers, November 1992


THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONTROL PARADIGM

The PCT paradigm originates in 1927, when an engineer named Harold Black
invented the negative feedback amplifier, which is a control device. This
invention led to the development of purposeful machines. Purposeful machines
have built-in intent to achieve consistent ends by variable means under
changing conditions.

The discovery and formalization of the phenomenon of control is the first
alternative to the cause-effect perspective ever proposed in any science.

The first discussion of purposeful machines and people came in 1943 in a
paper called:  Behavior, Purpose and Teleology by Rosenblueth, Wiener and
Bigelow. This paper also argued that purpose belongs in science as a real
phenomenon in the present. Purpose does not mean that somehow the future
influences the present.

The first specific suggestion on how to use the concept of control to
understand people came in 1957 in a paper entitled: A General Feedback Theory
of Human Behavior by McFarland, Powers and Clark.

In 1973 William T. (Bill) Powers published a seminal book called "Behavior:
the Control of Perception," which still is the major reference for PCT. See
literature below.

This book spells out a complete model of how the human brain and nervous
system works like a living perceptual control system. Our brain can be
viewed as a system that controls its own perceptions. This view suggests
explanations for many previously mysterious aspects of how people interact
with their world.

Perceptual Control Theory has been accepted by independetly thinking
psychologists, scientists and other interested people. The result is that
an association has been formed (the Control System Group), several books
published, this CSGnet set up and that at latest count 16 professors are
teaching PCT in American universities today.


DEMONSTRATING THE PHENOMENON OF CONTROL

The phenomenon of control is largely unrecognized in science today. It is not
well understood in important aspects even by many control engineers. Yet the
phenomenon of control, when it is recognized and understood, provides a
powerful enhancement to scientific perspectives.

It is essential to recognize that this phenomenon exists and deserves an
explanation before any of the discourse on CSGnet will make sense.

Please download the introductory demonstration dem1a.exe, which is an inter-
active program and/or rubberbd.txt, which is a text telling you how to demon-
strate the phenomenon to yourself and a friend using only two rubber bands.


THE PURPOSE OF CSGnet:

CSGnet provides a forum for development, applications and testing of PCT.


CSGnet PARTICIPANTS

Many interests and backgrounds are represented here. Psychology, Sociology,
Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Social Work, Neurology,
Modeling and Testing. All are represented and discussed. A quality of
participants on this net is that most are prepared to question and re-
consider what they think they know.


HOW TO ASK EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS

Since PCT puts much conventional, well established wisdom on its head, it is
helpful to begin by demonstrating the phenomenon of control to yourself and
studying a few references. As you catch on, read this net and follow a thread
that interests you for a month or more.

When you ask a question, please consider that in order to give you a good
answer, a respondent will need to put your question in context.

Therefore, please introduce yourself with a statement of your professional
interests and background. It will help if you spell out which demonstrations,
introductory papers and references you have taken the time to digest and what
you learned.

People on this net are in various stages of learning and understanding PCT.
When you get a reply to your post, please consider that the respondent who
found your question of interest and invested time in a reply, may benefit
from knowing how you perceived the answer. Did it answer your question? Was
it clear? Were you able to understand it?


THE CONTROL SYSTEMS GROUP

The CSG is an organization of people in the behavioral, social, and life
sciences who see the potential in PCT for increased understanding in their
own fields and for the unification of diverse and fragmented specialties.

Annual dues are $45 for regular members and $5 for students (subsidized).

An annual meeting is held in Durango, Colorado, on the campus of Fort Lewis
College. In 1993 it will begin in the evening of Wednesday, July 28, and end
Sunday morning, Aug, 1. There will be 7 plenary meetings (mornings and
evenings), with afternoons, mealtimes, and late night free for further
discussion or recreation. Full details will be available on the net or by
mail after April 1, 1993.

Net subscribers find it useful to have thematic collections of some of the
network discussions, and it enables non-net members to keep up with them.
Threads from this net are published on a quarterly basis in a booklet called
the Closed Loop. These booklets are distributed to members and are available
separately. A complimentary copy of Closed Loop will be sent upon request.
Back issues are available: Volume 1 (4 issues) is $12. Single issues of
Volume 2, beginning with Jan. 1992, are $6 each.

For membership information and back issues of Closed Loop, write: CSG, c/o
Mary Powers, 73 Ridge Place CR 510, Durango, CO 81301-8136.


SUBSCRIBING TO CSGnet

When you subscribe to CSGnet, you get this message, CSGINTRO.DOC. But you
may have received it from a friend who printed it, seen it on a demodisk,
or seen it on Usenet. To subscribe, send a message as follows: (Internet)

To:        LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
Message:   Subscribe CSG-L Lastname, Firstname, Affiliation, City, State.
           help

(Lastname, Firstname, etc is optional commentary).
("help" requests a list of most commonly used commands).
(The Bitnet address is:  LISTSERV@UIUCVMD).
(This server is not sensitive to upper or lower case letters).

CSGnet can also be accessed via Usenet (NetNews) where it is listed as the
newsgroup bit.listserv.csg-l.


HOW TO OBTAIN TEXT AND PROGRAM FILES

A number of ASCII documents and binary computer programs are available on a
fileserver maintained by Bill Silvert. It is possible to download all these
files via e-mail. If you are on internet, it is easiest to obtain binary
program files via anonymous FTP. If you are on MCI mail, you have read about
how you can transfer binary files with Kermit or Zmodem protocols. (Type help
at the MCI mail prompt for directions). But the server cannot send binary
files over the internet mail network, so download uue.scr first, then request
the binary files uuencoded as ASCII files. The Internet address for the
server is BIOME.BIO.NS.CA. CSGnet files are kept in the subdirectory pub/csg.

To get basic information and a current listing of available documents, send
a message as follows: (Internet)

To:        SERVER@BIOME.BIO.NS.CA.

Message:   help
           ftp
           get csg/Index
           end

"help"            asks the server to send you commands and explanations.
"ftp"             requests the scoop on anonymous FTP for internet.
"get csg/Index"   requests the Index for the csg subdirectory.

In your message, pay attention to upper and lower case! DOS is not dos.

As part of the index (of the csg directory), you may be looking at:

programs/msdos:
dem1a.exe        128437  Bill Power's demonstration of perceptual control
dem2a.exe        123649  Bill Power's modelling of control

documents/forssell:
uud.scr           53406  Create a PC uudecode binary. (Instructions @ end)!

If you want to request dem1a.exe (uuencoded) to get a "live" demonstration
of the phenomenon of control, and the ASCII file uud.scr which allows you to
use DOS debug to create uud.exe to decode it, send the following message:

uue csg/programs/msdos/dem1a.exe
get csg/programs/forssell/uud.scr

The uuencoded dem1a.exe will be sent in four parts. Remove headers and use
an editor to make it into one file (starting with table and ending with end)
before you use uud.exe to restore the file. dem1a.exe is a self-extracting
archive file. Put it in it's own directory before you execute it. You get
complete documentation and a running program.


LITERATURE REFERENCES

For a complete list of CSG-related publications, get the file biblio.pct
from the fileserver as described above. Here are some selected books and
papers on Perceptual Control Theory:

Powers, William T., Behavior: The Control of Perception.
Hawthorne, NY: Aldine DeGruyter, 1973.
     The basic text.

*Robertson, Richard J. and Powers, William T., editors.
 Introduction to Modern Psychology: the Control Theory View.
 CSG Books, 1990. ($25 postpaid)
     College-level text.

*Powers, William T., Living Control Systems I : selected papers.
 CSG Books, 1989. ($16.50 postpaid)
     Previously published papers, 1960-1988.

*Powers, William T., Living Control Systems II : selected papers.
 CSG Books, 1992. ($22 postpaid)
     Previously unpublished papers, 1959-1990.

*Marken, Richard S, Mind Readings : experimental studies of purpose.
 CSG Books, 1992. ($18 postpaid)
     Research papers exploring control.

Marken, Richard S., editor. Purposeful Behavior : the control theory
approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications: American Behavioral
Scientist, special issue. Vol. 34, Number 1. September/October 1990.
     11 articles on control theory.

Runkel, Philip J., Casting Nets and Testing Specimens. NY: Praeger, 1990.
     When statistics are appropriate; when models are required.

Hershberger, Wayne, editor, Volitional Action; conation and control. Advances
in Psychology 62. NY: North-Holland, 1989.
     25 articles (not all PCT)

Ford, Edward E., Freedom From Stress. Scottsdale AZ: Brandt Publishing, 1989.
     A self-help book. PCT in a counseling framework.

Gibbons, Hugh, The death of Jeffrey Stapleton: exploring the way lawyers
think. Concord, NH: Franklin Pierce Law Center, 1990.
     A text for law students using control theory.

McClelland, Kent, Perceptual Control and Sociological Theory. 1992.
     Not yet published. Available from the author,
     Grinnell University, Grinnell, Iowa.

McPhail, Clark, The Myth of the Madding Crowd. NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990.
     Introduces control theory as a way to explain group behavior.

McPhail, Clark, Powers, William T., and Tucker, Charles W.,
Simulating Individual and Collective Action In Temporary Gatherings.
Social Science Computer Review, 10:1, Spring 1992.
Durham, NC, Duke University, 1992.
     Computer simulation of control systems in groups.

Petrie, Hugh G., Dilemma of Inquiry and Learning. U of Chicago press, 1981.
     Introduces PCT to educational theory.

Richardson, George P., Feedback Thought in Social Science and Systems Theory.
Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
     A review of systems thinking, icluding PCT.

 *These items are available from CSG Books, 460 Black Lick Road,
  Gravel Switch, KY, 40328.

--End of document--
-----------------------------------------------------------

Re: Manipulation

While I am paying postage for a fat letter already, let me slip this piece
in. I found it amusing.

This is a 2/3 extract from an article by G. Gordon Liddy (of Watergate fame)
in a supplement to Forbes magazine called FYI, Nov 23, 1992.

.............
..."Hold it," Bernie commanded, looking as if I had just desecrated a temple.
"You're talking about _fraud_, not a _con_."

"What's the difference?"

"Ever hear the phrase, 'You can't cheat an honest man?' Well, that's as wrong
as 'Crime doesn't pay,' and 'Speed kills.' If speed killed, every
Indianapolis driver would be dead. If crime didn't pay, there'd be no crime,
and honest men are defrauded every day. The expression should be, 'You can't
_con_ an honest man."'

"What's the difference?"

Bernie took on the air of a professor of theology at a seminary. He was
teaching the principles of a subject in which he believed deeply. "You can
misrepresent yourself to an honest man; promise to perform a service or
provide goods for a fair price, then renege--purposely fail to deliver and
keep his money--and take off with it. You've _cheated_ him, committed a
fraud. But you haven't conned him. To do that you have to appeal to his
greed--convince him that _he's_ cheating someone else. _That's_ a con."

Bernie was really into it now. The years dropped off him magically as he
relived his youth. "For instance, when I was playing the chauffeur of The
Yellow Kid and we were running 'The Eye."'

"Why," I asked, "was he called 'The Yellow Kid'?"

"Because he always dressed in yellow. It was his favorite color. His
trademark: yellow suit, yellow tie, yellow gloves, even yellow shoes."

"Wait a minute," I objected. "He'd be spotted in a minute. How could you run
a con looking like that? The marks would think he was a nut."

Bernie looked pained, as if I were a none-too-bright student. "He didn't
dress that way when he was _working_. Those were only his leisure clothes.
When he worked he dressed the part he was playing--usually a rich business-
man. Like when we would run 'The Eye.'"

"Tell me how it worked."

"We'd tour the real rube country in the Midwest in a big Duesenberg or a
Rolls limousine, " Bernie grinned. "The Yellow would be sitting in the back.
I'm driving. He's wearing clothes worth half the price of the car. I've got
on the uniform, with boots and the little peaked cap, see, when we pull up
in front of the local bank. I hop out and open the door for The Yellow, and
he makes this entrance into the bank and goes to the teller cage to break a
couple of $1,000 bills for change. In the middle of the transaction, he
suddenly claps his hand over his eye and half shouts--real agitated--'My eye!
My eye!' Then he slips on a pair of dark glasses, still making a lot of
noise.

"Now," said Bernie, "the president of the bank comes running out of his
office, he sees the Rolls, the clothes, the thousand-dollar bills, and he's
terrified this super-rich guy's somehow had his eye put out in his bank.
You've got no idea how relieved he is to hear The Yellow reassure him that
he lost his eye in an accident years before. What's happened, says The
Yellow, is that his _glass_ eye, one made especially for him in Czechoslo-
vakia to perfectly match his good eye and cost a fortune, has popped out and
is somewhere on the floor.

"Naturally," Bernie continued, "everybody's on the floor looking, but nobody
can find it. Desperate, The Yellow asks, 'Where's the local newspaper office?
I'll give $2,000 -no, _$3,000_- for the return of my eye.'

"Well, of course," said Bernie, "the bank president doesn't want him to do
that, _he_ wants to find it. So he asks The Yellow please not to do that;
there'll be a thousand people in here looking for it-bad for business. The
Yellow says he understands, but that he can't stay. He explains that if they
find the eye, 'Call this number, tell the man who answers the phone you have
it, and he'll arrive on the next train to claim it and pay the $3,000
reward.'

"The next day," said Bernie, still professorial but clearly enjoying himself,
"a guy walks into the bank to cash a travelers check, goes to the same window
The Yellow did, bends over, reaches for something and says, 'Look--I found
a marble--only it's not round, it's oblong. It looks more like..._a glass
eye!_'

"Now the president sees this," said Bernie, "and he says, 'You're right, sir.
A man lost it here the other day. He may be willing to give a small reward.'
'Call him,' says the guy who 'found' the eye. 'Whatever I get, I'll split.'

"The president frowns and says, 'One problem. He didn't give me a number to
call him. He said he'd call me. Let me check to see if he's called yet.' Then
he goes into his office and calls the number. When the guy on the other end
answers, the president says, 'I've found the eye. Is that $3,000 reward offer
really good or just conversation?'

Bernie was pacing up and down now, excited. "'Sir,' the guy on the phone
says, 'Mr. X always keeps his word.' He pauses and then says back to the
president, 'Sir, if I can give you some information worth a lot of money to
you, can I get $500?' Then he tells the president, 'Listen, that eye cost him
$15,000. He'll be glad to give you $5,000 or even $6,000.' The president
promises the guy on the phone $500, then goes back out to the guy holding the
glass eye and says, 'He hasn't called yet, and I don't know if he ever will.
Tell you what; I'll give you $500 for your end and take my chances."'

I wish you could have seen the glee in Bernie's face as he continued: "The
guy with the eye says no he wants to wait and talk to the owner himself. The
president offers $800. The guy still says no. The president goes up each time
the guy refuses to go for the deal, all the way up to $2,000. Finally the guy
with the eye says, 'Look, you offered me $2,000, I can't wait around. Give
me $2,300.' The president is delighted to give it to him." Bernie chuckled,
"And he's _still_ waiting to collect his six grand."

Bernie reverted to his professorial demeanor. "You see? That guy beats him-
self. If he doesn't get greedy and try to cheat the other guy, he wouldn't
be out a dime. Now _that's_ a con."

It sure is.                -END-

Fraud and Con: A distinction to be made as manipulation is codified by
Control Theorists!

Best to all, Dag
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU