Newsgroups: bit.listserv.csg-l
Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 06:17:00 GMT
From:         Dag Forssell <0004742580@MCIMAIL.COM>
Subject:      *CSGintro* revision

[From Dag Forssell (921117.22.00)]

For Gary Cziko, Bill Silvert and others.

Here is a reformatted version of CSGINTRO.DOC with a max of 72
characters per line, as suggested by Bill Silvert. Len Lansky suggested
64, then reversed himself, so 72 it is. I shall make a point of posting
@ 72, now that I know.

Gary: When I spoke with Mary, she mentioned that it would be nice to
include your paper in the literature list. I second Mary's motion. Can
you add it please. Your paper is dynamite.

But be sure you don't mess up MY document again. |:-)

Bill, this is a minor update. Please substitute if not much trouble.
-------------------------------------------------------------

   INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTROL SYSTEMS GROUP NETWORK (CSGnet)
              AND TO THE CONTROL SYSTEMS GROUP
              Prepared by Dag Forssell 921117.

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 by Bill and 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 independently 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
interactive program and/or rubberbd.txt, which is a text telling you how
to demonstrate the phenomenon to yourself and a friend using only two
rubber bands.


THE PURPOSE OF CSGnet:

CSGnet provides a forum for development, use 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 reconsider 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 full 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 address followed by two message commands, one per line)

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

(Lastname, Firstname, etc is optional commentary, but helpful).
("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.

Commands:   help
            ftp
            get csg/Index
            end

"help"            requests commands and explanations.
"ftp"             asks details on anonymous FTP for internet.
"get csg/Index"   requests the Index for the csg subdirectory.

Pay attention to letter case for commands! 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  ASCII Compile uud.exe w DOS debug. Directions @ end.

If you want dem1a.exe (uuencoded) to get a "live" demonstration of the
phenomenon of control, and the ASCII file uud.scr with directions at the
end on how to use DOS debug to compile uud.exe to decode it, send the
following message commands:

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. (1973).  _Behavior: The control of perception_.
Hawthorne, NY: Aldine DeGruyter.
     The basic text.

*Robertson, Richard J. and Powers, William T. (Eds.). (1990).
 _Introduction to modern psychology: The control theory view_.
 Gravel Switch, KY: CSG Book. ($25 postpaid)
     College-level text.

*Powers, William T. (1989). _Living control systems: Selected papers_.
 Gravel Switch, KY: CSG Books. ($16.50 postpaid)
     Previously published papers, 1960-1988.

*Powers, William T. (1992). _Living control systems II: Selectd papers_.
 Gravel Switch, KY: CSG Books. ($22 postpaid)
     Previously unpublished papers, 1959-1990.

*Marken, Richard S. (1992). _Mind readings : Experimental studies of
purpose_. Gravel Switch, KY: CSG Books. ($18 postpaid)
     Research papers exploring control.

Marken, Richard S. (Ed.). (1990). Purposeful Behavior : The control
theory approach. _American Behavioral Scientist_, _34_(1). (Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications)
     11 articles on control theory.

Runkel, Philip J. (1990). _Casting nets and testing specimens_. New
York: Praeger.
     When statistics are appropriate; when models are required.

Hershberger, Wayne. (Ed.). (1989). _Volitional action: Conation and
control_ (Advances in Psychology No. 62). New York: North-Holland.
     25 articles (not all PCT)

Ford, Edward E. (1989). _Freedom from stress_. Scottsdale AZ: Brandt
Publishing.
     A self-help book. PCT in a counseling framework.

Gibbons, Hugh. (1990). _The death of Jeffrey Stapleton: Exploring the
way lawyers think_. Concord, NH: Franklin Pierce Law Center.
     A text for law students using control theory.

McClelland, Kent. (1992). _Perceptual control and sociological theory_.
     Not yet published. Available from the author,
     Grinnell University, Grinnell, Iowa.

McPhail, Clark. (1990). _The myth of the madding crowd_. New York:
Aldine de Gruyter.
     Introduces control theory as a way to explain group behavior.

McPhail, Clark., Powers, William T., & Tucker, Charles W. (1992).
Simulating individual and collective action In temporary gatherings.
_Social Science Computer Review_, _10_(1), 1-28.
     Computer simulation of control systems in groups.

Petrie, Hugh G. (1981). _The dilemma of inquiry and learning_. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
     Introduces PCT to educational theory.

Richardson, George P. (1991). _Feedback thought in social science and
systems theory_. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
     A review of systems thinking, including PCT.

 *These items are available from CSG Books, 460 Black Lick Road,
  Gravel Switch, KY, 40328.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU