Wiener's Prefiguring of a Cybernetic Design Theory
Channel: sdtompolyu
Date: 2014-06-26

Presented by Thomas Fischer and recorded by Michael Lissack and Michael Stueland on June 24th 2014 at the IEEE 2014 Conference on Norbert Wiener in the 21st Century in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract—An increasing number of practitioners, researchers and educators in the design field find value in describing design processes in cybernetic terms, while cyberneticians have come to recognize design as a central cybernetic theme. Design and cybernetics have in common that their modes of operation can be characterized as kinds of "forward-looking search", which transcend the description-focused concerns of natural science. Based on a review of some of Wiener's writings -- in particular an abandoned reflection on the process of invention -- this paper argues that Wiener was not only one of the inventors of cybernetics, but also an early cybernetician of invention (i.e. design). Developing analogies between the causal principles observed in automatic anti-aircraft guns, the formation of cybernetics as an academic discipline, and the practices of cybernetics and design, this paper argues that Wiener not only operated between what is (scientifically describable) and what ought to be (designed), but that he also reflected theoretically on himself doing so, thereby enacting several concepts of today's cybernetic design theory. A selection of these concepts is listed and discussed.