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Cybernetics is a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints, and possibilities. In the 21st century, the term is often used in a rather loose way to imply "control of any system using technology;" this has blunted its meaning to such an extent that many writers avoid using it. Cybernetics is relevant to the study of systems, such as mechanical, physical, biological, cognitive, and social systems. Cybernetics is applicable when a system being analyzed incorporates a closed signaling loop; that is, where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in that system in some manner (feedback) that triggers a system change, originally referred to as a "circular causal" relationship. System dynamics, a related field, originated with applications of electrical engineering control theory to other kinds of simulation models (especially business systems) by Jay Forrester at MIT in the 1950s. Concepts studied by cyberneticists include, but are not limited to: learning, cognition, adaptation, social control, emergence, communication, efficiency, efficacy, and connectivity. These concepts are studied by other subjects such as engineering and biology, but in cybernetics these are abstracted from the context of the individual organism or device. Norbert Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as "the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine." The word ''cybernetics'' comes from Greek κυβερνητική (''kybernetike''), meaning "governance", i.e., all that are pertinent to κυβερνάω (''kybernao''), the latter meaning "to steer, navigate or govern", hence κυβέρνησις (''kybernesis''), meaning "government", is the government while κυβερνήτης (''kybernetes'') is the governor or the captain. Contemporary cybernetics began as an interdisciplinary study connecting the fields of control systems, electrical network theory, mechanical engineering, logic modeling, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and psychology in the 1940s, often attributed to the Macy Conferences. During the second half of the 20th century cybernetics evolved in ways that distinguish first-order cybernetics (about observed systems) from second-order cybernetics (about observing systems).〔Heinz von Foerster (1981), 'Observing Systems", Intersystems Publications, Seaside, CA. 〕 More recently there is talk about a third-order cybernetics (doing in ways that embraces first and second-order). Fields of study which have influenced or been influenced by cybernetics include game theory, system theory (a mathematical counterpart to cybernetics), perceptual control theory, sociology, psychology (especially neuropsychology, behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology), philosophy, architecture, and organizational theory.〔Tange, Kenzo (1966) "Function, Structure and Symbol".〕 == Definitions == Cybernetics has been defined in a variety of ways, by a variety of people, from a variety of disciplines. The ''Larry Richards Reader'' includes a listing by Stuart Umpleby of notable definitions: * "Science concerned with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving, storing and processing information so as to use it for control." — A. N. Kolmogorov * "The art of securing efficient operation." — Louis Couffignal〔''"La cybernétique est l’art de l’efficacité de l’action"'' originally a french definition formulated in 1953, lit. "Cybernetics is the art of effective action"〕 * "'The art of steersmanship': deals with all forms of behavior in so far as they are regular, or determinate, or reproducible: stands to the real machine -- electronic, mechanical, neural, or economic -- much as geometry stands to real object in our terrestrial space; offers a method for the scientific treatment of the system in which complexity is outstanding and too important to be ignored." — W. Ross Ashby * "A branch of mathematics dealing with problems of control, recursiveness, and information, focuses on forms and the patterns that connect." — Gregory Bateson * "The art of effective organization." — Stafford Beer * "The art and science of manipulating defensible metaphors." — Gordon Pask * "The art of creating equilibrium in a world of constraints and possibilities." — Ernst von Glasersfeld * "The science and art of understanding." — Humberto Maturana * "The ability to cure all temporary truth of eternal triteness." — Herbert Brun Other notable definitions include: * "The science and art of the understanding of understanding." — Rodney E. Donaldson, the first president of the American Society for Cybernetics * "A way of thinking about ways of thinking of which it is one." — Larry Richards * "The art of interaction in dynamic networks." — Roy Ascott 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cybernetics」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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