Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems.
Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form. (Second-order cybernetics has crucial methodological and epistemological implications that are fundamental to the field as a whole.)
Both in its origins and in its evolution in the second half of the 20th century, cybernetics is equally applicable to physical and social (that is, language-based) systems.
Category: Cyborg Anthropology
Warren Sturgis McCulloch – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Warren Sturgis McCulloch – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Warren Sturgis McCulloch (November 16, 1898 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician, known for his work on the foundation for certain brain theories and his contribution to the cybernetics movement.
Neural network modelling
In the 1943 paper they attempted to demonstrate that a Turing machine program could be implemented in a finite network of formal neurons, (in the event, the Turing Machine contains their model of the brain, but the converse is not true[3]) that the neuron was the base logic unit of the brain. In the 1947 paper they offered approaches to designing “nervous nets” to recognize visual inputs despite changes in orientation or size.
From 1952 he worked at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, working primarily on neural network modelling. His team examined the visual system of the frog in consideration of McCulloch’s 1947 paper, discovering that the eye provides the brain with information that is already, to a degree, organized and interpreted, instead of simply transmitting an image.
Reticular formation
McCulloch also posited the concept of “poker chip” reticular formations as to how the brain deals with contradictory information in a democratic, somatotopical neural network. His principle of “Redundancy of Potential Command”[4] was developed by von Forster and Pask in their study of Self-organization.
Force (Star Wars) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One of the audio sources Lipsett sampled for 21-87 was a conversation between artificial intelligence pioneer Warren S. McCulloch and Roman Kroitor, a cinematographer who went on to develop IMAX.
In the face of McCulloch’s arguments that living beings are nothing but highly complex machines, Kroitor insists that there is something more: “Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us.
General semantics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General semantics is a program begun in the 1920’s that seeks to regulate the evaluative operations performed in the human brain.
General semantics is a program begun in the 1920’s that seeks to regulate the evaluative operations performed in the human brain.
General semantics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Continue reading “General semantics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”
Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ghost in the Shell series of anime and manga titles is a Japanese cyberpunk story that offers many observations on present day philosophy and speculations on future philosophy.
The Ghost in the Shell series of anime and manga titles is a Japanese cyberpunk story that offers many observations on present day philosophy and speculations on future philosophy.
Ghost in the Shell takes place in the year 2029, when the world has become interconnected by a vast electronic network that permeates every aspect of life.
People also tend to rely more and more on cybernetic implants, and the first strong AIs make their appearance. The main entity presented in the various media is the Public Security Section 9 police force, which is charged to investigate cases like the Puppet Master and the Laughing Man.
Yet, as those criminals are revealed to have more depth than was at first apparent, the various protagonists are left with disturbing questions: “What exactly is the definition of ‘human’ in a society where a mind can be copied and the body replaced with a synthetic form?”, “What exactly is the ‘ghost’ —the essence— in the cybernetic ‘shell’?”, “Where is the boundary between human and machine when the differences between the two become more philosophical than physical?”, etc. Continue reading “Philosophy of Ghost in the Shell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”
Hyperreality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures.
Hyperreality is a means to characterize the way consciousness defines what is actually “real” in a world where a multitude of media can radically shape and filter an original event or experience. Some famous theorists of hyperreality include Jean Baudrillard, Albert Borgmann, Daniel Boorstin, and Umberto Eco.
via Hyperreality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Singularity Is Near – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Singularity Is Near – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweil‘s 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1990 book The Age of Intelligent Machines. In it, as in the two previous versions, Kurzweil attempts to give a glimpse of what awaits us in the near future. He proposes a coming technological singularity, and how we would thus be able to augment our bodies and minds with technology.
…
He describes the singularity as resulting from a combination of three important technologies of the 21st century: genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (including artificial intelligence).
Four central postulates of the book are as follows:
- A technological-evolutionary point known as “the singularity” exists as an achievable goal for humanity.
- Through a law of accelerating returns, technology is progressing toward the singularity at an exponential rate.
- The functionality of the human brain is quantifiable in terms of technology that we can build in the near future.
- Medical advancements make it possible for a significant number of his generation (Baby Boomers) to live long enough for the exponential growth of technology to intersect and surpass the processing of the human brain.
Kurzweil’s speculative reasoning and selective use of growth indicators has been heavily debated and challenged. (See criticisms at Technological Singularity) In response to this, in the last chapter he gives responses to some of the criticisms he has received.