I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts on the cybernetic potentials of blockchain based systems, especially DAOs. Holochain is still not in production so it still feels a bit early to be talking about it too much and DAOs are already up and running on blockchains and not on Holochain.
Hey, thanks. I really like the technology associated with holochain, and I know core members have been trying to learn more from members of the cybernetics crowd, so that gives me reason to be positive... blockchain has some amazing and exciting potentials, and I feel like the pudding for the left will be in the next and maturing generation of tools, which requires attention to (and creativity with) - but not uncritical allegiance to - existing blockchain tech
basically I have a lot to learn about it and I think it has a fair way to develop, but one day soon blockchain adjacent tech will be central to cybernetic associated forms of governance and self-organisation.
with DAOs specifically, my main criteria for getting hyped would be a tool which could make the process simple and comprehensible to someone like my mum... ease of use seems like the core thing to make this tech useful to we who want to self-organise
id be interested to talk more about your interests and goals
let me know if u have any specific questions, id be interested to hear
Thanks for the great article! I'd be really grateful if you could tell me your source for the image of the 4 growing vortexes with iteration numbers underneath (it's the 6th image down below your description of Heather Marsh). I've seen a similar image before and can't place it! Where did you find that one?
They do certainly deserve their own articles but that would be a lot more work and I'm a busy being, hope you sound something valuable in there nevertheless
In terms of writing I will just produce whatever idea come to me, I wont be uploading lots of articles doing detailed analyses of projects like this. I would prefer to let others explore these topics for themselves and craft my own ideas of whatever comes to me. I am thinking that my next thing might have to do with the relationship between Jacque Ranciere's work and cybernetics, but I'll see how it goes... But this was just intended to be a stand alone idea to help people explore the cybernetic paradigm and hear about some new things, so if I did that with this article I'm happy :)
This is one of several great articles you have written. I can’t thank you enough.
I wanted to add a book that changed my entire way of looking at the world, a book that I consider to be a foundational book in Cybernetics - An Introduction to Cybernetics by W. Ross Ashby. Although I bought the book and read it in the late 70’s, it is a free pdf that is available at Principia Cybernetica website (the book was donated to the public domain by his family estate). The idea of this textbook is to make the reader a functioning cyberneticist. It contains problems at the end of every chapter and solutions at the end of the book. After reading the book, you should be able to read and understand (for example) Shannon’s thesis on Information Theory with full comprehension. To me, this is a book that made a critical difference.
I’m a big fan of Buckminster Fuller, Jon Von Neumann, and Stafford Beer as well. But, I see so many authors I would love to read.
Thank you so much for this, and its great to see people adding important works already. I have a copy of it but unfortunately haven't had time to read it yet. Your explanation sounds incredibly appealing and makes me want to pick it up tonight! I had heard there was a lot of maths in it I think? Or am I misremembering? Either way, reading it is long over due for me!!
Thank you so much for your recomendation and feedback, it really means a lot to me that you enjoyed it <3 I hope you explore a few of the things mentioned some more :) Let me know what you find!
Introduction to Cybernetics certainly has less math in it than Weiner’s book, Cybernetics. The sections of Ashby’s book are mostly for the non-math oriented reader, but some optional sections go into mathematical proofs for the interested reader. He uses a truth table / tabular approach. I found it accessible and, if you take it section by section as you would in a college course, very understandable.
It really changed my thinking.
The book was written in 1956 and personal computers were far off the technological horizon. For people who like computers, I simply tell them to start using spreadsheet software and they’re halfway there.
Very useful, thanks for this.
I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts on the cybernetic potentials of blockchain based systems, especially DAOs. Holochain is still not in production so it still feels a bit early to be talking about it too much and DAOs are already up and running on blockchains and not on Holochain.
Hey, thanks. I really like the technology associated with holochain, and I know core members have been trying to learn more from members of the cybernetics crowd, so that gives me reason to be positive... blockchain has some amazing and exciting potentials, and I feel like the pudding for the left will be in the next and maturing generation of tools, which requires attention to (and creativity with) - but not uncritical allegiance to - existing blockchain tech
basically I have a lot to learn about it and I think it has a fair way to develop, but one day soon blockchain adjacent tech will be central to cybernetic associated forms of governance and self-organisation.
with DAOs specifically, my main criteria for getting hyped would be a tool which could make the process simple and comprehensible to someone like my mum... ease of use seems like the core thing to make this tech useful to we who want to self-organise
id be interested to talk more about your interests and goals
let me know if u have any specific questions, id be interested to hear
Thanks for the great article! I'd be really grateful if you could tell me your source for the image of the 4 growing vortexes with iteration numbers underneath (it's the 6th image down below your description of Heather Marsh). I've seen a similar image before and can't place it! Where did you find that one?
Hey thanks so much! Hope you sound it useful/interesting. Here's the source :) http://www.iaacblog.com/programs/generative-design-stigmergy/
Fantastic, thanks!
like the array of topics, though I think they rather deserve their own articles first than a compendium
They do certainly deserve their own articles but that would be a lot more work and I'm a busy being, hope you sound something valuable in there nevertheless
I did 👍. What direction do you think you'll take with this list of topics? Are you going to explore most or just some of the things mentioned?
In terms of writing I will just produce whatever idea come to me, I wont be uploading lots of articles doing detailed analyses of projects like this. I would prefer to let others explore these topics for themselves and craft my own ideas of whatever comes to me. I am thinking that my next thing might have to do with the relationship between Jacque Ranciere's work and cybernetics, but I'll see how it goes... But this was just intended to be a stand alone idea to help people explore the cybernetic paradigm and hear about some new things, so if I did that with this article I'm happy :)
Thank you for the feedback
This is one of several great articles you have written. I can’t thank you enough.
I wanted to add a book that changed my entire way of looking at the world, a book that I consider to be a foundational book in Cybernetics - An Introduction to Cybernetics by W. Ross Ashby. Although I bought the book and read it in the late 70’s, it is a free pdf that is available at Principia Cybernetica website (the book was donated to the public domain by his family estate). The idea of this textbook is to make the reader a functioning cyberneticist. It contains problems at the end of every chapter and solutions at the end of the book. After reading the book, you should be able to read and understand (for example) Shannon’s thesis on Information Theory with full comprehension. To me, this is a book that made a critical difference.
I’m a big fan of Buckminster Fuller, Jon Von Neumann, and Stafford Beer as well. But, I see so many authors I would love to read.
Thanks again for you articles.
Thank you so much for this, and its great to see people adding important works already. I have a copy of it but unfortunately haven't had time to read it yet. Your explanation sounds incredibly appealing and makes me want to pick it up tonight! I had heard there was a lot of maths in it I think? Or am I misremembering? Either way, reading it is long over due for me!!
Thank you so much for your recomendation and feedback, it really means a lot to me that you enjoyed it <3 I hope you explore a few of the things mentioned some more :) Let me know what you find!
Take care and thanks again.
Introduction to Cybernetics certainly has less math in it than Weiner’s book, Cybernetics. The sections of Ashby’s book are mostly for the non-math oriented reader, but some optional sections go into mathematical proofs for the interested reader. He uses a truth table / tabular approach. I found it accessible and, if you take it section by section as you would in a college course, very understandable.
It really changed my thinking.
The book was written in 1956 and personal computers were far off the technological horizon. For people who like computers, I simply tell them to start using spreadsheet software and they’re halfway there.
Good luck.