Second-order cybernetics


Keywords: Thinking about thinking, understanding understanding, knowing the knower, seeing the seer, Dṛg-Dṛśya-Viveka.

Open HTML5 application in full-screen: cognovo.net/2nd-oder-cybernetics/

Associated source code (HTML5 Canvas)


Autopoiesis

Autopoiesis (from Greek αὐτo (auto) meaning ‘self’ + ποίησις (poiesis) meaning ‘creation/production’) is term used to describe a given system capable of reproducing and maintaining itself. The term was coined in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela to describe the self-maintaining chemistry of living cells. Since then the concept has been used in various scientific disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, neuroscience, complex systems theory, computer science, sociology, etc.) and also in various artworks.


The original definition can be found in “Autopoiesis and Cognition: the Realization of the Living” (1973):

“An autopoietic machine is a machine organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of production (transformation and destruction) of components which: (i) through their interactions and transformations continuously regenerate and realize the network of processes (relations) that produced them; and (ii) constitute it (the machine) as a concrete unity in space in which they (the components) exist by specifying the topological domain of its realization as such a network.” (p.78)

” … the space defined by an autopoietic system is self-contained and cannot be described by using dimensions that define another space. When we refer to our interactions with a concrete autopoietic system, however, we project this system on the space of our manipulations and make a description of this projection.” (p.89)

Norbert Wiener - Cybernetics (HTML5 eBook)

References

Maturana, H., & Varela, F.. (1980). Autopoiesis and Cognition : The Realization of the Living (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science). Living in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol 42 D Reidel Dordrecht

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-8947-4
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Maturana, H. R.. (2002). Autopoiesis, Structural Coupling and Cognition : A history of these and other notions in the biology of cognition. Cybernetics & Human Knowing

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2008.00767.x
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Beer, R. D.. (2004). Autopoiesis and Cognition in the Game of Life. Artificial Life, 10(3), 309–326.

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1162/1064546041255539
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Luisi, P. L.. (2003). Autopoiesis: a review and a reappraisal.. Die Naturwissenschaften, 90(2), 49–59.

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1007/s00114-002-0389-9
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Second-order cybernetics references

Heylighen, F., & Joslyn, C.. (2004). Cybernetics and Second-Order Cybernetics. In Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1016/b0-12-227410-5/00161-7
DOI URL
directSciHub download

von Foerster, H., & von Foerster, H.. (2006). Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics. In Understanding Understanding

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1007/0-387-21722-3_14
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Scott, B.. (2004). Second-order cybernetics: an historical introduction. Kybernetes

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1108/03684920410556007
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Glanville, R.. (2004). The purpose of second-order cybernetics. Kybernetes

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1108/03684920410556016
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Froese, T.. (2010). From cybernetics to second-order cybernetics: A comparative analysis of their central ideas. Constructivist Foundations
Garland, E. L.. (2007). The meaning of mindfulness: A second-order cybernetics of stress, metacognition, and coping. Complementary Health Practice Review

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1177/1533210107301740
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Krippendorff, K.. (2007). The cybernetics of design and the design of cybernetics. Kybernetes

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1108/03684920710827364
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Krippendorff, K.. (1996). A second-order cybernetics of otherness. Systems Research

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1735(199609)13:3<311::aid-sres106>3.0.co;2-o
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Heylighen, F.. (2001). Cybernetics and second order cybernetics. In Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology
Bishop, J. M., & Nasuto, J. S.. (2005). Second-order cybernetics and enactive perception. Kybernetes

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1108/03684920510614696
DOI URL
directSciHub download

Sweeting, B.. (2016). Design research as a variety of second-order Cybernetic practice. Constructivist Foundations
Froese, T.. (2011). From second-order cybernetics to enactive cognitive science: Varela’s turn from epistemology to phenomenology. Systems Research and Behavioral Science

Plain numerical DOI: 10.1002/sres.1116
DOI URL
directSciHub download