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Social Cybernetics

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lightbulbAbout this topic
Social Cybernetics is an interdisciplinary field that studies the self-regulating systems of social organizations and their interactions. It applies cybernetic principles to understand communication, feedback loops, and control mechanisms within social structures, aiming to enhance the effectiveness and adaptability of social systems.
lightbulbAbout this topic
Social Cybernetics is an interdisciplinary field that studies the self-regulating systems of social organizations and their interactions. It applies cybernetic principles to understand communication, feedback loops, and control mechanisms within social structures, aiming to enhance the effectiveness and adaptability of social systems.

Key research themes

1. How do social machines and autonomous AI agents integrate human participation in goal-driven social cybernetic systems?

This research area investigates the emergent concept of social cybernetics through the lens of social machines — hybrid intelligent systems composed of human and artificial agents interacting via digital platforms. Understanding how autonomous goal-driven social machines integrate human inputs to produce coordinated intelligent behavior reveals novel paradigms in AI design, social interaction, and governance, with profound implications for regulation and society.

Key finding: This paper identifies and rigorously defines a subclass of social machines as autonomous and goal-driven agents that integrate large numbers of human participants mediated by digital infrastructures, achieving coordinated... Read more

2. What roles do social robots play in human-robot interaction in healthcare, rehabilitation, and industry, and what societal perceptions influence their integration?

This theme explores the design, acceptance, and functional roles of social robots as embodied digital agents interacting with humans in rehabilitative, assistive, and industrial contexts. Research investigates the evolving professional roles affected by robot integration, the socio-psychological acceptance of robots, and how characteristics such as anthropomorphism and ethical considerations influence their effectiveness and societal deployment. The interplay between human factors and robotic system designs reveals critical insights for advancing social cybernetics in embodied technologies.

Key finding: Through an electronic survey targeting physiotherapists, this study captures professional consensus and opinions towards integrating social robots into clinical rehabilitation and assistance. It finds increasing willingness... Read more
Key finding: This expert study within the European Active and Assisted Living Programme identifies that social robots simulating emotions are more acceptable to users yet raise ethical questions regarding authenticity. Findings show that... Read more
Key finding: This paper explores industrial applications of social robots, advocating for their integration alongside traditional robots to enhance flexibility, safety, and worker satisfaction within smart manufacturing. Using the TRIZ... Read more
Key finding: Employing the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) framework, this empirical study compares social perceptions of embodied digital technologies (EDTs)—including bionic prostheses and various social robots—along dimensions of... Read more

3. How can cybernetics advance governance theories to address technology convergence and complex social systems?

Research under this theme examines the theoretical and applied expansion of cybernetics to social governance frameworks amidst the convergence of cyber-digital and bio-physical systems. By integrating cybernetic principles like control, feedback, and requisite variety into governance, scholars propose new models of 'cybernetic governance' that manage increasing technological complexity. This includes addressing policy challenges such as algorithmic governance, digital infrastructure regulation, and augmented human platforms, positioning cybernetics as a foundational theory for managing social systems in the digital age.

Key finding: This article chronicles the evolution of cybernetics from its engineering origins to a broader social science framework, emphasizing the development of second-order cybernetics that include the observer within system models.... Read more
Key finding: This article explicates 'cybernetic governance' as a novel integrative framework merging classical governance theories with cybernetic principles amidst accelerating technology convergence (cyber-digital plus bio-physical).... Read more
Key finding: Tracing the history of cybernetics and the introduction of second-order cybernetics, this work articulates how scientific revolutions in cybernetics incorporate the observer in system analysis and expand to social cybernetics... Read more
Key finding: Dr. Löckenhoff proposes a systemic, nomological approach to complex social governance problems by employing dichotomous methodologies that mirror neurology and thought processes. By integrating systemic controlling with... Read more

4. What are the cognitive and philosophical foundations bridging cybernetics with social theory and philosophy for 21st-century social cybernetics?

This theme addresses the conceptual and philosophical synthesis of cybernetics with social systems theory and broader philosophical discourse, particularly through second-order cybernetics and systems theory by Niklas Luhmann. It investigates the epistemological shift needed to understand observer-dependent systems, the role of meaning-making, and the interplay between human consciousness and technological systems. This foundational work situates social cybernetics within the broader humanities and systems sciences, informing how we conceptualize human-technology relations and social organization.

Key finding: This article systematically examines Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory as a synthesis bridging traditional philosophy and cybernetics, emphasizing second-order observation and communication as core concepts. It argues that... Read more
Key finding: This chapter offers a historiographical and epistemological reconstruction of cybernetics' trajectory, emphasizing its geographic and cultural diversity, including its adoption and disappearance in Latin America. It... Read more

All papers in Social Cybernetics

This treatise presents the hypothesis that consciousness is primarily an evolutionarily developed complexity-reduction mechanism. It argues that consciousness does not primarily serve as the source of intelligence, but instead functions... more
The Synaptic Civilization Framework (SCF) represents a paradigmatic response to what Alvin Toffler identified as the collision between industrial-age institutions and information-age realities. This analysis examines the SCF's proposal... more
This research explores the crucial role of bridge makers in fostering the success of open innovations within innovation ecosystems. Emphasizing governance structures, this study highlights the importance of creating synergies among... more
This narrative projects Vienna into the year 2123—four degrees Celsius warmer than today—and chronicles its transformation into a paradigm of urban resilience and sustainable living. Confronted with crop failures, the city converted vast... more
This dissertation argues that our conventional conceptions of power, sovereignty, and the State are fetishistic, meaning that power is falsely perceived as a property independent from the relations that compose it, ultimately combining... more
Cybernetics is a science at the intersection of technology, biology, and social sciences, shaping our understanding of complex systems and transforming our world at breakneck speed. It could be described as the transdisciplinary study of... more
Prezentowana książka była pierwszą większą publikacją Ryszarda Tadeusiewicza. Skrypt był w całości napisany w 1872 roku, ale wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej przez dwa lata nie mogło znaleźć profesora ekonomii, który by się odważył... more
Informational Realism is a philosophical framework that proposes information, not matter, as the fundamental substance of reality. Building on and extending Critical Realism, it offers a unified view of physical systems, consciousness,... more
Informational Realism is a philosophical framework positioning information as the fundamental organising principle of reality. It defines information as a generative substrate through which physical systems, consciousness, and... more
Informational Realism is a philosophical framework that proposes information, not matter, as the fundamental substance of reality. Building on and extending Critical Realism, it offers a unified view of physical systems, consciousness,... more
Informational Realism is a philosophical framework that proposes information, not matter, as the fundamental substance of reality. Building on and extending Critical Realism, it offers a unified view of physical systems, consciousness,... more
This paper proposes a foundational reframing of human digital participation as a form of systemic labor—arguing that cognition, presence, and ambiguity resolution within computational systems constitute a measurable and indispensable form... more
This article examines the intersection of philosophy and cybernetics, proposing Niklas Luhmann's systems theory as a crucial foundation for renewed cybernetics in the twentyfirst century. By revisiting Norbert Wiener's foundational... more
Cuando uno tiene la oportunidad de vivir fuera de las fronteras del Perú puede contrastar distintos modos de vida, y más aún en situaciones tan difíciles como las que nos toca vivir frente al COVID-19. Analizar una realidad tan actual, no... more
It is not uncommon for a news audience to see stories or headlines about science that seem too good to be true. Headlines such as, "Scientists Say Smelling Farts Might Prevent Cancer," (Stampler, 2014) or "Bananas as good as drugs for... more
We present Sanduhr & Sense (German for "Hourglass & Scythe"), a conceptual cybernetic architecture that merges meta-temporal design with high-dimensional informational geometry to forge a visionary new model for intelligent systems.... more
This article suggests and develops the notion of Action-Writing through the perspective of Second-Order Cybernetics and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), particularly in relation to knowledge creation, reflexivity, and... more
Thanks for taking the time to explore this 'Augmented Folio' entitled Aiôn or φ for short. This Folio presents Living Architecture Systems Group's (LASG) latest exploration of sentient environments through the emerging fields of Living... more
Numerous studies prove that knowledge management projects in organizations predominantly fail and that support and barrier factors are not taken into consideration. Therefore, the configuration model of organizational culture in knowledge... more
Most people wouldn’t put “granny walking her dog” and “supernova explosion” in the same sentence, unless granny was really fast or the dog was radioactive. But if recursion is the foundational structure of reality, then scale is... more
When the Internet did not exist, a true technological revolution occurred within the Uruguayan State as the country was regaining its democracy. The URUguay CIBernetico project (Cybernetic Uruguay or URUCIB for short) was a real-time... more
This essay revisits the work of Gregory Bateson and René Girard through the lens of cybernetics to explore the modern crisis of identity, desire, and social cohesion. Drawing connections between Freud's superego and Girard's mimetic... more
The extensive use of energy generation processes presents a severe challenge to the environment and makes indispensable to focus the research on the maximization of the energy efficiency and minimization of environmental impact like NOx... more
This paper examines the trajectory of modern civilization through a dual lens: the descent from the inquisitive Homo sapiens into the passive, superficial Homo imbecilis, and the prospective ascent toward a resilient, audacious Homo... more
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into creative writing and story generation has opened new avenues for innovation, especially when combined with immersive virtual reality (VR) environments. This paper explores the... more
Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan investigates the role of cybernetics in the making of modern critical theory within the intensive Code: From Information Theory to French Theory. This purposeful examination explores how laboratory ideals of... more
This study demonstrates the role of a principal components factor analysis in conducting a gap analysis as to the desired characteristics of business alumni. Typically, gap analyses merely compare the emphases that should be given to... more
Who are we? Where are we going and why are we going there? The human endeavours play an important part in the life of individuals and societies, so it is not surprising that since time immemorial they have attracted the attention of... more
As said in the Introduction, it is an old text from a symposium in Granada. I believe it has never been presented in English. Being fascinated by the profound understanding of the concept and phenomenon of museums as they are contained in... more
Cognition is not merely a process; it is a recursive enactment of self-structuring intelligence. Publishing is not merely a medium; it is an autopoietic economy of meaning, where knowledge is not disseminated but self-replicated as... more
What if thought itself could be systematically redesigned? Modern cognition is inefficient, bureaucratic, and reactive. We consume information but rarely process it generatively. We store knowledge but struggle to restructure it... more
Slides for Conference Presentation - Ten Theses on the Present Impossibility of AI Ethics - For AI Ethics Symposium, Michigan State University - February, 2025
Shakespeare’s King Lear offers a masterclass in these cybernetic patterns. The play is a dramatic unfolding of binds that trigger escalating schismogenesis, trapping Lear and those around him in a cycle of no-win situations. However, in... more
I argue in this paper that capitalism has taken on a new social formation characterized by an absorption of the self into the matrix of social patterning and control that has led to the diminution of the cultural and psychic foundations... more
The question addressed in this contribution is whether fear / anxiety is an emotion that inhibits or fosters the sustainability of our planet. To be meaningful, this question has to be modified straightaway: Can fear be a factor for the... more
This article aims to explore the application of the cybernetic model within the context of explaining the mechanisms behind the development of dissociation and psychosis. The analysis focuses on the cybernetic model, with particular... more
ddhoff/at/uci.edu Chetan Prakash • California State University, USA • cprakash/at/csusb.edu Robert Prentner • ETH Zurich, Switzerland • robert.prentner/at/phil.gess.ethz.ch > Context •The evolution of perceptual systems and hence of... more
Conversation with Özgün Eylül İşcen for the Counter-N project. Berlin, May 2024.
A critical reappraisal of the ways in which digital technologies and algorithmic governance instate “human” experience, agency and social structures, is long overdue. With the advent of AI, theory finds itself at a crossroads, confronted... more
A critical reappraisal of the ways in which digital technologies and algorithmic governance instate “human” experience, agency and social structures, is long overdue. With the advent of AI, theory finds itself at a crossroads, confronted... more
Brief overview of the issue of algorithmic pricing and prospects for its positive use in the context of economic regulation, with some concluding remarks on a renewed concept of cybernetics enriched by ethical considerations (cybernetHics).
El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan. Teoría social, teoría sociológica, sociología: la pregunta por lo social y sus múltiples respuestas. Perspectivas contemporáneas.
This theoretical dissertation introduces a novel approach to extend the Santiago theory as formulated by Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela into the social realm. They contend that cognition arises as a consequence of a biological... more
strength, speed, and resilience, which could pose a threat to the national security of the US and its allies. Ratcliffe called for greater transparency from China and international norms and regulations to govern the development and... more
«Ce n’est plus d’une libération universalisante que l’homme a besoin, mais d’une médiation», Gilbert Simondon (1958) would write, concerning the encyclopedic ideal embraced by cybernetics. This encyclopedic inspiration went hand in hand... more
This paper deals with diagnosing broiler meat supply chain and designing a new metasystemic (in cybernetic terms) structure for it in Iran. The analysis has been informed by functionalist, interpretive and emancipatory paradigms. A... more
Framing; Non-natural meaning; Simulative communication Metacommunication is a term developed by Gregory Bateson (1955/1972, 1956) to refer to signals that (intentionally or not) simulate other signals and, in obviously simulating, refer... more
In today's digital age, the need for efficient email communication is paramount. To streamline this process, email generators have emerged as indispensable tools. This abstract explores the evolution of email generators, with a focus on... more
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