Studies On The Emergence And Communication Of Cybernetics

Emerging in the middle period of the 20th century, cybernetics, one of the most important theories of science, has attracted cross-disciplinary attention beyond the boundary of countries and been widely discussed in academic fields. Its influence has proliferated in present popular fields such as computer, automation, aviation, communication projects, artificial intelligence and economic management, etc.. It has also permeated our daily life. Nevertheless, as a result of communication, paradoxes can often be found—for instance, lack of knowledge about Wiener and cybernetics even when cybernetic terms such as control, information, and feedback have been widely used in daily life;its apparent asymmetrical development in the Soviet Union and the United States;frequent occurrence of confusing the achievements of cybernetics with those of its branch disciplines, etc. . Those issues, more than anything else, explain the point of departure and motive of the research in this dissertation.In China an immense number of articles have been issued, mainly exploring cybernetics in light of methodology, philosophy and historiography. However, they focused generally on issues about the birth of Wiener' s cybernetic ideas without making relevant sociological studies of the discipline by situating the theory in the framework of world science and politics at the time. It is, however, the author' s belief that a sociological review of a discipline will efficiently deepen our understanding of the process of science as a whole and this is also what the dissertation aims at.Thus the dissertation, in light of communication, focuses on the study of the thirty years between 1940 and 1970 in which cybernetics came into being and reached its peak, with case studies of the emergence and development of the theory in the US and its communication in the two socialist countries, the Soviet Union and China. Quoted by the analytic principle S←→M←→V (Science (s) ←→Metaphysics (es) ←→Value (s)) , it probes into cybernetic theory through zoom analysis. It attempts to illustrate 1)how the law of its own governing the development of cybernetics as an interdiscipline;2) how ideology inserted impact on its communication;3)how the inherent law of its development influenced its communication within the framework of the international politics and ideology.The dissertation consists of eight chapters. Chapter One is the introduction that involves a literature review outlining general picture of cybernetics. In this chapter paradoxes in the communication ofcybernetics are also pointed out and the significance of its historical study is then revealed. It also shows clearly research method to be used and stance the author holds.The next two chapters are based on historical evidence. They show that the emergence of cybernetics was out of a culminating fusion of several threads of research work, beneficial from duel drives of technical tools and concepts. It explains why cybernetics has a far-ranging and deep foundation of communication.Chapter 4 studies the condition of cybernetics in the US from 3 aspects: the role of the social and scientific context in the US at the time on the emergence of cybernetics;the contribution of American mathematician Robert Wiener to the birth and communication of cybernetics;the formation and extension of the cybernetic group with an introduction to Macy Foundation Conference.Chapter 5 mainly shows how cybernetics theory spread to the World from the US. Besides the factors of publications, media and journals, this part also emphasizes two internal factors guiding the communication of cybernetics: one is the formation and function of the unified cybernetic term "cyberspeak" , another is the development of the branch disciplines of cybernetics. It selects four representative fields, namely, control theory, biological cybernetics, artificial intelligence and economic cybernetics. With the description of their emergence and growth it attempts to manifest the driving power by cybernetics in those fields. It also reveals scientific autonomy in those disciplines weakened the influence of cybernetics.Chapter 6 discusses the unique communication of cybernetics in the Soviet Union, the representative of socialist countries. Cybernetics changed its identity from an antirevolutionary pseudo-science to the later rebellion and then to be finally regarded as a national science serving communism. The communication was involved with ideology and power relation, which showed complex interaction between knowledge and power. The chapter shows, with the changing relations of power in society, how cybernetics was recognized, revalued and utilized in the scientific field and how it gradually replaced materialistic dialectic to be a theory guiding science work and was finally written into the guiding principle of the communism party in the Soviet Union.Chapter 7 illustrates the early communication of cybernetics in China. It is based on an analysis of three successive stages in history, namely, the cooperation between Norbert Wiener and Chinese scholars (1929-1949);the acceptance of the concept of cybernetics in China (1949-1955);and the discussion and further studies of cybernetics by scholars at home (1956-1966) since PRC s Twelve-Year Plan for the Development of Science and Technology was made. The focus is put on the rising and evolution of cybernetic studies in China between 1956-1966. It reveals that twosubstantive driving forces have contributed to the successful communication of cybernetics in China: one came from translations of foreign works about cybernetics and the relevant research work by civil scholars in the philosophical field;another came from the 3-staged acceptance of recognition- research- development by civil researchers in the circle of science. Through statistic analysis and comparison, it draws a conclusion that the early communication of cybernetics in China manifested a unique model of science communication, namely, philosophical consideration comes first with parallel drives impelling the communication of the theory.Chapter 8 summarizes the whole dissertation with further considerations on conditions of communication of cybernetics. It attempts to clarify some common factors in the science communication so as to open up new visions for future research.