31 ms·

Nit pick - The "original control systems math" is Bode, Black, Nyquist.. 1930's. Cybernetics is the application of control theory (branch of mathematics) to bio

by amatic 7y ago

Nit pick - The "original control systems math" is Bode, Black, Nyquist.. 1930's. Cybernetics is the application of control theory (branch of mathematics) to biology; Norbert Wiener, Ashby, etc, 1950's.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Nit pick to a nit pick: from what I can gather from the title of Wiener's book[0], it was never about biology. It was just about applications of control theory to physical mechanisms, be it biological or man-made. -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Co...
- amatic 7y ago
  Looks like wikipedia is the source of confusion in this case. "The book laid the theoretical foundation for servomechanisms (whether electrical, mechanical or hydraulic), automatic navigation, analog computing .." Servomechanisms existed way earlier than 1948, so did analog computers - navy ships in WWII extensively used both in gun control, to move the guns and calculate balistic trajectories, etc. Wiener merely wrote down existing knowledge, and suggested it could also be applied to humans.
  - carapace 7y ago
    > navy ships in WWII extensively used both in gun control, to move the guns and calculate balistic trajectories, etc. > Wiener merely wrote down existing knowledge, and suggested it could also be applied to humans. A little more than that. > During World War II, his work on the automatic aiming and firing of anti-aircraft guns caused Wiener to investigate information theory independently of Claude Shannon and to invent the Wiener filter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#During_and_after_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#During_and_afte... But you're absolutely right that "original control systems math" is older than cybernetics, well met.

by amatic 7y ago

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Nit pick to a nit pick: from what I can gather from the title of Wiener's book[0], it was never about biology. It was just about applications of control theory to physical mechanisms, be it biological or man-made. -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Co...

amatic 7y ago
Looks like wikipedia is the source of confusion in this case. "The book laid the theoretical foundation for servomechanisms (whether electrical, mechanical or hydraulic), automatic navigation, analog computing .." Servomechanisms existed way earlier than 1948, so did analog computers - navy ships in WWII extensively used both in gun control, to move the guns and calculate balistic trajectories, etc. Wiener merely wrote down existing knowledge, and suggested it could also be applied to humans.
- carapace 7y ago
  > navy ships in WWII extensively used both in gun control, to move the guns and calculate balistic trajectories, etc. > Wiener merely wrote down existing knowledge, and suggested it could also be applied to humans. A little more than that. > During World War II, his work on the automatic aiming and firing of anti-aircraft guns caused Wiener to investigate information theory independently of Claude Shannon and to invent the Wiener filter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#During_and_after_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener#During_and_afte... But you're absolutely right that "original control systems math" is older than cybernetics, well met.