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The OODA loop is just entry-level cybernetics; it describes a single (negative/balancing/homeostatic) feedback loop. Knowing OODA is a good start for learning a
by beaconstudios 6y ago
The OODA loop is just entry-level cybernetics; it describes a single (negative/balancing/homeostatic) feedback loop. Knowing OODA is a good start for learning about the mechanics of self correcting systems but for some reason cybernetics doesn't come up often in association with it. It's like learning how to code a todo list but not knowing that more advanced programs are possible because you're not aware that what you're doing is a small part of a whole field called "programming".
- retrocryptid 6y agoThere's source material the FS blog isn't giving you. You probably want to read that before saying "OODA is just Cybernetics." Having read both Norbert Weiner and John Boyd, I can assure you there's more to it than what's presented by the fs.blog link. Though... yes... Cybernetics cut a swath through Systems Command in the 60s and 70s, but if you slog through dissertations at the Air War College, you'll find several critiques of Cybernetics for it's lack of descriptive power in an environment with incomplete information. See Lind's Manouver Warfare Handbook for more details.
- beaconstudios 6y agoThanks, I'll check it out. For what it's worth I agree that cybernetics alone isn't as useful for describing complex systems as it is for designing adaptive processes like OODA. That's more the realm of systems dynamics and causal analysis.