4 ms·

It has impeccable pedigree, though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics

pyuser583 4y ago
Wasn’t cybernetics a borderline pseudoscience? I mean read Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” (with the actors who pretended to be shocked). It was fascinating until he got to the theoretical implications. All cybernetic gobbledegook. I prefer thinking of the “helmsman” of Ancient Greece when I hear Cyber/Kuber.
stavros 4y ago
Fun fact, the words "cybernetics" and "kubernetes" are different transliterations of basically the same word.
- mathieuh 4y ago
  More on this: in French the letter y is written "i grec", or "Greek 'i'". In the IPA, the sound of the French 'u' or German 'ü' is written with as 'y'. E.g. French "tu" -> [ty]. To speakers of languages without that sound, it often gets mapped to the vowel sound in the English word "loose". So you can see what's happened here, "cybernetics" with the "Greek 'y'" pronounced as French "u" becomes "kubernetes". I don't know if modern Greek still has that sound. I love little realisations like this. Sometimes I wish I'd done linguistics instead of computer science.
  - stavros 4y ago
    Modern Greek doesn't have the French "u" sound, I don't know if ancient Greek did. The "υ" in "κυβερνήτης" (cybernetes/kubernetes = helmsman, governor) is pronounced "i", as in "miss". Incidentally, the word "governor" comes from "kubernetes" as well.
    - mathieuh 4y ago
      The French "u" sound is just "i" pronounced with your lips rounded, so the two sounds are very similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology#Vowel_raising_and_fronting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology#Vowel_... It seems some varieties of Ancient Greek did have that sound
      - stavros 4y ago
        As far as I know/can see, it was more of an "oo" sound, rather than a ü, but I'm not an expert and you may be entirely correct.

Wasn’t cybernetics a borderline pseudoscience? I mean read Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” (with the actors who pretended to be shocked). It was fascinating until he got to the theoretical implications. All cybernetic gobbledegook. I prefer thinking of the “helmsman” of Ancient Greece when I hear Cyber/Kuber.

stavros 4y ago

Fun fact, the words "cybernetics" and "kubernetes" are different transliterations of basically the same word.

mathieuh 4y ago
More on this: in French the letter y is written "i grec", or "Greek 'i'". In the IPA, the sound of the French 'u' or German 'ü' is written with as 'y'. E.g. French "tu" -> [ty]. To speakers of languages without that sound, it often gets mapped to the vowel sound in the English word "loose". So you can see what's happened here, "cybernetics" with the "Greek 'y'" pronounced as French "u" becomes "kubernetes". I don't know if modern Greek still has that sound. I love little realisations like this. Sometimes I wish I'd done linguistics instead of computer science.
- stavros 4y ago
  Modern Greek doesn't have the French "u" sound, I don't know if ancient Greek did. The "υ" in "κυβερνήτης" (cybernetes/kubernetes = helmsman, governor) is pronounced "i", as in "miss". Incidentally, the word "governor" comes from "kubernetes" as well.
  - mathieuh 4y ago
    The French "u" sound is just "i" pronounced with your lips rounded, so the two sounds are very similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology#Vowel_raising_and_fronting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology#Vowel_... It seems some varieties of Ancient Greek did have that sound
    - stavros 4y ago
      As far as I know/can see, it was more of an "oo" sound, rather than a ü, but I'm not an expert and you may be entirely correct.