4 ms·
Some context: > In 1969, Heinz von Foerster, Humberto Maturana, Herbert Brün, and their students at the University of Illinois, created The Whole University Ca
by flobosg 4y ago
Some context:
> In 1969, Heinz von Foerster, Humberto Maturana, Herbert Brün, and their students at the University of Illinois, created The Whole University Catalog, a collaborative publication expressing the spirit of the times. In this authentic zine, the countercultural revolution and the Biological Computer Laboratory find naked expression. Now, almost two decades after this print publication was scattered to the turbulent winds of history, a PDF of the Whole University Catalog is available online.
―http://spinelessbooks.com/wholeuniversity/ http://spinelessbooks.com/wholeuniversity/
- jonjacky 4y agovon Foerster, Maturana, and Brun were all active in cybernetics and early computing - see their Wikipedia articles. So it is surprising/disappointing that this document - which is apparently a sort of catalog of advice and helpful information for students at the University of Illinois at Champagne/Urbana around 1969-70 - doesn't say anything about the computing activities going on there at that time. The experimental ILLIAC computers were being built and used, and the PLATO timesharing system was being developed and used (again, see Wikipedia). PLATO was built to support computer-aided instruction, so it seems some students would have encountered it.