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That's strange, because from what I've read, "cybernetics" as a scientific discipline was much more influential in the USSR than it ever was in western countrie

That's strange, because from what I've read, "cybernetics" as a scientific discipline was much more influential in the USSR than it ever was in western countries. The term is now almost exclusively associated with (digital) computers, but originally it was more about feedback loops in analog systems, and its theories were applied to centralised economic planning. But maybe it wasn't taken seriously by the leadership, is that what you mean?

leshow 3y ago
There's also an interesting story about Chile under Allende trying to implement some cybernetic systems in the 70's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn There's a book called "Cybernetic Revolutionaries" about it, I haven't read it yet though.
wrp 3y ago
Cybernetics did eventually become a hot fashion in the USSR. There is a good history of this, Slava Gerovitch's From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics (2002).
smsm42 3y ago
That came later, when Soviet mathematicians envisioned that the computers could provide a solution to the fundamental calculation problems of socialism. Soviets had very strong mathematicians, and they knew that planning as envisioned by the socialist ideology is impossible using manual calculations, however they thought algorithmic planning could provide a huge edge there. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGAS - this was a Soviet Internet plus AI optimizer plus data lake plus everything else. It fizzled out, though, for a couple of reasons - first, it was not clear that it can actually do any of it, and second, The Party kinda felt uneasy with algorithms controlling everything - if the General Secretary says one thing, and the computer says another - who's in charge here?! And once you allow The Party to mess with it, it loses the whole point - it's garbage in, garbage out.

leshow 3y ago

There's also an interesting story about Chile under Allende trying to implement some cybernetic systems in the 70's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn There's a book called "Cybernetic Revolutionaries" about it, I haven't read it yet though.

wrp 3y ago

Cybernetics did eventually become a hot fashion in the USSR. There is a good history of this, Slava Gerovitch's From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics (2002).

smsm42 3y ago

That came later, when Soviet mathematicians envisioned that the computers could provide a solution to the fundamental calculation problems of socialism. Soviets had very strong mathematicians, and they knew that planning as envisioned by the socialist ideology is impossible using manual calculations, however they thought algorithmic planning could provide a huge edge there. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGAS - this was a Soviet Internet plus AI optimizer plus data lake plus everything else. It fizzled out, though, for a couple of reasons - first, it was not clear that it can actually do any of it, and second, The Party kinda felt uneasy with algorithms controlling everything - if the General Secretary says one thing, and the computer says another - who's in charge here?! And once you allow The Party to mess with it, it loses the whole point - it's garbage in, garbage out.