The essays ... have been selected from among the papers presented as a symposium on the social impact of cybernetics held in Washington, D.C., in November, 1964, under the joint sponsorship of Georgetown University, American University, and George Washington University with the cooperation of the American Society for Cybernetics.
Introduction to Economic Cybernetics introduces the reader to economic cybernetics, that is, the application of the principles of the theory of automatic control to the problems of managing the economic processes, and particularly the processes in a socialist economy. Topics covered include the general principles of regulation and control; cybernetic schemata of the theory of reproduction; the theory of stability of regulation systems; and a generalization of the theory of regulation. This book is comprised of five chapters and begins with an overview of economic cybernetics, followed by a discussion on the process of automatic regulation and how it functions, with particular reference to the basic formula of the theory of regulation and cybernetic interpretation of operations on operators. The following chapters focus on cybernetic schemata of the theory of reproduction; the dynamics of regulation processes; and the practical problems in regulation. The final chapter describes a general theory of regulation formalized as a linear differential-difference ""equation of response"", and gives the solution to this equation for both the homogeneous and non-homogeneous versions. This monograph will be a useful resource for practitioners of economics, physics, and mechanics.
A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics. In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile's experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile's economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende's government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network's Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.
This book is a record of the contents of the papers accepted by the Congress Committee for presentation at the Fourth International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 21-25 August 1978). Two hundred and forty-five papers from authors from thirty-three countries of all the five continents are included. The papers are presented in an abridged form in order to highlight the main themes and produce a book that is both readable and relatively inexpensive. It was felt that after the publication of the weighty and rather costly form of the Proceedings of the Third International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems held in Bucharest, Romania in 1975 (Modern Trends in Cybernetics and Systems, eds. Rose and Bilciu, W. O. G. S. c. and Springer-Verlag, 1977; 3 volumes about 3500 pages; $150), an abridged but comprehen sive version would be more acceptable to readers. It is worth noting that the full names and addresses of authors are given for each paper, and requests to authors for more information and even full-scale papers would produce a positive response. As a matter of interest, each paper carries, in addition, brief summaries. The papers are arranged in each section or symposium in the alphabetical order of authors' names; this is not necessarily the order of presentation at the Congress.
It has often been said that information is power. This is more true in the information age than ever. The book profiles the tools used by criminal law to protect confidential information. It deals with the essence of information, the varieties of confidential information, and the basic models for its protection within the context of the Internet and social networks. Eli Lederman examines the key prohibitions against collecting protected information, and against using, disclosing, and disseminating it without authorization. The investigation cuts across a broad subject matter to discuss and analyze key topics such as trespassing and peeping, the human body as a source of information, computer trespassing, tracking and collecting personal information in the public space, surveillance, privileged communications, espionage and state secrets, trade secrets, personal information held by others, and profiling and sexting. Infocrime will appeal to graduate and undergraduate scholars and academics in the legal arena, in law schools and schools of communication, and to practicing lawyers with an interest in legal theory and a concern for the protection of the personal realm in a world of increasingly invasive technologies.
This book addresses changes in socio-economic systems. To do so, it employs the evolutional approach, which views changes in socio-economic systems from an evolutionary standpoint connecting the past, present and future, and focuses on preventing sudden, high-risk changes. The changes in socio-economic systems are also studied with the help of the system approach, which calls for assessing complex economic subjects, characterized by the sustainable connections between their elements, as socio-economic systems. Combining these two approaches in the context of studying the changes in socio-economic systems is unprecedented in modern economic science. The book studies various issues that cover both fundamental aspects of the system organization of economy and management and applied aspects of managing changes in socio-economic systems. The target audience of the book includes scholars and experts whose work involves studying the dynamic process of modern socio-economic systems’ development. The scientific conclusions and practical recommendations that the book provides can be applied to the development and implementation of state economic policy in various countries around the world.
Bernard Scott’s book explains the relevance of cybernetics for the social sciences. He provides a non-technical account of the history of cybernetics and its core concepts, with examples of applications of cybernetics in psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
Social Issues in Computing provides information pertinent to the social implications of technology. This book presents the highly dynamic interaction between computers and society. Organized into 13 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the problems associated with computers and attempts to indicate some of the viewpoints, assumptions, and biases from which the discussion is undertaken. This text then examines in detail the effects of computers on society ad describes the extent of computer use. Other chapters consider the disparities in computer use between various countries, as well as the degree to which various countries are able to share in the market for computer products and services. This book discusses as well the factors that led to the rapid and widespread adoption of computers. The final chapter deals with the effects of automation, computers, and technology. This book is a valuable resource for computer science students and research workers.
