Some Examples of how Cybernetics is Contributing to Traditional Disciplines Stuart A. Umpleby President of the Executive Committee International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences

Introduction In this presentation I shall describe how three bodies of knowledge are benefitting from work in cybernetics The ideas from cybernetics have been developed over many years but are not yet widely known

I assume a three level structure of knowledge Philosophy Theory Practice Theories guide practice and philosophy guides the construction of theories

Importance of the structure Systems and cybernetics endeavor to advance all three bodies of knowledge and action Most academic work is limited, both by field and by types of knowledge This structure of knowledge explains how knowledge fits together, how it grows, and hence how to make a contribution

Contributions to other fields Systems and cybernetics, by creating more general concepts and theories of the informational domain have made contributions to a wide range of fields In this presentation I’ll focus on contributions to three fields Management (practice) Social science (theory) Philosophy of science (philosophy)

I. CONTRIBUTIONS TO MANAGEMENT

Three models used in management Work in management cybernetics tends to use one of three models A. Regulation uses two basic elements – a regulator and the system being regulated B. Self-organization involves many elements in a system; as the elements go to equilibrium they organize themselves (e.g., an ecosystem, an economy) C. In reflexivity the elements of a system act on two levels, both observing and acting (e.g., a person in a society)

A. Regulation Regulation or control is essential to cybernetics It involves two entities – a regulator and a system being regulated Homeostasis refers to multiple instances of regulation in the body via many feedback loops Similar negative feedback processes occur in businesses and government Cybernetics emphasizes circularity and stability rather than independent and dependent variables

Some variations of regulation Ashby’s theory of adaptive behavior The Law of Requisite Variety Amplification of management capability Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model

Ashby’s theory of adaptive behavior Ross Ashby’s theory of adaptation is based on two nested feedback loops, one inside the other The first feedback loop enables learning – does an action have the desired effect? However, when the environment changes, the learned behavior must change. The second feedback loop is the recognition of the need for change Adaptation requires learning again, correcting previous knowledge

The law of requisite variety Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety (LRV) provides a quantitative relation between information and decision-making LRV also states a quantitative relation between the variety in a system to be regulated and the variety in the regulator Examples are games like soccer, managing a business, or government regulation of an economy

How to amplify management capability LRV provides a foundation for the amplification of management activities There are two possible strategies Increase the capacity of the regulator Decrease the variety in the system to be regulated There is great power in the second strategy It is possible to reduce the variety in the system to be regulated because the observer can decide what he or she wants to control

Imagine that you want to manage the global economy 1. At the lowest level there is the regulation of actors in the economy (1 to 1) 2. Passing laws enables the government to regulate only illegal activities, which greatly increases what government can accomplish (1 to 1000) 3. A further amplification of regulatory capability is achieved by letting business firms regulate each other through innovation and competition. This is achieved by outlawing price-fixing and by breaking up monopolies. In this way government sets the rules of the game (1 to 1,000,000)

Changing the game 4. A further amplification of management capability can be achieved by changing the goals of nations, for example moving from ideological and military competition to competing through productivity and trade. This is a change in the game itself. At the global level the work of the Club of Rome moved international relations from ideological and military competition to control of population & environment (about 1 to 1 billion)

Comments on amplifying management capability In this example at each step an amplification of about a factor of a thousand is achieved Regulatory activities are passed on to other actors, not necessarily the government Note that it is possible to manage a social system composed of many millions of people, even though human beings are limited by “the magical number 7 plus or minus 2”

Similarities in power amplification A similar process of power amplification occurs in engineering in amplifiers for loud speakers and in hydraulic lifts in auto repair shops Power amplification occurs the same way; a large flow is controlled by a small valve

Beer’s Viable System Model Another idea from management cybernetics is Stafford Beer’s Viable System model -- a multi-level decision-maker that is based on the structure of the human nervous system Beer’s model has five levels In accord with Ashby’s theory of adaptive behavior, Systems 1,2 and 3 handle day to day learning and management Systems 4 and 5 create new goals and methods when needed

The VSM is recursive The Viable System Model recurs at each level of an organization – individual, group, factory, division, company Each level in an organization can be described using the same functions and thereby is capable of adaptation When used in an organization, the model provides a common language that aids communication among levels and departments

B. Self-organization The idea of self-organization was developed in the 1950s during discussions about artificial intelligence One approach was to tell the machine what it should do step by step A second approach was to create the capability within a machine to learn by interacting with its environment

A model of self-organization In self-organization the basic model has not two components but many, for example species competing in an ecosystem or firms competing in an economy Given a set of interaction rules, the elements go toward their stable equilibrial states, thereby organizing themselves Change the interaction rules and the self-organizing system goes to a different equilibrium

Applications of self-organization An incentive system for sales persons is an example of a self-organizing system Government regulation of an economy is an example – make pollution illegal A new technology changes the way people and organizations behave When the interaction rules are changed, the elements of the system adjust their behavior

Uses of self-organization When management defines procedures or government writes laws, they are using the idea of self-organization to change the behavior of a social system Self-organization is also the idea underlying agent-based models in complexity theory It has led to a new method of computer simulation

C. Reflexivity In a reflexive system the elements of a system both observe and participate The elements operate on two levels Each element observes, orients itself, decides and acts Examples are a businessman seeking to grow his business or a politician running for public office

Group decision-making methods Group decision-making methods are an example of reflexivity The task is to lead a group through a conversation with the result being a plan of action that they work on together Various participatory methods have been created in order to do action research Action research is often considered to be outside of or different from academic research

Group decision-making methods A facilitator leads a group of people through a conversation At the end of the process the group has a strategic plan These methods can be used with companies, government agencies, universities, and charitable organizations They are a way of holding a conversation about how to make the organization more effective

An example of steps in a conversation What is your vision of a desirable future? What do you want to see in 5 years? If that is what you want, why do you not already have it? What are the obstacles? What strategies would remove the obstacles? What tactics are needed to implement the strategies? Who will do what, when, where and how?

After a few months of implementation Read the planning document and ask: What did we say we were going to do? What did we actually do? What was more difficult than we expected? What was easier than we expected? What additional resources do we need? Then repeat the planning process This is a way an organization learns

II. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIAL SCIENCE

How social science has been done Most social science research has used an approach borrowed from the physical sciences: The observer was outside the system of interest The emphasis was on making objective observations in order to eliminate bias There was a search for quantitative measures Statistics were used to find relationships among variables

Problems with the social sciences The doctrine of the unity of method has distracted social scientists from noting the different types of basic elements in social systems – variables, ideas, groups, events They have looked for cause and effect relationships while paying less attention to circularity and stability A recent study of academic articles on financial crises found that economists look for causes of financial crises or consequences financial crises

Ways that disciplines describe social systems Variables – physics, economics Events – computer science, history Groups – sociology, political science Ideas – psychology, philosophy, cultural anthropology Interaction between ideas and events, a “shoelace model”

A model of social change using four methods for describing systems Ideas Variables Groups Events   A model of social change using four methods for describing systems  

Advantages of using several descriptions The theories and methods of several social science fields are used There is less chance of missing something important The four methods of description provide a theory of how social change occurs

Reflexivity and group methods Reflexivity theory and group methods provide an alternative to “objective” social science Observers are included Multiple perspectives arise naturally Relative to the earlier social science research the new social science research is more participative and more conceptually varied

III. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Changes in philosophy of science A goal of philosophy of science was to teach scientists how to create “justified true belief” The problem of induction was seen as an obstacle The solution was to reject a null hypothesis and accept the alternate hypothesis Also, eliminate observer effects However, if the scientist is excluded, who formulates hypotheses, designs experiments and interprets results? What is the foundation of scientific knowledge?

Abandon or redefine the effort? The difficulties in describing a path to “justified true belief” led philosophers to lose interest in philosophy of science Warren McCulloch suggested “experimental epistemology” – using neurophysiological experiments to understand how the brain works “How to do science” became not a normative endeavor but rather an experimental inquiry Include the observer in what is observed

Reconsidering philosophy of science Emphasize the difference between inanimate objects and thinking participants Create a multi-disciplinary theory of social change Emphasize general theories With a biological foundation for knowledge science began to critique philosophy rather than philosophy critiquing science There has been greater interest in cross-disciplinary theories and unification of science

Contributions of cybernetics to philosophy of science Cybernetics provides a foundation for philosophy in neurobiology and mathematics Clarify what is achievable, seek not certainty but an understanding of cognition Explain how to expand science using the Correspondence Principle Resume the practice of critiquing the progress of science

Concerning the future of knowledge Norbert Wiener said the 1st industrial revolution occurred when machines replaced human muscle power; the 2nd industrial revolution would use machines to augment human intelligence Science has shifted from an emphasis on matter and energy to an emphasis on control and communication More attention is now being given to learning, adaptation, purposes, consensus, understanding, and narratives rather than matter and energy

Conclusion: Systems and cybernetics contribute to traditional disciplines By creating more general theories By creating a science of control and communication in addition to a science of matter and energy By showing similarities among ideas in traditional disciplines, e.g., biology, social systems and machines By integrating knowledge from many fields By providing a transdisciplinary language for the informational domain and for science itself By contributing to philosophy, theory and practice

Contact information Stuart A. Umpleby, Professor Emeritus Department of Management The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 USA blogs.gwu.edu/umpleby umpleby@gmail.com

A presentation for the annual meeting of the American Society for Cybernetics Vancouver, B.C., Canada June 24- 26, 2019