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The Oral Tradition was a centerpiece of past ASC
Conferences. For one evening formal presentations were replaced by
storytelling. The event was an opportunity to remember some more personal
experiences of and with our pioneers and
to share them with future generations of cyberneticians. The people we
recall have been our mentors, our friends... people we loved and respected,
not just for the power of their ideas but for their integrity and their
generosity as human beings. In addition, this is a time to hear the
aspirations of the new generations, their intentions and the directions of
their research.
Stories shape and reshape the narrative we call cybernetics and chart its
progress from its beginnings to today. We reflect on the past partly to see
it from a contemporary perspective and partly to recall the original
purposes as we move into the future.
This year we shall revive that tradition. Please join us to listen to some
old stories and to tell some new ones. As Heinz von Foerster, a master
storyteller himself, said when he heard the tribute that we stand on the
shoulders of giants; "Then you must tell us what you see." The old stories
are important because they ground us and add resonance to the new stories we
live and tell. Join us at the metaphorical campfire! Relive the wild
frontier and look out over new lands! |