Abstract

Around 1970-5, Cybernetics went through a dramatic change in which it applied cybernetic understandings and principles to cybernetics itself. This led to several extra-ordinary, yet extra-ordinarily-helpful notions:

 

That the observer must be included in the observation system;
That communication can be by conversation rather that be coding;
That a quality of a system (such as life) lies in the ability to maintain this quality(e.g., living);
That error is not fault;
and That a special set of ideas are needed to deal with this relativism (the postulation of objects of attention).

Because of this work, I start from the premise that all observers in/of a system see things differently, because they are distinct. We are all observers, and we all see differently. Therefore, we construct our own realities (regardless of any others there may be).
This is the central position of the cybernetics of cybernetics (also known as second order cybernetics or the new cybernetics). Cybernetics is classically defined as communication and control in the animal and the machine. This cybernetics is, thus, the cybernetics of observing (as opposed to observed) systems.
I shall consider the consequences of this premise in a number of areas which are of concern to management. For instance,

 

How, in principle, can we communicate?
About what could we communicate?
What is our reality of reference?
How can we share?
What is the nature of control?
And what does this tell us about meaning, responsibility and understanding?

Biography

Ranulph Glanville has spent virtually all his working life teaching architecture and design, and researching cybernetics, spatial perception, Finnish architecture (especially the vernacular), media and creativity. His writings present unusual clarity on these subjects, without sacrificing depth or formalism where appropriate. He lives in Southsea on the south coast of the UK, and travels a lot.