Cybernetics
Introduction to the discipline of cybernetics, the science of systems that achieve goals through feedback and conversation.

Detail of a cybernetic model illustrating the relationships between its components.
Automatic feedback system
Identifying a pacemaker as a closed-loop system that includes automatic feedback. The system should not rely on a person to close the feedback loop. Identify the specific components of the system and their functions, describe the components in cybernetic terms (e.g., sensor, comparator, actuator, etc.), and represent the relationships between components visually. Describe the boundary between the system and its environment, the relevant components of the system, how is information transmitted between components and In what form. State the goal (desired state) of the system, what forces typically disturb the system or push it away from its goal, what part of the system matches feedback (current state) to goal (desired state) and how does the system respond to disturbances. (See PDF →)


Automatic feedback system
Requisite variety
Expanding on the first project, determine if the system has requisite variety. If the system does not have RV, suggest how to modify it to achieve RV. If your system has RV, broaden its goal and extend the system to achieve RV for the new goal (‘improving’ a product). Identify the range, resolution, and frequency of the sensor and actuator and represent the relationships between components visually. Describe what ways the system might fail, the relation of the system’s goal to the range, resolution, and frequency of its sensor and actuator and describe how the new dimension makes sense in the system, serving the same higher-level goal as the dimensions in the original system. (See PDF →)


Requisite variety
Second-order feedback
Identify a system (rate-responsive pacemaker) that includes two feedback loops, where one is nested inside the other (a second-order system). Determine where is the boundary between the system and its environment and where is the boundary between the observed system and the observing system. Then describe what is the goal of the observing system and what is the goal of the observed system, and what forces typically disturb the system or push it away from its goal. (See PDF →)


Second-order feedback
Conversation model
Identify a system that requires (true or effective) conversation to function. This example illustrates a conversation about teaching web design. Create a diagram of the system to show the structural relationships of participants in the conversation, or the evolution of the conversation. Identify the components of the system and their functions (e.g., participants, observer, levels, goals, means, actions…), representing the relationships between components visually. Determine where is the boundary between participants, what are the vertical layers in the conversation, as you observe it and which interactions are “it-referenced” and which are “I/you-referenced”. Identify what are the goals of the participants and the observers and what feedback is required for goals to be achieved. (See PDF →)


Conversation model
Final Project: Sustaining a Band
Develop a project based on ideas covered in the course, creating a critique of some pre-existing system. Show how the models explicate the strengths and weaknesses of the system, as well as how the system may be improved, and by what process. This example illustrates the relationship between the band Black Flag and its audience, highlighting goals and methods of the participants involved. (See PDF →)

Implied, not explicit, statement of intent
Intro to Cybernetics and the Foundations of Systems Design
Fall 2010

Instructor
Paul Pangaro, Ph.D.