[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# "Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine" (Book Review)

## Details

**Authors** Norbert Wiener

**Year** 1951

**Publisher** Social Research

**Discipline** Philosophy

[Read it](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40969262)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Review the nature of relationships in technology and feedback loops.

### What they found (results)

Feedback loops can become dangerous or impossible in machines, but they can be an essential tool/process of cognition. The concept of feedback is undoubtedly so important that the social no less than the natural scientist ought to be familiar with its denotation.

## Commentary

### In short

The structure of a feedback loop is a critical relationship that allows the System to react to its environment and potentially restructure itself in response. Ultimately, the feedback loop allows some Systems to regulate themselves, with the more obvious examples found within biological Systems.

### In more detail

In a review of Cybernetics (1948) by Norbert Wiener, John Weily, 1951, raised many points of interest in his discussion of machines, and the underlying Systems that run them. Of particular interest was his discussion of a very important structural type relationship found within System: feedback loops. Weily recognized that feedback loops can become dangerous or impossible in machines, but they can be an essential tool/process of cognition. He writes that, “The concept of feedback is undoubtedly so important that the social no less than the natural scientist ought to be familiar with its denotation.” The structure of a feedback loop is a critical relationship that allows the System to react to its environment and potentially restructure itself in response. Ultimately, the feedback loop allows some Systems to regulate themselves, with the more obvious examples found within biological Systems.

**Patterns it shows** R

**How to cite this** Norbert Wiener (1951). "Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine" (Book Review). Social Research.