Reading: Men, Machines, and the World About

Norbert Weiner talking about cybernetic science? About a scientist with social responsibility/ethics, engage with consequences.

etymology (plural etymologies)

1. The study of the historical development of languages, particularly as manifested in individual words.
2. An account of the origin and historical development of a word.

cybernetics - communication and control in the animal and machine.

(source wikipedia)

A move from physical/mechanics to the immaterial and intangible. Abstract signals - input/output. Ma becoming part of the machine. Bomber (part of aeroplane), anti-aircraft gunner.

A shift of paradigm. Individuals part of systems. Dissappearing boundaries between the self and the collective.

post-structuralist positions(?) Zen Buddhism. Examples of Norbert Weiners personal ethics.

"It is a question perhaps of a small conception of self as opposed to a larger one - not that our hand is not part of us, but that much more is".
I though that this was an interesting idea about expanding our idea of who we are to be more encompassing and altruistic.

VS

nihilistic =>
nihilism (uncountable)

1. (philosophy) Extreme scepticism, maintaining that nothing has a real existence.
2. The rejection of all moral principles.
3. A doctrine holding that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.
4. The belief that all endeavors are ultimately futile and devoid of meaning.
5. Contradiction (not always deliberate) between behavior and espoused principle, to such a degree that all possible espoused principle is voided.

"...the bandmembers sweat hard enough to earn their pretensions, and maybe even their nihilism" (rock critic Dave Marsh, reviewing the band XTC's album Go)

6. The deliberate refusal of belief to the point that belief itself is rejected as untenable.

(source wikipedia)

Machine evolution and power. Nowadays machines deal with control and communication.

"Thinking beyond the construction of the gadget to its integration into society. How will it affect humans? How will humans interact with it What consequences will it have?"

THOUGHTS:
It's quite interesting to compare this text with William Morris's Revival of Handicraft as they have similar themes: The delegation of work to machines and the social implications. He also speaks of having caution, and machines being false gods, and of somehow usurping our place in the world. A Pandora's box. Things being released that can't be undone. A machine plague. Whilst I agree our dependence on machines has grown, I don't think they have gained a religious status. Computers are ubiquitous and everyday common things now. Their intimidating and monumental mainframe size and speed has been tamed and brought down to the human, and even child scale.

I still think his ideas of questioning what we are making and why we are making it is valuable, as maybe things don't get scrutinised as much as they could. It would be interesting to see what real life designers thing about this.