Kybernetes: Volume 42 Issue 9/10

Refinement: a rigorous description of autonomous adaptive agents

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to empirically test for cognitive behaviour in autonomous adaptive agents.

The root and responsibility model: a framework for ethical consumption

Much information is hidden from consumers including social and environmental violations, poor labour practices and unethical economic activities. This paper aims to present a…

Ecology of ideas and ecology's ideas

The assumption of ecological thinking as a main ideology for social systems implies many relevant changes concerning the relation between social and ecological systems. Changes…

An ecology of mind: teaching – learning complex systems

– The purpose of this paper is to show how to enact a Batesonian system to teaching an ecology of mind course.

The ethical implications of automated computation in design

– The paper aims to present a framework for discussing ethics and computational design.

The togetherness of togetherness and separateness: some reflections on ASC/B.I.G. 2012

This paper aims to set out an analysis of Gregory Bateson's thought about the relations between parts and wholes, between separateness and togetherness in order to illuminate the…

Art as “phantasmagoria”: between illusion and reification

The purpose of this paper is to discuss Stockhausen's comment that the destruction of the twin towers in New York in September 11, 2001 was “the greatest work of art that ever…

Enigmatic mechanisms in defense of the capability to have new ideas

This paper aims to present the argument that Heinz von Foerster's portrayals of non-triviality in his non-trivial machine (NTM) and in surprising human behavior are not…

The educational consequences of Bateson's economy of flexibility

The education system worldwide is regulated through the dominant paradigm of planning and enactment, but the representations of curricula and lesson plans underpinning the…

Reflections on recursion and the evolution of learning

The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of recursive processes in the evolution of learning in both individuals and organisations, beginning with a clarification…

Architectural design education between poetry and prose

This paper aims to examine how poetry and prose relate to each other in the context of architectural design education. While the two notions tend to be presented as distinct…

Creativity from a systems perspective: bridging theory and practice

This paper aims to sketch the outline of a systems framework for creativity. It involves several levels of analysis and addresses researchers and practitioners. When improving…

Developing a cybernetic lifestyle

The dominant paradigms of the world today are reductionist and linear and have led us towards crises in the environment, economics, health and more. Cybernetics is one alternative…

Huffman coding as metaphor

David Huffman, as a graduate student, earned his immortality by solving a problem that had stumped Claude Shannon, the creator of the field of information theory. How he saw the…

An old dinosaur

A personal account of Gregory Bateson and the turning over of the generations, carrying some of Bateson's way of thinking forward to the time and beyond. The paper aims to discuss…

Paradigm versus praxis: Why psychology “absolute identification” experiments do not reveal sensory processes

A key cybernetics concept, information transmitted in a system, was quantified by Shannon. It quickly gained prominence, inspiring a version by Harvard psychologists Garner and…

Dissipation of the solar-energetic gradient as the origin of binarism in human meaning systems

This paper aims to formulate a hypothesis for the origin and position of binarism within human meaning systems. Specifically, binarism exists ineluctably as a living system's…

Idea avoidance: reflections on a conference and its language

This paper aims to offer a personal reflection on the 2012 joint conference of the American Society for Cybernetics and the Bateson Idea Group, “An Ecology of Ideas”. The intent…

Reflexive thought-ecologies: a reflection on practice

The development of capacities for sustainability thinking by large-scale social systems requires of the skilled practitioner complex abstract logics. There is an intricate…

Introduction to the unrefereed papers

On accepting the McCulloch award

Editorial team

An ecology of ideas: guest editorial

Erratum

An encounter with Bateson

An extract from the second recursive reflection on “the tree of life”

Remembering Gregory Bateson