Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine Reissue of the 1961 Second Edition

<b>A classic and influential work that laid the theoretical foundations for information theory and a timely text for contemporary informations theorists and practitioners.</b><p>With the influential book <i>Cybernetics</i> first published in 1948 Norbert Wiener laid the theoretical foundations for the multidisciplinary field of cybernetics the study of controlling the flow of information in systems with feedback loops be they biological mechanical cognitive or social. At the core of Wiener's theory is the message (information) sent and responded to (feedback); the functionality of a machine organism or society depends on the quality of messages. Information corrupted by noise prevents homeostasis or equilibrium. And yet <i>Cybernetics</i> is as philosophical as it is technical with the first chapter devoted to Newtonian and Bergsonian time and the philosophical mixed with the technical throughout. This book brings the 1961 second edition back into print with new forewords by Doug Hill and Sanjoy Mitter. </p><p>Contemporary readers of <i>Cybernetics</i> will marvel at Wiener's prescience--his warnings against noise his disdain for hucksters and gadget worshipers and his view of the mass media as the single greatest anti-homeostatic force in society. This edition of Cybernetics gives a new generation access to a classic text.<br></p>