EvanLin - Axcesor · In%cybernetics%without%context% ... and%lose%energy% ......
Transcript of EvanLin - Axcesor · In%cybernetics%without%context% ... and%lose%energy% ......
Evan Lin
¡ the scientific study of how people, animals, and machines control and communicate information
¡ the science of communication and control theory that is concerned especially with the comparative study of automatic control systems
¡ “cybernetic explanation is always negative. We consider what alternative possibilities could conceivably have occurred and then ask why many of the alternatives were not followed, so that the particular event was one of those few which could, in fact, occur.” (407)
¡ Learning what is “right” from “not being wrong”
¡ Cybernetic language is dictated by restraints or clues that help one to solve a puzzle.
¡ A puzzle piece has certain sides, a color, an edge to gives us clues to where it belongs that it must “conform to its neighbors or a boundary § Ex: sentence word structures and animal ecosystems
¡ Reductio Ad Absurdum: a sufficient set of mutually exclusive alternative propositions is enumerated. The process of proof proceeds by demonstrating that all but one of this set are untenable or "absurd.” § Finding an answer through the process of elimination
¡ Mapping: “a rigorous metaphor…a technique of explanation whenever a conceptual "model" is invoked.” § Plugging in coordinates so that you can plug it in on a map. In
cybernetics each transformation and sequence of an event is mapped.
¡ “After all, the subject matter of cybernetics is not events and objects but the information "carried" by events and objects.”
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ K Back
Each stage leads to a higher level of choice, by reducing the number of alternatives.
¡ “A phoneme exists as such only in combination with other phonemes which make up a word. The word is the context of the phoneme. But the word only exists as such— only has "meaning"—in the larger context of the utterance.” (410)
¡ In cybernetics without context there is no communication § no understanding of the constraints
that exist or understanding of where in place the communication exist in the larger realm of contexts
¡ Feedback: a cause and effect relationship of energy transfer.. § We tend to believe that most systems
are closed feedback systems ▪ in that a causal connection can be
traced back to its start point ▪ “events at any position in the circuit
may be expected to have effect at all positions on the circuit at later times”
§ However they are in fact open feedback systems ▪ They are energized by external sources
and lose energy ▪ They can be affected by externalities,
influences from outside the system
¡ “patterning or predictability of particular events within a larger aggregate of events.” This is a result of the fact that certain combinations of words are more common than others
¡ “Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't
mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.”
http://www.mrc-‐cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/cmabridge/
¡ When we say that a message has meaning we are actually saying that the message has a referent point, “a coherent relevance in the larger universe of relevance consisting of message-‐plus-‐referent, and that redundancy or pattern or predictability is introduced into this universe by the message.” (415)
¡ You are able to predict with better than random guess what is happening in a situation based on a system of redundant references § Upright tree = roots § Raindrops = rain § Snow =cold § Ringtone=phone call
¡ “All that is not information, not redundancy, not form and not restraints
—is noise, the only possible source of new patterns.”(418)
¡ Unlike other adaptive functions, verbal language has not decayed and been replaced over time § Rather verbal language grew more and more complex
§ Kinesics: nonverbal behavior related to movement
§ Paralanguage: tone, intonation, pitch ▪ Problem of sarcasm, liars, dry humor
¡ We aim to look for redundancy in communication, the idea that some item is missing, one can make a good guess at the missing item, helping to reduce noise.
¡ “Camouflage (the opposite of communication) is achieved
(1) by reducing the signal/noise ratio (2) by breaking up the patterns and regularities in the signal (3) by introducing similar patterns into the noise.” ¡ Redundancy equals meaning
¡ The events or objects which we here call the "part" or "signal" may be real components of an existing sequence or whole
¡ The "part" may have only a conditional relationship to its whole
¡ The "part" may be completely split from the whole which is its referent. The part becomees significant signal of its own § (a)The "part" may become more or less digitalized, so that
magnitudes within it no longer refer to the whole (reduction of noise)
§ (b)The "part" may take on special ritual or metaphoric meanings in contexts where the original whole to which it once referred is no longer relevant.
¡ Animals use a system iconic coding based on signals pertaining to images and gestures about the environment and other animals which animals tend to learn from and add to
¡ Humans use a system of verbal coding with paralanguage and kinesics in same part to whole manner
¡ Dreams are an intermediate level of coding § Dreams are metaphoric statements of
relationships in the real world
§ “There is no signal in the dream which tells the dreamer that this is metaphor or what the referent of the metaphor may be. Similarly, dream contains no tenses. Time is telescoped, and representations of past events in real or distorted forms may have the present as their referent—or vice versa.”
§ Dreams cannot indicate or assert anything
¡ A cybernetic experiment http://vimeo.com/5226108
¡ A connection between four different machines to analyze two machines who both presume they are right
¡ Alan and Clara each have different restraints on their ability to detect objects
¡ Alan uses a range finder to detect change over time while Clara detects spatial change. The experiment shows how social interaction and opinion forming in social beahvior can be regulated
QUESTIONS?