Abstract
From its beginnings, cybernetic perspectives and models were designed to understand or regulate dynamic processes. The approaches and models described in this chapter range from the explicit to the implicit but have in common the central role of feedback as a guide for action and understanding. Feedback and the recognition of the importance of the observer in defining the system and its purposes are the common factor in a cybernetic approach. The Watt steam governor was an early and clear example of intrinsic control – using feedback to bring a system back under control in the act of going out of control. The steam governor’s arms rise and cut off air to the steam engine as it goes too fast and lower to allow in more air when its speed comes back under control. Its purpose was the safe operation of the engine. The origin of the word cybernetics comes from the Greek word for steersmanship. The sailor adjusts the tiller and the sails to use the forces of the winds and tides to reach a destination. It is the same root as the word for governance.
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Leonard, A., Scholte, T., Shepherd, K., Truss, J. (2021). Cybernetics Approaches and Models. In: Metcalf, G.S., Kijima, K., Deguchi, H. (eds) Handbook of Systems Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0720-5_66
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