Norbert Wiener’ s Dream: Technology, Life, and Society

This chapter overviews the birth of CyberneticsCybernetics as a general theory of goal-seeking systemsGoal-seeking systems. It introduces the notion of positive and negative Feedbacknegative feedbackClimate feedbacknegative and gives credit to the General Systems TheoryGeneral systems theory, which gave a framework for integrating the natural sciences with the social sciences. Modern computers made possible the simulation of social systems based on causal relationships among state variables, leading to various predicted scenarios about the world’s futureFuture of the world, some pessimistic. One clear insight is that uncontrolled technological progress may negatively affect the environment, and we need to maintain a balance between economicGrowth growthEconomic growth and sustainabilitySustainability.