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Cambridge Cybernetic Society 6th Meeting "Getting Permission for Second Order Cybernetics" Ranulph Glanville New Media Research Centre University of Portsmouth Thursday 14 March 96 @Cybersmith in Harvard Square 42 Church Street, Cambridge MA 4 - 5 pm Information about Cybersmith: 617-492-5857 Abstract Around 1970-5, Cybernetics went through a dramatic change in which it applied cybernetic understandings and principles to Cybernetics, itself. This led to several extra-ordinary, yet extra-ordinarily-helpful notions: that the observer must be included in the observation system that communication can be by conversation rather than by coding that a quality of a system (such as life) lies in the ability to maintain this quality (e.g., living) that error is not fault, and that a special set of ideas are needed to deal with this relativism (the postulation of objects of attention). I shall look at some of the mysteries that lie not only in the understanding thus developed, but also in the ideas hidden behind. Ranulph Glanville has spent virtually all his working teaching architecture and design, and researching cybernetics, spatial perception, Finnish architecture (especially the vernacular), media and creativity. His writings present unusual clarity on these subjects, without sacrificing depth or formailsm where appropriate. He lives in Southsea on the south coast of the UK, and travels a lot. He is interested in asking questions, and in wonder.
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