Heinz Von Foerster 1911 2002

Dedicated to the life and work of Heinz Von Foerster, this is a double issue of the journal "Cybernetics and Human Knowing".

American architect Lebbeus Woods (1940–2012) remains a quiet hero not only among his colleagues, but also for architectural students intrigued by the ideas and fluent beauty of his powerful graphic verve, as well as of his writing. His projects from the mid-1980s until the end of his life have been widely published. However, this AD, in collaboration with the Estate of Lebbeus Woods, explores the earlier period beginning in the late 1960s when Woodswas honing his draughtsmanship and theoretical positions while experimenting with a variety of themes and different modes of expression. When he burst onto the international architectural scene with a solo exhibition and accompanying catalogue (Lebbeus Woods: Origins) at the Architectural Association, London, in 1985, some wondered how anyone could emerge so fully formed, from nowhere. Working against the logic of ‘nowhere’, this issue charts his early trajectory through the largely unpublished drawings and texts, linking them with what came after. Aiming to generate new scholarship, its roster of international interdisciplinary critics and commentators offer a new understanding of Woods’s work and of his formative years, also shining a light on how we might think about the ‘early work’ of any architect’s career. Contributors: Joseph Becker, Aaron Betsky, Peter Cook, Mark Dorrian, Riet Eeckhout, Kevin Erickson, Joerg Gleiter, Sharon Irish, Eliyahu Keller, Lawrence Rinder, Ashley Simone, Ben Sweeting.

This book offers an overview on the background to systemics. It introduces the concept of Collective Being as a Multiple System established by processes of emergence and self-organization of the same agents simultaneously or dynamically interacting in different ways. The principles underlying this approach are grounded on the theoretical role of the observer. This view allows to model in a more suitable way complex systems, such as in physics, biology and economics.

The two-volume set LNCS 12013 and 12014 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Aided Systems Theory, EUROCAST 2019, held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, in February 2019. The 123 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 172 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Part I: systems theory and applications; pioneers and landmarks in the development of information and communication technologies; stochastic models and applications to natural, social and technical systems; theory and applications of metaheuristic algorithms; model-based system design, verification and simulation. Part II: applications of signal processing technology; artificial intelligence and data mining for intelligent transportation systems and smart mobility; computer vision, machine learning for image analysis and applications; computer and systems based methods and electronic technologies in medicine; advances in biomedical signal and image processing; systems concepts and methods in touristic flows; systems in industrial robotics, automation and IoT.

Heinz von Foerster was the inventor of second-order cybernetics, which recognizes the investigator as part of the system he is investigating. The Beginning of Heaven and Earth Has No Name provides an accessible, nonmathematical, and comprehensive overview of von Foerster’s cybernetic ideas and of the philosophy latent within them. It distills concepts scattered across the lifework of this scientific polymath and influential interdisciplinarian. At the same time, as a book-length interview, it does justice to von Foerster’s élan as a speaker and improviser, his skill as a raconteur. Developed from a week-long conversation between the editors and von Foerster near the end of his life, this work playfully engages von Foerster in developing the difference his notion of second-order cybernetics makes for topics ranging from emergence, life, order, and thermodynamics to observation, recursion, cognition, perception, memory, and communication. The book gives an English-speaking audience a new ease of access to the rich thought and generous spirit of this remarkable and protean thinker.

This introduction to the world of cybernetics provides the basics and discusses the most important thought leaders, models as well as theories. Practical examples from the fields of biology, ecology, technology, society, and politics are used to illustrate the theoretical material. Questions at the end of the chapters stimulate reflection, and the author does not owe the answers. A central theme in all cybernetic considerations and a guiding theme of the book are information exchange and communication.