Why cybernetics?#
Cybernetics has many origins over time and place. We have been attentive to the Macy Conferences on cybernetics that took place in New York at a time of upheaval, change and hope post-World War II. These discussions brought together a range of thinkers from across the disciplinary spectrum, “where every participant was open to learning from others, where they held their knowledge lightly, and permitted it to be shaped by others’ expertise” [7].
“If negative imagery about a feared future can produce positive action, what will positive imagery about a desired future produce?” Elise Boulding, sociologist
The deliberate disciplinary diversity of the people involved helped cultivate a shared curiosity to apply knowledge-building through action. We believe this approach serves us well as we reimagine our futures in our present.
Since its founding, the ANU School of Cybernetics has produced various outputs that link hidden histories, contemporary uncertainty, and futures. These include The New Cybernetics: Lessons from the Last Great Redesign (2020) [7] and Australian Cybernetic: A Point Through Time (2024) [8]. We have sought to (a) introduce a cybernetic perspective to leadership in Redefining Leadership in the 21st Century: the View From Cybernetics (2022) [9], (b) understand cybernetic and potential future systems with Custodians & Midwives: The Library of the Future (2022) [10], Backbones and Blueprints: Cybernetic Approaches to the Metaverse (2023) [11] and (c) innovate new, lifelong ways of connecting, learning, making, and instigating positive systems change through ANU School of Cybernetics education and engagement initiatives.
Building on this work, we are also introducing a new body of futures-focused knowledge and practice in academic settings through our research projects, workshops, symposia, and residencies, as well as through the design and delivery of a research-informed and internationally and nationally recognised education initiatives, including a Master program, PhD program and the Learning Experiences program.
These partnerships and conversations align to an attitude and an application of cybernetics that British historian Andrew Pickering describes as “performative experimentation – trying things out to find out how the world will respond, and then responding to that – a kind of looping and spiralling back and forth I call a dance of agency” [12].
Cybernetic Futures embodies the robust reflexivity that Pickering describes, where we combine critical thinking with critical doing.