[ [http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/history2.htm HISTORY OF CYBERNETICS] by the American Society for Cybernetics, retrieved 15 April 2008] The participants were leading scientists from a wide range of fields. Casual recollections of several participants stress the communicative difficulties in the beginning, giving way to the gradual establishment of a common language powerful enough to communicate the intricacies of the various fields of expertise present.]The scientists participating in all or most of the conferences are known as the "core group." They include: [ [http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/history/MacyPeople.htm The Macy Conference Attendees ] ]
* William Ross Ashby; psychiatrist
* Gregory Bateson; anthropologist
* Julian Bigelow; electro technician
* Heinz von Foerster; biophysicist
* Lawrence K. Frank; social scientist
* Ralph W. Gerard; neuro physiologist
* Molly Harrower; psychologist
* Lawrence Kubie; psychatrist
* Paul Lazarsfeld; sociologist
* Kurt Lewin; psychologist
* Warren McCulloch (chair); psychatrist
* Margaret Mead; anthropologist
* John von Neumann; mathematician
* Walter Pitts; mathematician
* Arturo Rosenblueth; physiologist
* Leonard J. Savage; mathematician
* Norbert Wiener; mathematician
In addition to the core group several invited guests participated in the conferences. Amongst many others:
* Max Delbrück; geneticist and biophysicist
* Erik Erikson; psychologist
* Claude Shannon; information theorist
Some of the researchers present at the conferences later went on to do extensive government funded research on the psychological effects of LSD, and its potential as a tool for interrogation and psychological manipulation in such projects as the CIA's MKULTRA program. [ [http://www3.isrl.uiuc.edu/~unsworth/SLS.htm LSD, Mind Control, and the Internet: A Chronology] , retrieved 15 April 2008]
See also
* Cybernetics
* Complex systems
* Integrative learning
* Second-order cybernetics
References
Further reading
* 1949. "Cybernetics: Transactions of the Sixth Conference". New York : Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
* 1950. "Cybernetics: Transactions of the Seventh Conference". Edited by Heinz von Foerster, Margaret Mead and Hans Lukas Teuber. New York : Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
* 1952. "Cybernetics: Transactions of the Eighth Conference". Edited by Heinz von Foerster, Margaret Mead and Hans Lukas Teuber. New York : Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
* 1953. "Cybernetics: Transactions of the Ninth Conference". Edited by Heinz von Foerster, Margaret Mead and Hans Lukas Teuber. New York : Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
* 1955. "Cybernetics: Transactions of the Tenth Conference". Edited by Heinz von Foerster, Margaret Mead and Hans Lukas Teuber. New York : Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
* 2003, Claus Pias (Eds). "Cybernetics/Kybernetik. The Macy-Conferences 1946-1953". Herausgabe. Berlin, Vol. 2.
External links
* [http://www.josiahmacyfoundation.org The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation]
