Principia Cybernetica

Principia Cybernetica is an international organisation in the field of cybernetics and systems science focused on the collaborative development of a "computer-supported evolutionary-systemic philosophy in the context of the transdisciplinary academic fields of Systems Science and Cybernetics". [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MASTHEAD.html Principia Cybernetica Masthead ] ] By that, it intends to integrate the insights from a variety of related approaches, including cybernetics, complex systems, self-organization, and evolutionary theory as a foundation for an encompassing scientific-philosophical world-view, including metaphysics, epistemology and ethics.

Organisation

The organisation was initiated in 1989 by Cliff Joslyn, now at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, USA; and Valentin Turchin of the City College of New York, USA; joined in 1990 by Francis Heylighen from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. These three scientists have managed the project ever since. They work together in an editorial board [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BOARD.html Editorial Board ] ] , which manages the collection, selection and development of the material, and the implementation of the computer system.

Major activities of the Principia Cybernetica Project are:
* Principia Cybernetica Web: an online encyclopedia
* Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems; an online dictionary [ [http://pcp.vub.ac.be/ASC/indexASC.html Web Dictionary of Cybernetics and Systems ] ]
* Newsletter Principia Cybernetica News
* Conferences and traditional publications

The organizations is associated with:
* American Society for Cybernetics.
* Evolution, Complexity and Cognition group: a transdisciplinary research group at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, founded in 2004 and directed by Francis Heylighen.
* Journal of Memetics-Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission (JoM-EMIT) is an international peer-refereed scientific journal
* Global Brain Group: for discussion about the emergence of a global brain [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/GBRAIN-L.html The Global Brain Group ] ] .

Principia Cybernetica Web

The Principia Cybernetica Web [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be Principia Cybernetica Web] ] implements and publishes the results of the project. It proposes a hierarchically organized, nearly encyclopedic representation of the Principia Cybernetica world-view. Its intentions therefore reach further than, for example, Wikipedia, which claims to represent the theory and practice from a neutral point of view. The website went online in 1993, as one of the first complex webs in the world. It is still viewed as one of the most important sites on cybernetics, systems theory, complexity, and related approaches.

Workshops and symposia

Between 1990 and 2001 Principia Cybernetica organized different workshops and international symposia on cybernetic themes. [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ACT.html Principia Cybernetica Meetings] , 2001, retrieved Oct 2007.] On the 1st Principia Cybernetica Workshop in June 1991 in Brussels many cyberneticists attended like Harry Bronitz, Gordon Pask, J.L. Elohim, Robert Glueck, Ranulph Glanville, Annemie Van Kerkhoven, Don McNeil, Elan Moritz, Cliff Joslyn, A. Comhaire and Valentin Turchin. [ [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ACT.html Principia Cybernetica Meetings] , 2001, retrieved Oct 2007.]

See also

* William Ross Ashby
* Complex adaptive system
* Evolutionary epistemology
* Global brain
* Manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions
* Red Queen
* Stuart Umpleby

References

Further reading

* Ben Goertzel (2000), " [http://www.goertzel.org/benzine/PrincipiaCybernetica.htm The Principia Cybernetica Project: Placing the Web at the Center of Man’s Quest for Knowledge] ", September 2000.
* Koen Van Damme (2007), " [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/VanDamme-Intro.html Principia Cybernetica: An introduction] ".
* Francis Heylighen (2000). " [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/PCPworldview-FOS.pdf Foundations and Methodology for an Evolutionary World View: A Review of the Principia Cybernetica Project"] in: "Foundations of Science", 5(4), p.457-490.
* Francis Heylighen, C. Joslyn & Valentin Turchin (1991). " [ftp://ftp.vub.ac.be/pub/projects/Principia_Cybernetica/Texts_General/Short_Intro.tx A Short Introduction to the Principia Cybernetica Project] ". in: "Journal of Ideas", 2(1), p.26-29.
* C. Joslyn, Francis Heylighen & V. Turchin (1993). "Synopsys of the Principia Cybernetica Project". in: "Proc. 13th Int. Congress on Cybernetics", p.509-513.

External links

* Principia Cybernetica [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html Home page]
* Principia Cybernetica [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ORG.html Project Organization]