Cybernetics, as the ASC practices it, has been called “a way of thinking”. It is both a field of study and a way of acting. It takes as a central point circularity—in its many forms that include circular causality, feedback, recursion, self-reference, designing and so on. It takes the observer in the system (such as the switch in a thermostat) to be part of that system rather than outside it, and considers this sort of observer involvement to be the norm. As a way of thinking it can change how we understand the world and our part in it. It is a subject we can live in, not only as observers, but in how we act and the understanding we create of our world, and our place in it.

Conference Program

The conference is organized into two sections: The main conference (itself composed of three sections: ASC cybernetics in the past, the present and the future) lasting five days, and the surrounding pre- and post-conferences (one day each), for which no fee is charged.
 

Date	Event
03-Aug-2014	Pre-conference day, including ASC’s General Business Meeting, our cybernetic story telling “Oral Tradition”, and a workshop on “Characterizing Cybernetics”.
04-Aug-2014 and 05-Aug-2014	Cybernetics in the Present: Streamed refereed paper presentations.
06-Aug-2014	Cybernetics in the Past: ASC former presidents and other long term members tell us of their period as president, and reflect on where cybernetics has gone and might go. The conference dinner will be held in the evening, following the days sessions.
07-Aug-2014 and 08-Aug-2014	Cybernetics in the Future: A set of workshops exploring how cybernetics might influence educational practice, how we might make education more cybernetic and how we might incorporate cybernetic content, including cybernetic ways of doing this. We will range from pre-school to post-doc.
09-Aug-2014	Post-conference day, when we will plan how to form the material generated from Cybernetics in the Future into a public resource that will allow what we propose to be incorporated in the practice of those who are interested.