The human use of human beings : cybernetics and society
"Only a few books stand as landmarks in social and scientific upheaval. Norbert Wiener's classic is one in that small company. Founder of the science of cybernetics--the study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous system--Wiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impact--in effect, a third industrial revolution--that the computer has had on our lives."--Back cover
Print Book, English, 1988, ©1954
Da Capo Press, New York, N.Y., 1988, ©1954
199 pages ; 22 cm.
9780306803208, 0306803208
17353835
Preface
Cybernetics in history
Progress and entropy
Rigidity and learning : two patterns of communicative behavior
The mechanism and history of language
Organization as the message
Law and communication
Communication, secrecy, and social policy
Role of the intellectual and the scientist
The first and the second Industrial Revolution
Some communication machines and their future
Language, confusion, and jam
Index
Previously published: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1954
Includes index