Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
2. The Cybernetic Era
cybernetic discourses
The Second World War was the catalyst not just for the invention
of the modern binary digital electronic computer, but also for the
development of a number of remarkable and influential discourses,
including Cybernetics, Information Theory, General Systems
Theory, Molecular Biology, Artificial Intelligence, and Structural-
ism. Though emerging out of different contexts these discourses are
all concerned with developing abstract and formalized systems, in
order to understand the phenomena with which they are concerned.
In their different fields and contexts each of these systems was
highly influential. Indeed to a large extent they represent, collectively,
the paradigm of post-war technological and scientific thinking.
Though neither determining nor determined by the invention of
the computer, they were part of the same intellectual environment.
Furthermore the computer offered both a powerful tool with which
to pursue research into these areas as well as a source of metaphors
through which to envision such ideas. They in turn dictated much of
the way in which computing was understood. They are as important
in the development of digital culture as the computer itself. Though
many of the ideas are now deemed old-fashioned or problematic,
their influence is still strongly in evidence in contemporary culture.
This can be seen in current terminology and language, with terms
such as the 'Information Society' and 'Information Technology' or
