Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics - Understanding Understanding: Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition - page 298

Heinz: Yes. How does one become a cybernetician? Or, perhaps you want
me to tell you how I became a cybernetician.
You may remember the point I made in my address; that we all are meta-
physicians, whether we call ourselves such, whenever we decide upon in-
principle undecidable questions. To answer your question, I could also say
we are all cyberneticians (whether or not we call ourselves such) whenever
we justify our actions without using the words “because of...,”or “à cause
de...,”but with the phrase in English “in order to...,”which in French
is much more Aristotelian, “à fin de...”
Y. Why Aristotelian?
H. In his Metaphysics , Aristotle distinguished four different kinds of causes
or, as I would say, four different excuses; two of which have temporal char-
acter, “causa efficientis” and “causa finalis.” Physicists love the former, where
causes in the past determine the effects in the present: “ Because she did turn
the switch, the lights go on now.” Psychologists prefer the latter: “ In order to
have the lights on, she turns the switch now.” Causes in the future, “to have
the room lit,” determine actions in the present, “turn the switch now.”
Y. Very interesting, but where does cybernetics come in?
H. Physicists explore the connection between the positions of the switch,
making or breaking contact, and the electrical processes that heat the wires
in the lamp to temperatures that are high enough to radiate electro-mag-
netical waves in the visible spectrum, etc., etc. Cyberneticians explore the
connection between the little girl's wish to enter a lit as opposed to a dark
room, as well as the senso-motoric processes and the emerging eye-hand
correlation that bring her hand along an unpredictable path, but with a pre-
dictable outcome, closer and closer to the switch which she then turns in
the right direction, etc. If one were to watch this girl, one might be tempted
to say as did Norbert Wiener, “. . . her behavior may be interpreted as
directed to the attainment of a goal.” In the early cybernetic literature you
will find again and again reference to the notion of “goal,” “purpose,” “end,”
etc. Since the Greek word for “end” is “telos,” our pre-cyberneticians used
“teleology” for identifying their activity.
Y. But, Heinz, you said before that we are all cyberneticians, whether or
not we call ourselves such, but when I go to turn on a light switch I am not
“exploring the senso-motoric connections...”et cetera. I just go and turn
on the switch. Where is the cybernetician?
H. (Laughing) This is one more reason why I love women! You look
through all the scientific verbal haze and go straight to the essential points.
Now...Hmm...What can I say?
I think I can extricate myself from this dilemma by inventing a new cate-
gory of cybernetics: “Zero-order Cybernetics.” I suggest we have a case of