Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
7
G O R D O N P A S K
F R O M C H E M I C A L C O M P U T E R S T O
A D A P T I V E A R C H I T E C T U R E
Now, we are self-orgaNiziNg systems aNd we waNder arouNd iN a world
which is full of woNderful black boxes, dr. ashby's black boxes. some
of them are turtles; some are turtledoves; some are mockiNg birds;
some of them go “PooP!” aNd some go “PoP!”; some are comPuters; this
sort of thiNg.
Gordon Pask,
“a ProPosed evolutioNary model” (1962, 229)
the desigN goal is Nearly always uNdersPecified aNd the “coNtroller”
is No loNger the authoritariaN aPParatus which this Purely techNical
Name commoNly briNgs to miNd. iN coNtrast the coNtroller is aN odd
mixture of catalyst, crutch, memory aNd arbiter. these, i believe,
are the disPositioNs a desigNer should briNg to bear uPoN his work
(wheN he ProfessioNally Plays the Part of a coNtroller) aNd these
are the qualities he should embed iN the systems (coNtrol systems)
which he desigNs.
Gordon Pask,
“the architectural relevaNce of cyberNetics”
(1969a, 496)
Now for the last of our cyberneticians. Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (fig.
7.1) was born in Derby on 28 June 1928, the son of Percy Pask, a wealthy fruit
