Transcribe
Translate
Spatium, issue 5, September 1949
Page 4
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
BOOK REVIEW SPATIUM CYBERNETICS CYBERNETICS: Prof. Norbert Weiner, John Wiley and Sons, 1949 As Science Fiction readers know, the constant specilization of knowledge has often prevented new ideas from penetrating to fields in which they would be relevent. This has caused not only duplication of work, but has militated against new discoveries being made. Any attempts, heretofore, to break down the walls between the sciences should be applauded and encouraged. Cybernetics, Contor and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, is a fusion of many fields and sciences: Statistics, pure mathamatics, electronics, electrical engineering, psychology and neuro-physiology, are represented. It is an attempt, apparently adequate to correlate and collate these varied fields Each time a new science or philosophy appears, it is haled by the Science-Fictionists (and others of the "lunatic fringe") as a possible panacea for the worlds pandemic ills, a viewpoint with which the originator usually concurs. Norbert Weiner makes no such claims, although scientists in many fields have united in praise of his work. Prof Weiner seems to feel only that he has made a contribution, possibly significant, to the field of human knowledge. There is one paragraph at least, that will prove surprising to many readers. (p.180) "...the human brain is probably too large already to use in an efficient manner all the facilities which seem to be anatomically present..." In man, the gain achieved by the increase, in the size and complication of the brain, is partly nullified by the fact that less of the organ can be used effectively at one time. It is interesting to reflect that we may be facing one of those limitations of nature, in which highly specialized organs reach a leval of declining efficiency and ultimately lead to the extinction of the species. The human brain may be as far along on its road to this destructive specialization as the great nose horns of the last of the titanotheres." So much for the massive-brained "homo superior dear to the pulp-writers. Prof. Weiner also states (P.191) that "... in the social sciences we have to deal with short statistical runs, nor can we be sure that a considerable part of what we observe is not an artefact of our own creation... In short, whether our investigation in the social sciences be statistical or dynamic... This is quoted to bolster up a hypothesis of my own, that we literally have no data to predict the "brave new world" dear to the Science-Fictionist. Let us therefore, imagine any type we choose to plan. An interesting fact about "Cybernetics" is that the basic ideas were the work of a "brain team," a well-known Science-Fiction concept It is thus possible that the "Brain team" will become a common scientific tool, and another story plot will have emerged from fantasy into current news. Although complicated, for the non-technical and non mathematical reader, by the many calculus formulae. The book is very interesting and readable. Surprisingly enough, the formulae may be passed over as "proven," and the text enjoyed by itself. The book "Cybernetics" should prove worthwhile to the scientist, the technician, and to us, the Science-Fictionist. Richard F. (Dik) Hollister PAGE 4
Saving...
prev
next
BOOK REVIEW SPATIUM CYBERNETICS CYBERNETICS: Prof. Norbert Weiner, John Wiley and Sons, 1949 As Science Fiction readers know, the constant specilization of knowledge has often prevented new ideas from penetrating to fields in which they would be relevent. This has caused not only duplication of work, but has militated against new discoveries being made. Any attempts, heretofore, to break down the walls between the sciences should be applauded and encouraged. Cybernetics, Contor and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, is a fusion of many fields and sciences: Statistics, pure mathamatics, electronics, electrical engineering, psychology and neuro-physiology, are represented. It is an attempt, apparently adequate to correlate and collate these varied fields Each time a new science or philosophy appears, it is haled by the Science-Fictionists (and others of the "lunatic fringe") as a possible panacea for the worlds pandemic ills, a viewpoint with which the originator usually concurs. Norbert Weiner makes no such claims, although scientists in many fields have united in praise of his work. Prof Weiner seems to feel only that he has made a contribution, possibly significant, to the field of human knowledge. There is one paragraph at least, that will prove surprising to many readers. (p.180) "...the human brain is probably too large already to use in an efficient manner all the facilities which seem to be anatomically present..." In man, the gain achieved by the increase, in the size and complication of the brain, is partly nullified by the fact that less of the organ can be used effectively at one time. It is interesting to reflect that we may be facing one of those limitations of nature, in which highly specialized organs reach a leval of declining efficiency and ultimately lead to the extinction of the species. The human brain may be as far along on its road to this destructive specialization as the great nose horns of the last of the titanotheres." So much for the massive-brained "homo superior dear to the pulp-writers. Prof. Weiner also states (P.191) that "... in the social sciences we have to deal with short statistical runs, nor can we be sure that a considerable part of what we observe is not an artefact of our own creation... In short, whether our investigation in the social sciences be statistical or dynamic... This is quoted to bolster up a hypothesis of my own, that we literally have no data to predict the "brave new world" dear to the Science-Fictionist. Let us therefore, imagine any type we choose to plan. An interesting fact about "Cybernetics" is that the basic ideas were the work of a "brain team," a well-known Science-Fiction concept It is thus possible that the "Brain team" will become a common scientific tool, and another story plot will have emerged from fantasy into current news. Although complicated, for the non-technical and non mathematical reader, by the many calculus formulae. The book is very interesting and readable. Surprisingly enough, the formulae may be passed over as "proven," and the text enjoyed by itself. The book "Cybernetics" should prove worthwhile to the scientist, the technician, and to us, the Science-Fictionist. Richard F. (Dik) Hollister PAGE 4
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
