Modern Industry and Prospects for Socialism
Dónal Ó Coisdealbha analyzes the history and results of the management and production system (TPS) developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation, arguing that the cooperative …
cybernetics
The People’s Republic of Bulgaria: From the Fields to the Cyberstars with Victor Petrov
Rudy joins Victor Petrov, author of Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain for a discussion on …
Soviet Cybernetics and the Promise of Big Computer Socialism
Amelia, Djamil, Christian, and Rudy join for a discussion on the history of Soviet Cybernetics and the use of computers for socialist planning. We discuss …
Soviet Cybernetics: An Introduction
Featured here is a translation of a work by S.L. Sobolev, A.I. Kitov, and A.A. Lyapunov that represents the first positive coverage of Cybernetics in …
Glushkov and His Ideas: Cybernetics of the Future by Vasiliy Pikhorovich
Translation and introduction by Renato Flores. Translated from here. Introduction The waste inherent in capitalist production is obvious when we glance around: near-empty planes flying …
The Development and Significance of Cybernetics by William Grey Walter
Amelia Davenport introduces a text by William Grey Walter introducing basic concepts of cybernetics. Introduction Though little known outside the narrow circles of cybernetics, neurology …
The Introduction of Cybernetics in the GDR by Jérôme Segal
Translation and introduction by Alexander Gallus. The reputation and legacy of cybernetics throughout the history of so-called AES/state socialist countries was fraught with controversy. The …
Californian Dreams: Tech Utopia or Dystopia
Donald has a chat with Richard Barbrook, author with Andy Cameron of The Californian Ideology and the book Imaginary Futures. The two discuss Silicon Valley …
Cybersyn, Cybernetics and Allende’s Chile with Raúl Espejo
Amelia and Rudy join Raul Espejo, one of the top members of the Cybersyn project in Allende’s Chile, the founder of Syncho Research and the president …
Organizing our Organizations
Amelia, Jake, Steve and Rudy sit down for a discussion of what experiences in organizing brought them to be interested in Cybernetics and Beer’s viable …
Discovering the Cybernetic Brain
Amelia Davenport interviews philosopher of science and historian of cybernetics Andrew Pickering. We live in a society without a future. Fewer people than ever believe …
Materialist History or Critical History: A Reply to Jean Allen
Amelia Davenport responds to Jean Allen’s A Critical History of Management Thought, continuing the debate on scientific management. Before diving into the substance of this …
The Tortoise and The Hare: Cybernetics, Evolution and Socialism
Amelia Davenport argues for the relevance of cybernetics to the project of developing a communism that transcends the modernist project. Everyone knows the story of …
Cybernetic Revolutionaries: A Discussion
For this installment of our series on Actually Existing Socialism we take a look at an attempt to solve the issues of central planning with …