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PRINCIPIA CYBERNETICA WEB (C)
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Author: F. Heylighen, C. Joslyn, V. Turchin,
Date: Mar 10, 1994 (modified); Aug 1991 (created)
Parent Node(s):
* Welcome to Principia Cybernetica
AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRINCIPIA CYBERNETICA PROJECT
[IMAGE] See also: Introduction, Table of Contents, Index, History
The Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP) is a collaborative,
computer-supported attempt to develop a complete cybernetic and
evolutionary philosophy. Such a philosophical system should arise from
a transdisciplinary unification and foundation of the domain of
Systems Theory and Cybernetics. Similar to the metamathematical
character of Whitehead and Russell's "Principia Mathematica", PCP is
metacybernetical: cybernetic tools and methods are used to analyze
and develop cybernetic theory.
Tools
These include the computer-based tools of hypertext, electronic mail,
electronic publishing, and knowledge structuring software. They are
meant to support the process of collaborative theory-building by a
variety of collaborators, with different backgrounds and living in
different parts of the world. See the following report by Joslyn for
an (early) overview of these new tools for philosophical development.
PCP will thus naturally develop in the cyberspace of interlinked
electronic networks, as implemented in the World Wide Web distributed
hypertext software, and more generally in the different communication
tools provided on the Internet.
Structure
PCP is to be developed as a dynamic, multi-dimensional conceptual
network. The basic architecture consists of nodes, containing
expositions and definitions of concepts, connected by links,
representing the associations that exist between the concepts. Both
nodes and links can belong to different types, expressing different
semantic and practical categories, organized according to a unified
format.
Topics
As its name implies, PCP will focus on the clarification of
fundamental concepts and principles of the broadly defined domain of
cybernetics and systems. This includes related disciplines such as
the "sciences of complexity", AI, ALife, Cognitive Science,
Evolutionary Systems, and Memetics. Concepts include: Complexity,
Information, Entropy, System, Freedom, Control, Self-organization,
Emergence, etc. Principles are for example Natural Selection, "the
whole is more than the sum of its parts", and the laws of Requisite
Variety, of Requisite Hierarchy, and of Regulatory Models. See a
proposal by Heylighen for a list of principles, and a provisional
list of primitive concepts in the form of a semantic network.
Philosophy
The PCP philosophical system is to be seen as a clearly thought out
and well-formulated, global "world view", integrating the different
domains of knowledge and experience. It should provide an answer to
the basic questions: "Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going
to?". An introductory overview of some of the basic concepts of our
philosophy can be found in Turchin's long paper in TeX format "A
Dialogue on Metasystem Transition".
The PCP philosophy is systemic and evolutionary, based on the
spontaneous emergence of higher levels of organization or control
(metasystem transitions) through blind variation and natural
selection. It includes:
1. a metaphysics, based on processes or actions as ontological
primitives,
2. an epistemology, which understands knowledge as constructed by the
subject or group, but undergoing selection by the environment;
3. an ethics, with survival and the continuance of the process of
evolution as supreme values.
Philosophy and implementation of PCP are united by their common
framework based on cybernetic and evolutionary principles: the
computer-support system is intended to monitor and amplify the
spontaneous development of knowledge which forms the main theme of the
philosophy.
Practical organization
PCP is managed by a board of editors (presently V. Turchin (CUNY, New
York), C. Joslyn (NASA and SUNY Binghamton) and F. Heylighen (Free
Univ. of Brussels)). Contributors are kept informed through the
PRNCYB-L electronic mailing list, and the Principia Cybernetica
Newsletter, distributed in print and by email. Further activities of
PCP are publications in journals or books, and the organization of
meetings or symposia. More information about PCP is available by
anonymous ftp at is1.vub.ac.be, directory
/pub/projects/Principia_Cybernetica, by World-Wide Web at
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be (Welcome document), or by an email request to
PCP@vnet3.vub.ac.be.
Child Nodes:
* Specific Goals for Principia Cybernetica
* An Evolutionary Philosophy
* Form and Content
* Editorial Board
* Bibliography on PCP
* Other PCP activities
* Collaborators Needed
* The PRNCYB-L Electronic Mailing List
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