[IMAGE] PRINCIPIA CYBERNETICA WEB (C) ______________________________________________________ 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 _________________________________________________________________ | Table of Contents | Search | Annotate | Help |