Computational cybernetics is the integration of

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

and computational intelligence techniques. Though the term Cybernetics entered the technical lexicon in the 1940s and 1950s, it was first used informally as a popular noun in the 1960s, when it became associated with

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

and

Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

. The initial promise of cybernetics was that it would revolutionise the mathematical biologies (a blanket term that includes some kinds of AI) by its use of closed loop semantics rather than open loop mathematics to describe and control living systems and biological process behaviours. It is fair to say that this idealistic program goal remains generally unrealised. While ‘philosophical’ treatments of cybernetics are common, especially in the biosciences, computational cybernetics has failed to gain traction in mainstream engineering and graduate education. This makes its specific achievements all the more remarkable. Feldman and Dyer (independently) discovered the true mechanism of somatic motor governance. This theory, called ‘equilibrium point theory’ by Feldman and ‘neocybernetics’ by Dyer debunks the concept of efference copy completely. While Cybernetics is primarily concerned with the study of control systems, computational cybernetics focuses on their automatic (complex, autonomic, flexible, adaptive) operation. Furthermore, computational cybernetics covers not only mechanical, but biological (living), social and economical systems. To achieve this goal, it uses research from the fields of

communication theory Communication theory is a proposed description of communication phenomena, the relationships among them, a storyline describing these relationships, and an argument for these three elements. Communication theory provides a way of talking about a ...

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as audio signal processing, sound, image processing, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniq ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

control theory Control theory is a field of mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a ...

, the theory of adaptive systems, the theory of complex systems (

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...

, and

operational research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

). IEEE, a professional organization for the advancement of technology, has organized two international conferences focusing on computational cybernetics in 2008 and 2013.

References

Cybernetics Artificial neural networks {{Compu-AI-stub

See also

References