THE NET : History of cybernetic vs Unabomber

Cybernetic Voyage

The world, as we perceive it, is our own invention.
Act always so as to increase the number of choices.
The problem is not truth, the problem is trust.
Von Foester.

Excerpt :




you can google it... (to watch other part)

This documentary directed by Lutz Dammbeck in 2004, inspired by his book "The Net- la construction of the Unabombers" attempts to answer the following question: "What binds together the incompleteness theorem of mathematician Kurt Gödel, research on the biology and mechanical systems of Heinz von Foerster with the mathematician Theodore Kaczynski who became the Unabomber terrorist ? "

The fascination with the positive vision of a worldwide networking, involving global citizens rather than citizens of countries is central to the film Lutz Dammbeck. But the German director highlights it through the lens of a negative view. Dammbeck practical mix of genres: from road movie made on the narrative of a laptop and criminal investigation. It shows how cybernetics, systems theory, psychology (in the macy conferences) and military programs ( Mk ultra, where ted Kaczynski was a guinea-pig. ) generate systems of networked machines, and by reviewing the arguments of "Freedom Club" (Club Liberty), clearly opposed to the techno-ambient protechnologist, and transhumanist.

Who is behind attacks against computer scientists, and other designer of the technological society, in the United States between 1978 and 1995 ? While Dammbeck visits to members of the cyber-elite, the technophobe Ted Kaczynski, former professor of mathematics at Harvard (iq 168 at the fifth grade) and author of the alleged attacks. The protagonist becomes invisible through an exchange of letters followed. He never appears, but the bad conscience of the society's progress remain present.

The cyber-theorists like Stuart Brand advocated the creation of open systems based on the key new science: the cybernetics of Norbert Wiener. Despite the appearance of obvious military first networks, one is surprised at first glance by the links with the California hippie scene. So for them the brain is no longer a body of flesh and that we study the transmission of information machines and living beings, drug '___' is the link: it is both used to expand the field of consciousness, but it is also the focus of psychological research that bear on the reprogramming of individuals. Dammbeck shows impressive pictures of tests conducted '___' on human guinea pigs. These research projects ordered by the Secret Service did not conceal their objectives. James Murray (creator of the darpanet, after the military darpa been ejected of the us space program, by J. F. Kennedy, when creating the 'public' nasa program), commander with multiple awards, talks about the "American Mission", the objective of the United States to establish their domination over the world after having completed the crusade of good against evil. (what is ideology ?)

In the film Dammbeck, Kaczynski arises in Antichrist in his "Unabomber Manifesto" he defended "the revolution against the technological progress" and "cons the monitoring and steering of the conscience", because the technology is totaly opposed to human nature. Spurred by fear about the unpredictability of complex systems, their collapse is its stated goal.

The film never takes sides, but Ted Kaczynski, today sentenced to prison, takes on a behind the status of Robin Hood.

About kacynsky

Kaczynski received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He became an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley at age 25 and resigned two years later.

In 1971, he moved to a remote cabin without electricity or running water, in Lincoln, Montana, where he began to learn survival skills in an attempt to become self-sufficient.[1] He decided to start a bombing campaign after watching the wilderness around his home being destroyed by development.[1] From 1978 to 1995, Kaczynski sent 16 bombs to targets including universities and airlines, killing three people and injuring 23.

Theodore Kaczynski: In my humble opinion, the use of violence (eg against the realization of the utopia of an inhuman technological society) is self-defense. Some may debate, of course. If you think it is immoral and wrong, then you should avoid using violence. But I have a question for you in this context: what kind of violence has caused the most damage in the history of mankind? The violence was sanctioned by the states. Or violence which was used without penalty, by individuals.

Kaczynski Writing's

Discovered anthropology with robinson crusoe, when he was young.

Also :

Social Constructivism
Neuromarketing , Marketing
Mind control
Political Consulting
Disciplinary institution


[edit on 5-12-2009 by psychederic]

bcl.ece.uiuc.edu...


So I guess this is whats left of Biological Computer Laboratory. I havn't read all this stuff yet but maybe it will help fill in some of the blanks on this one. Props to the OP this is good thread in my eyes.

Norbert Wiener

“The modern physicist is a quantum theorist on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and a student of gravitational relativity theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Sunday he is praying. . . that someone will find the reconciliation between the two views.”

The more we get out of the world the less we leave, and in the long run we shall have to pay our debts at a time that may be very inconvenient for our own survival.

The nervous system and the automatic machine are fundamentally alike in that they are devices, which make decisions on the basis of decisions they made in the past

To live effectively is to live with adequate information.

"Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe." Pres. Abraham Lincoln, 1861

“A single inattention may lose a chess game, whereas a single successful approach to a problem, among many which have been relegated to the wastebasket, will make a mathematician's reputation.”

Von Foerster

"We seem to be brought up in a world seen through descriptions by others rather than through our own perceptions. This has the consequence that instead of using language as a tool with which to express thoughts and experience, we accept language as a tool that determines our thoughts and experience."

"At any moment we are free to act toward the future we desire."

"1. Education is neither a right or a privilige: it is a necessity. 2. Education is learning to ask legitimate questions. 3. A is better off when B is better off."

"The hard sciences are successful because they deal with the soft problems; the soft sciences are struggling because they deal with the hard problems."

"Objects and events are not primitive experiences. Objects and events are representations of relations."

"The information associated with a description depends on an observer's ability to draw inferences from this description. [...] chance and necessity are concepts that do not apply to the world, but to our attempts to create (a description) of it."

John_von_Neumann

“In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.”

It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years.

“The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work.”

There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.

Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.

Albert Einstein

# "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
# "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

# "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

Edgar morin

Morin's epistemological work can be seen as "revolutionary" because of his attempt to reconsider the relation-triangle: ideology-politics-science through what he calls "complexity". The "complex" being here not the opposite of simple but a "method" which "respects the mystery" of the universe knowing that "the simple is just, always, something simplified" by someone. This titanic effort can be discovered in his six volume masterwork La Méthode, not merely a scientific project but also a complex message from the heart of the 20th century.

According to Alfonso Montuori (in "Edgar Morin: A partial introduction", see below) "The 5 volume Method is perhaps Morin’s culminating work, a remarkable and seemingly inexhaustible treasure trove of insights, reflection, and a real manual for those who are interested in broadening the nature of human inquiry. Drawing on cybernetics, information theory, systems theory, but also integrating all the work he has done before, from the work on imagination in his research on movies to his profound reflections on death, Method integrates Morin’s journey and provides the reader with an alternative to the traditional assumptions and method of inquiry of our time.".

MANIFESTO FOR THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE WORLD

Excerpt :

We are witnesses and actors in the crisis of the world that affects all spheres. A systems analysis shows that it is the result of the tangle of multiple components, relationships and many feedbacks that are forged between the extremely different seats for the economic, social, demographic, political, ideological, religious, the ethics, thought, way of life, the ecosystem, all in crisis.

The spaceship earth has no driver. Its four engines, science, technology, economy, profit, are all uncontrolled. In the absence of global governance, the ship goes to the disaster. It is the most likely hypothesis.

The improbable is the ability of guidance in time to follow another route to address issues vital to humanity, first the degradation of the biosphere including the nuclear threats that are not missing .

There should be a metamorphosis, which in the present state of consciousness is an unlikely, though not zero. But what, in fact, a metamorphosis? Otherwise the change from one form to another, and in biology, an important body and lifestyle in the development of certain animals such as amphibians and some insects. Thus we speak of the metamorphosis of butterflies or frogs. Here the self-destruction is also self-construction, identity maintained in otherness.

More generally the emergence of life is a metamorphosis of a chemical-physical. Historical societies have become from a collection of archaic societies. Life and society are the product of metamorphoses. They are in danger. The story is also the tragic outcome of developing a capacity to destroy mankind. It is therefore the vital need for a meta-history. It has no end of history, contrary to Fukuyama's thesis that had fired the triumph of capitalism the conclusion of its durability. Creative abilities are not exhausted. Another story is possible.

There are reasons for hope.

What is cybernetic



CYbernetic ! ? !



[edit on 7-12-2009 by psychederic]

Originally posted by psychederic

The world, as we perceive it, is our own invention.
Act always so as to increase the number of choices.
The problem is not truth, the problem is trust.
Von Foester.

The problem is trust, in the sense that people are not educated enough to make informed choices. The sheer amount of choices available inhibit this further, therefor those with the greatest resources available to produce trust become the "truth". The Truth is. The truth is also relative to the volume and type of people recognising it.

Trust is easy to generate to those who know how - some are based on love - some are based in fear.

Originally posted by psychederic
[...]

The fascination with the positive vision of a worldwide networking, involving global citizens rather than citizens of countries is central to the film Lutz Dammbeck. But the German director highlights it through the lens of a negative view.

[...]

I haven't the download to watch this film yet, but will watch it tomorrow, however I want to comment on statements made none-the-less.

A Word Wide Web of consciousness on this planet is developing, but there are obvious pitfalls. These being things like, our present culture as a whole, our average education on a whole. And our lack of direction.

More after I watch the film.

Originally posted by psychederic
... Ted Kaczynski [...] "Freedom Club" (Club Liberty), clearly opposed to the techno-ambient protechnologist, and transhumanist.

[...]

In the film Dammbeck, Kaczynski arises in Antichrist in his "Unabomber Manifesto" he defended "the revolution against the technological progress" and "cons the monitoring and steering of the conscience", because the technology is totaly opposed to human nature. Spurred by fear about the unpredictability of complex systems, their collapse is its stated goal.

[...]

Theodore Kaczynski: In my humble opinion, the use of violence (eg against the realization of the utopia of an inhuman technological society) is self-defense. Some may debate, of course. If you think it is immoral and wrong, then you should avoid using violence. But I have a question for you in this context: what kind of violence has caused the most damage in the history of mankind? The violence was sanctioned by the states. Or violence which was used without penalty, by individuals.

Kaczynski Writing's

I only found out what "The Unabomber" was about yesterday, so I don't know much, but I did read Industrial Society & Its Future in it's entirety and it does make excellent observations.

Since the Industrial Revolution we as a species have decided to push our way through a foggy mist of development without necessarily correct signposts telling us that we're on the right path. A large proportion of human community-(inter)action is pointless or largely wasteful, and really doesn't serve much purpose beyond profit/power and Slave-Thought-Diversion.

We need to decentralise power, limit waste(d energy) and move toward worldwide communally-debated (in pursuit of Truth not ideology driven egoism), responsible goals, in sound order of completion-implementation-chronology within sound (infra)structure based on sustainability and supreme functionality.

Transhumanism would be one of those goals, but there is alot more things that should be cemented before that.

This is kinda scooting off topic so I'll leave it here.