The human use of human beings : cybernetics and society

"Only a few books stand as landmarks in social and scientific upheaval. Norbert Wiener's classic is one in that small company. Founder of the science of cybernetics--the study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous system--Wiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impact--in effect, a third industrial revolution--that the computer has had on our lives."--Back cover. Acknowledgements Contents Biographical Notes Introduction by Steve J. Heims Appendix A Scientist Rebels: Open letter to the Atlantic Monthly The Human Use of Human Beings: Concluding passages from the first edition Preface: The Idea of a Contingent Universe 1. Cybernetics in History 2. Progress and Entropy 3. Rigidity and Learning: Two Patterns of Communicative Behavior 4. The Mechanism and History of Language 5. Organization as the Message 6. Law and Communication 7. Communication, Secrecy, and Social Policy 8. Role of the Intellectual and the Scientist 9. The First and the Second Industrial Revolution 10. Some Communication Machines and Their Future 11. Language, Confusion. and Jam Index Norbert Wiener ; With A New Introduction By Steve J. Heims. Originally Published: Boston, Mass. : Houghton Mifflin, 1954. Includes Index. Includes Index.