EMCSR'96 Plenary Lecture

Tuesday, April 9, 1996, 10:00 am
University of Vienna, Great Festival Hall

Prof.Dr.Ernst von GLASERSFELD
Scientific Reasoning Research Institute (SRRI)
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA
USA

The Cybernetic Art of Living

The scientific and technological exploits of cybernetics will no doubt be copiously represented at this conference. Much less, I suspect, will be said about the fundamental support a cybernetic attitude can supply to those who search for balance in their own lives rather than power and control over others. Through no fault or merit of my own I came to live for much of my time as a vagabond in a variety of countries and disciplines. In retrospect, I feel that this taught me to see the cybernetic way of thinking as an eminently useful tool in the practice of living. To me, indeed, it is the art of creating equilibrium in a world of possibilities and constraints. I shall try to make this definition plausible with the help of a few examples.
jm