Building the Black Box
Cyberneticians and Complex Systems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5186941 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth R Petrick (0000-0003-1595-7000, Rice University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 575-595 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0162243919881212 |
| OpenAlex | W2980193015 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 11 |
In the 1950s and 1960s, cyberneticians defined and utilized a concept previously described by electronic engineers: the black box. They were interested in how it might aid them, as both a metaphor and as a physical or mathematical model, in their analysis of complex human-machine systems. The black box evolved as they applied it in new ways, across a range of scientific fields, from an unnamed concept involving inputs and outputs, to digital representations of the human brain, to white boxes that might be used to replicate black boxes. The diversity of understandings of the black box reflected the diversity of scientific perspectives and goals brought under the label of cybernetics. In this paper, I examine how cyberneticians drew upon the black box in their personal writings and publications. My goal is to unpack what the black box meant to these theorists as a starting framework from which we may understand the initial shape of the black box
Black box · Cognitive science · Cybernetics · Data science · Epistemology · Metaphor · Sociology · White box · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · History of Computing Technologies · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Looking inside the black box—semantic investigations on a frequently used expression beyond AI
The Artificial in “Artificial Intelligence”
The green development in China through the lens of complex cybernetics
The Black Box, Animated Idols, and Racialization
Applications of cybernetics to psychological theory
Should We Discourage AI Extension? Epistemic Responsibility and AI
Staying With the Darkness
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1.4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |