The History of the Black Box
The Clash of a Thing and Its Concept
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6141835 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philipp Von Hilgers (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 41-58 |
| Publication date | 2011-02-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cultural Politics an International Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1743-2197 • E-ISSN: 1751-7435 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175174311x12861940861707 |
| OpenAlex | W1989303152 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 8 |
The “black box” has become a common term for diverse kinds of opacities of modern society often at odds with values of enlightenment and transparency. Investigating the history of the black box one discovers that at a time when cybernetics was seen as the leading science, an entire positivistic theory of the black box was established. A deeper historical investigation reveals that the theory of the black box emerged from military practices originating in World War Two. An analysis of the black box that also focuses on political and cultural contexts will show tensions between a rather abstract concept and the concrete embodiments of what became the first instruments of electronic warfare
Black box · Black swan theory · Cybernetics · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Political science · Positivism · Sociology · Transparency (behavior · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · History of Computing Technologies · Law · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |