Beyond the Algorithm
A series on cybernetics, systems theory, and the question of machine consciousness. Each episode takes one thinker seriously in their own terms, then tests those ideas against the systems being built today. Episodes stand on their own, but they were written in sequence, and the arc rewards listening in order.
Created by Brigitte E. S. Jansen. Produced by the Gesellschaft für Arbeitsmethodik e.V., a non-profit association founded in 1954 and based in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Narrated by a synthetic voice. In a series about machine minds, that is part of the argument rather than a production shortcut.
All episodes and further reading: bta.global-future-association.com
The association: gfaev.de
Comments, corrections, and disagreements are welcome.
Episode 9: Ross Ashby – Requisite Variety and the Cybernetics of Regulation
Key Concepts:
- Law of Requisite Variety
- Only variety can absorb variety
- Regulation, homeostasis, and control
- Adaptation vs. learning
- Ultra-stability
- The Homeostat
- Black-box methodology
- Variety amplifiers and attenuators
- Negative feedback loops
- Meta-regulation
- Self-organizing systems
- Autonomous control
Primary Texts by W. Ross Ashby:
Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behaviour (1952) – On adaptive systems and homeostasis
- An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956) – Essential reading – clearest introduction to cybernetic principles
- “Requisite Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems” (1958)
- “Principles of the Self-Organizing System” (1962) – With von Foerster
- “The Homeostat” (1948) – Description of his self-regulating machine
- Ashby’s journals and notebooks (7,000+ pages) – Available online at www.rossashby.info
More from the Gesellschaft für Arbeitsmethodik
The association and its other programmes:
gfaev.de Our other podcast series, all in German:
GfA – Der Podcast · The same questions pursued in German, currently the series “Das Bewusstsein der Maschinen”:
gfa-ev.com
GfA Kulturwelten · Art, music and cultural history, including a series on the history of Tango Argentino: kulturwelten.
gfaev-online.com
Gut zu Wissen: KI & SEO Insights · Artificial intelligence, search and structured data, for people who have to make it work in practice:
gfaev.eu
GfA History · Recorded lectures from the association:
gfa-web.de
If something here was wrong, or right in a way we did not expect, write to us. Corrections and objections find their way into later episodes.
