Aircraft, military, 8–11
Alpha rhythm of brain, 34, 195, 273
“A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” xxi
Amazon, xviii
Amount of information, 86–91, 127–128
Analogy machines, 161, 165–166
Anthropology, 27–28
Anticipatory feedback, 153
A posteriori knowledge, 87
A priori probability, 86–87
Artificial intelligence and neuroscience, xvi, xxxiii–xxxiv
Artificial limbs, 38
Astronomy, 43–50
gravitational, 51
Astrophysics, 48–49
Autocorrelation, 254–259
of brain waves, 259–265
Automata, 57–62
coupled to the external world, 60–61
God and, 58–59
nineteenth-century study of, 59–60
in early science, 56–57
literal-minded computers and, xii
speed of, xii
Background noise, 16
Barlow, John S., xlvii
Bartlett, F. C., 34
Bateson, Gregory, 36
Bergson, Henri, 62–63
Bigelow, Julian H., 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 23
Blind persons, reading by, 33, 191–192
Blueprints, xliv–xlvi
Bohr, Niels, 53
Borel, Emile, 65
Bose, Amar, xli
Boyd, Constance D., xlvi
Brain. See also Nervous system
comparison of human versus lower mammal, 210–214
death effects on, 205
functional and organic disorders of, 202–203
handedness and, 211–213
higher mental functions in, 202
neurons of, 165–166, 203–204, 209–210
power consumed by, 181–182
shock treatment of, 205–206
sleep effects on, 205
synapses of, 20–22, 25, 29, 165–166, 171, 271–272
Brain waves
autocorrelation of, 259–265
defined, 251–252
fireflies experiment and, 275–276
harmonic analysis of, 254, 263, 275
magnetic tape for recording, 254–255
oscillators of frequencies, 273–274
sampling problem, 265–271
self-organization of, 251, 277–279
technology for measurement of, 252–254
Brazier, Mary A. B., 255
Bread-and-Butter Fly, 176
British empirical school of philosophy, 174
Brownian motion, xxv, xxvi, 120
time series, 98–105
Brynjolfsson, Erik, x
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, xvi
Bush, Vannevar, 6, 8, 10, 22, 219
Bush differential analyzer, 161
Butler, Samuel, 39–40
Calculus ratiocinator, 19
Caldwell, Samuel, 10
Cantor, Georg, 67
Carroll, Lewis, 176
Cars, automated, xii
Cathode-ray oscillographs, 253
Chain of transmission and return of information, 129–131
Channel capacity, xxii
Character groups, 75–76
Checkers, 238
Chess-playing machines, 228–230, 236–237
Chess theory, 236
Clonic oscillation, 30–31
Collation mechanisms, 200–201
Colonies. See Communities
Communal information, 219–221
Communication, methods of, 223–224
triple constriction of, 224–225
Communication engineering, 14–17
message-noise problem in, 93–94
Communication technologies, xi
Communities, 215–216
group information in, 219–221
homeostasis in small, closely knit, 222–223
intercommunication in, 216–217
social sciences and, 227–228
Computation errors, correction of, 200
Computing machines, 7, 8, 19–21, 34, 39, 56, 61, 85, 86
as analogy machines, 161, 165–166
brain as, 20–22, 25, 29, 165–166, 171
conditioned reflexes in, 178–179
contingencies affecting operation of, 163–164
data inserted at beginning in ideal, 162–163
defined, 159
as essential for the war effort, 22–23
game-playing, 228–230, 234–239, 241–242
induction by, 172–173
learning apparatus in, 179–181
logic of, 173–174
mathematical logic and, xxiii–xxiv, 19–20
memory and, 166–169
pathological processes in, 204
power consumed by, 181–182
for recording information, 159–161
relays used in, 164
for solution of partial differential equations, 6, 161, 180–181
telegraph-type repeaters, 168–169
two great types of, 161
Conditional probabilities, 96–97
Conditioned reflexes in computing machines, 178–179
Conductivity, phenomena of, 25–26
Conscience, 205
Control by informative feedback, 154–155
Control systems, 132–133
Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
on cybernetics as lingua franca of animals and machines, xv–xvi, xxi–xxii
first reissue of, ix
Greek origin of name Cybernetics and, 18
moral position of, 41–42
preface to second edition of, xxxv–xlvii
Dark Hero of the Information Age, xiv
Darwin, Charles, 51–53
Davis, James W., xlvii
Death effects on the brain, 205
De Santillana, G., 35
Descartes, René, 57–58
Discrete time series, theory of, 121–125
Dubé, Georges, 42
Durchmusterung, 44–45
Dynamics, 174–175
Effective boundary, 137
Electrical currents and circuits, xxxvi, xxxvii, 29, 246–247
Electroencephalography, 253–254
Electrophysiology, 252–253
Energy
computing machine, 181–182
Engineering, ancient, 54–55
Ergodic transformations, 78–80
Ericsson, M., 27
Evolution, Darwinian, 51–52
Ex-Prodigy: My Childhood and Youth, xiv, xvii
Exterior points, 137
Feedback control, xxx, 11–12, 152
double system of, 146
affective tone as, 176–177
anticipatory, 153
chain of transmission and return of information as, 129–131
compensator and effector, 153–155
complicated system stabilized by two, 144–145
control by informative, 154–155
differential operators and ranges of, 139–143
double system of control and, 146
eye-muscle, 184–185
homeostatic, 156–157
in human animal reflexes, 153–154
infinity and, 137–138
information and, 132–133
interior points and, 137–139
mathematics of, 133–137
mechanical systems of, 132–133
negative, 132
oscillations due to excessive amount of, 148
of voluntary activity, 132, 146–147
Feedback systems, information, xxviii–xxix
Ferromagnetism, 169–170
Filtering problem, time series, 114–121
Fireflies, 275–276
First-order programming, 238–239
Fisher, R. A., 17
Fourier transformation, 105–108, 115–119
Fremont-Smith, Frank, 26–27
Frequency modulation, 255
Freud, Sigmund, 178
Functional disorders, 202–203
Gabor, Dennis, xli, xliii–xliv, 246, 248
Game-playing machines, 228–230, 234–239, 241
Games
checkers, 238
magic, 242–244
physical contests as, 241–242
struggle activities as, 239–241
Game theory, 235–236
Gas flow rates, 149–150
Gauss–Markov processes, xxvii
Generators, output of, 276–277
Gibbs, Willard, xviii, 53–54, 70
ergodic hypothesis of, 71
statistical mechanics work of, 65–67, 70–71
on transformation groups, 71–76
God, 57–59
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, xix, 243
Google, xviii
Greed, xiii
Group information, 219–221
Group scanning, 189–191
Handedness, 211–213
Harmonic analysis, 34–35, 254, 263, 275
Harrison, George, 32
Harvard Business Review, x
Hayles, N. Katherine, xvi
Hearing, sight replaced by, 196–197
Heisenberg, Werner, 53
Hey, W., 43
Homeostasis, 156–157
in small, closely knit communities, 222–223
Human body, energy of, 59–60
Human logic, 173–174
Huxley, Julian, 234
I Am a Mathematician, xv
Ikehara, Shikao, xlvi
Induction, 172–173
Industrial revolutions, 40–41
Infinity, 137–138
Information
chain of transmission and return of, 129–131
and communication as mechanisms of organization, 27–28
conveyed in odors, 217
group, 219–221
statistical theory of amount of, 16–17
storage of, 166–171
various forms of communication of, 217–219
Wiener’s definition of, xxiv–xxv
Information feedback, xxviii–xxix
Intercommunication in organizations, 216–217
Interior points, 137–139
Internal noise of receiving system, 119
Invariants of the group, 74
Ito, xxvi
Kalman, R. E., xxvii
Kalman–Bucy filter, xxvii
Kipling, Rudyard, xviii, 239–240
Kotelly, John C., xlvii
Learning machines, xlii–xlv, 179–181
games and, 228–245
magic and, 242–244
work on theory of trigonometric series, 67–68
Lee, Kai-Fu, x
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 4, 19, 58–59, 215
Lewin, Kurt, 27
Lies, 221–222
Limbs, artificial, 38
Lindsley, Donald B., 272
Linear control system design, xxvii–xxix
Linear operations, 238–239
Linear prediction, theory of, xliii–xliv
Lobotomy, 205–206
Locke, John, 174, 175, 183, 187, 188
Logic, human, 173–174
Lorente de Nó, Rafael, 23
Machina ratiocinatrix, 19
Magnetic tape, 254–255
Markov processes, theory of, xxvi
Mathematical logic, xxiii–xxiv, 19–21
Maxwell demons, xxix–xxx, 17, 81–83
McAfee, Andrew, x
McCulloch, Warren, 18, 20–21, 23, 27, 33, 37–38, 193, 194
Measurement precision, 86–87
Mechanical feedback, 132–133
Memory, 166–170
functional and organic disorders and, 202–203
loss of, 203–204
sensory prosthesis and, 195–196
Message–noise problem, 93–94
Messages, theory of, 120
Meteorology, 44–47
cosmic, 50
tidal evolution and, 50–52
Metrically transitive transformations, 78–79
Michelson interferometer, 257–258
Mind, content of the human, 174
Minimization problems, 15
Momentum, 126
Moral position of Wiener on science, xvi–xvii, 41–42
Multiple time series, 97–98
artificial limbs and, 38
feedback and, 146–147
Mutual information, xxii
Negative feedbacks, 132
Nervous system. See also Brain
affective tone and, 175–177, 207
artificial intelligence and, xvi, xxxiii–xxxiv
chain of transmission and return of information in, 129–131
limits to organization of, 207
mathematical logic and, 20–22
memory and, 166–170
messages to, 177–178
neurons in, 165–166
synapses in, 20–22, 25, 29, 165–166, 171, 179, 271–272
tabes dorsalis of, 13, 129–130
treatment of discrepancies by, 201–202
vision and (See Vision)
Neurons, 165–166
lengths of chains of, 209–210
memory loss and, 203–204
Newtonian mechanics, 53–54
in astronomy, 45–50
Nikodym, theorem of, 96
Noisy-channel coding theorem, xxiii
Non-linear prediction, xliii–xliv
Nonlinear Problems in Random Theory, xxxvii–xxxix, 247
Non-linear systems, xxxii–xxxiii, xxxvi–xli, 239
oscillations of frequencies in, 273–274
Non-linear systems of relaxation oscillations, 150–151
Non-linear transducers, 246–249
Northrup, F. C. S., 28
Numerical machines, 161–162, 194
“On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,” xxi
Ontogenetic learning, 233–234
Organic disorders, 202–203
Organisms, multicellular, 215–216
Organizations. See Communities
Organ pipes, 148–149
of frequencies in non-linear mechanisms, 273–274
mathematics symbolism of, 133–137
non-sinusoidal, 148
in organ pipes, 148–149
relaxation, 149–150
Osgood, W. F., 70
Outline drawing recognition, 186–187
Paleontology, 51–52
Parkinsonism, 146
Partial differential equations, 6, 161, 180–181
Pascal, Blaise, 19
Pavlov, Ivan, 175
Pfeiffer, John, ix
Phase average, 95–96
Phosphorescence, 170
Photocells, 193
Phylogenetic learning, 233–234, 251
Physical contests as games, 241–242
Pitts, Walter, 20–21, 23, 26, 33, 42
Planck’s law, 53
Prediction
linear and non-linear, xliii–xliv
time series problem, 110–114, 120
Prefrontal lobotomy, 205
Principle of Uncertainty, xviii, 15
Probabilities, conditional, 96–97
Probability, a priori versus a posteriori, 86–87
Probability density, 90–93
Proofs, logical, 173
Psychology, 171–172
Psychopathology
commonalities between the brain and computing machines and, 199–200
distinction between functional and organic disorders in, 202–203
traffic jams and, 207–209
Ptolemaic geocentric system, xxxvii
Quantum degeneracy, 170
Quantum mechanics, 125–126
Raisbeck, Gordon, xlvi
Ramos, F. Garcia, 26
Random noise, xxxix–xl
Reading by blind persons, 33, 191–192
Reflexes, feedback in, 153–154
Relaxation oscillation, 149–150
non-linear systems of, 150–151
Robinson, Charles E., xlvii
Rosenblith, Walter A., 255, 274
Rosenblueth, Arturo, 3, 4–6, 8, 13–14, 17–19, 23, 25–26, 31
Royce, Josiah, 4
Russell, Bertrand, 173
Salivation, 175
Samuel, A. L., xliv
Sandberg, Henrik, xxx
Scanning process, 7, 168–169, 189–190
Science, xii
Scientific fields, Wiener on boundaries of, 4–6
Scientific judgment, 36–37
Second law of thermodynamics, xxxii
Second-order programming, 238–239
Self-organization of brain waves, 251, 277–279
Self-organization of genes, xlii, xlvi
Self-propagating machines
defined, 245–246
electrical currents and, 246–247
non-linear transducers and, 246–249
shot-effect inputs and, 247–248
Selfridge, Oliver G., 26, 42, 178
Senses, human. See Smell, sense of; Vision
Sensory prosthesis, 191, 195–196
Servomechanisms, 29
Shannon, Claude, xv–xvi, xxi, xxii–xxiii, 17, 20–21, 119
Shockley, William, xxi
Shock treatment, 205–206
Shot-effect inputs, 247–248
Similarity, theory of, 183, 187
Skyscrapers, 207–208
Sleep, 205
Smell, sense of, 217
Social sciences, 227–228
Social systems, communication within, 35–36
Sociology, 27–28
Statistical mechanics, xxix–xxxii
character groups in, 75–76
entropy and, 80–83
Gibbs’ work on, 65–67
Lebegue’s work on trigonometric series and, 67–68, 69
Maxwel demons in, 81–83
time average in, 70
transformation groups in, 71–76
Steam engines, 56
Storage of information, 166–171
Struggle activities as games, 239–241
Symbolism of mathematics, 133–137
Synapses, 20–22, 25, 29, 165–166, 171, 179
nerve fibers carrying, 271–272
Szent-Györgyi, Albert, 128
Taylor, G. I., 254
Telegraph-type repeaters, 168, 187
Telephone circuits, 85–86, 94, 208
Tesla, xii
The Computer and the Brain, xxi
The Human Use of Human Beings, xiii, xvii, xxxvi, 243
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” xix, 243
Tidal evolution, 50–53
Time average, 70
Time series
applications of, 85–86
conditional probabilities and, 96–97
defined, 94–95
filtering problem, 114–121
Fourier transformation, 105–108, 115–119
multiple, 97–98
prediction problem for, 110–114, 120
theory of amount of information and, 127–128
theory of discrete, 121–125
zeros in, 109–110
Traffic jams, 207–209
Transformation groups, 71–76
visual perspective, 188–191
Transformations, ergodic, 78–80
Trigonometric functions, xxxvii–xxxix, 65
Lebesgue’s work on, 67–68
Trump, Donald, xix
Tube noise, 247
Uber, xii
Vallarta, Manuel Sandoval, 4, 25
Vision
concentration of visual information in, 185–186
eye-muscle feedbacks in, 184–185
group scanning in, 189–191
outline drawing recognition and, 186–187
reading by persons without, 33, 191–192
replaced by hearing, 196–197
sensory prosthesis and, 191, 195–196
stages in diagrammatization of impressions in, 187–188
transformations in, 188–189
Visual flicker, 273
Volta and Galvani, 252
Voluntary activity, 12–13
Von Neumann, John, xxi, 28, 77, 79, 180, 220–221, 245
game theory of, 235–236
Wallace, Alfred, 52
War as game, 235–236, 242, 245
Wave problems, 23–24
Weaver, Warren, 23
Webster, Frederic, 42
Wiener, Leo, xiv
Wiener, Norbert
as child prodigy, xiv–xv
contributions to mathematics by, xxiii–xxiv, 19–21
depression experienced by, xvii–xviii
design of linear control system and, xxvii–xxix
on greed, xiii
information defined by, xxiv–xxv
introduction by, x
on mass media of his day, xi
non-linear systems and, xxxii–xxxiii, xxxvi–xxxvii
overt warnings about technology, xi, xviii
prophecy of, through Cybernetics, ix–xi
recognition of uncertainty, xviii, 15
stances against science taken by, xvi–xvii
statistical mechanics and, xxix–xxxii
Wiener filtering, xxv–xxvii
Wiener–Hopf equation, xxvi, 239
Wiener measure, xxiii–xxiv
World War III, 242
YouTube, xviii
Zuckerberg, Mark, xi