Member-only story
Cybernetics
Why automatic regulatory controls are always essential, and what happens when we don’t have them
In case anyone clicked on this article expecting something about half-human/half-machine sci-fi monsters, let’s state up front that we’re going to be talking about the real world and not about any version of Cowboys In Space.
Our tireless friends at Wikipedia define Cybernetics as the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.
All life depends on cybernetics. Phytoplankton have internal control mechanisms by means of which they attempt to stabilize their metabolisms. Their simple sensory system detects external stimuli and communicates with its self-regulatory mechanisms. Plants likewise have biological cybernetic systems that respond to environmental stimuli so as to optimize metabolism. As mammals, we humans have a wide range of automatic control systems adjusting everything from body temperature and fluid retention to balance and heartbeat. Signals travel from organ to brain and back, sensing and regulating in a complex series of interactions essential for keeping us alive.
Since the Industrial Revolution we’ve also become quite good at creating mechanical automatic control systems. Although nowadays computerized fuel injection systems…
