Dark Hero of the Information Age
In Search of Norbert Wiener The Father of Cybernetics
by Flo Conway · first published 2004
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A biography of Norbert Wiener, the father of cybernetics. It serves as an excellent introduction to his work and the origins of information theory, including how Wiener and Shannon approached it differently.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In the middle of the last century, Norbert Wiener--ex-child prodigy and brilliant MIT mathematician--founded the science of cybernetics, igniting the information-age explosion of computers, automation, and global telecommunications. Wiener was the first to articulate the modern notion of "feedback," and his ideas informed the work of computer pioneer John von Neumann, information theorist Claude Shannon, and anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead. His best-selling book, Cybernetics, catapulted him into the public spotlight, as did his chilling visions of the future and his ardent so
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I agree with this sentiment. "Dark Hero of the Information Age" https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Hero-Information-Age-Cybernetics... lays out how both Weiner and Shannon created information theory independently but Weiner took it further; incorporating feedback as a way…
on “Claude Shannon Invented the Future” ↗…doubt whatsoever as a charlatan. Cybernetics came out of the Macy conferences [0] and this is where one needs to go, in order to establish context. I also highly recommend Norbert Wiener's biography "Dark Hero of the Information Age" [1] as a good introduction to one of the greatest geniuses of this age, easily eclipsing Shannon and von Neumann. Principia Cybernetica [2] is another good resource. [0] https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo23...…
on “The Tragedy of Stafford Beer (2023)” ↗John Von Neumann and Norbert Weiner: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death by Steve Heims (1982) Out of print but libraries have it. Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Weiner, the Father of Cybernetics by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman (2005) Weiner himself wrote some autobiographies, including Child Prodigy and I Am A Mathematician.
on “Ask HN: Favourite science history book of the 20th century?” ↗For full description of the origination of the term 'cyber', check out Dark Hero of the Information Age about Norbert Weiner. Cybernetics means 'steersmanship'.
on “"Technically, you're already a cyborg..."” ↗Such a terrible tragedy, both personal and for the world. I highly recommend the book referenced: "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics". R.I.P. Walter Pitts (One thing that troubles me slightly: this article mentions a possible cause of the break between Wiener and the others…
on “The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic” ↗…well but the quality seemed to slide as it progressed. It certainly wasn't the low quality meandering pop-sci book you'll find so often, but I found it lacking in different ways. You might also like Dark Hero of the Information Age
on “Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50 for dropping a bad book” ↗"Dark Hero of the Information Age" is excellent. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211053.Dark_Hero_of_the_...
on “El Ajedrecista” ↗"Dark Hero of the Information Age" is the book that I found, and it looks pretty legit to me. Multiple sources all say roundabout the same thing of Margaret, even their daughter. She accused her daughter of trying to seduce her husband…
on “The man who tried to redeem the world with logic” ↗Another history is Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener, the Father of Cybernetics by Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, from 2005.
on “The cybernetics scare and the origins of the Internet (2009)” ↗The book "Dark Hero of the Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener The Father of Cybernetics" by Conway & Siegelman spends some time on this.
on “Margaret Mead, John von Neumann, and the Prehistory of AI” ↗