Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians

Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. He interacted regularly with most of the main figures on the British cybernetics scene, forming close friendships and collaborations with several, as well as mentoring others. Many of these interactions stemmed from a 1949 visit to London during which he gave the opening talk at the inaugural meeting of the Ratio Club, a gathering of brilliant, mainly young, British scientists working in areas related to cybernetics. This paper traces some of these relationships and interaction

Компромиссное разрешение конфликтных ситуаций в задачах оптимального управления при принятии решений в сложных ситуационных обстоятельствах

In present article it was proposed to apply mathematical model of the functional system of respiration for the simulation conflictcontrolled processes that appear during the self-organization of respiratory system under the conditions of complex situational stress in process of decisions’ making. The mathematical model of mass transfer and mass exchange of respiratory gases in human organism is represented as a system of ordinary differential equations, which in the dynamics of the respiratory cycle describe the changes in the stresses of oxygen and carbon dioxide at all stages of its path in human organism.Пропонується застосувати математичну модель функціональної системи дихання для імітації конфліктно-керованих процесів, які виникають при самоорганізації системи дихання в умовах складної ситуаційної напруги при прийнятті рішень. Математична модель масопереносу та масообміну респіраторних газів в організмі людини представлена системою звичайних диференційних рівнянь, які в динаміці дихального циклу описують зміну напружень кисню та вуглекислого газу на всіх етапах його шляху в організмі людини. Розв’язок цієї задачі з урахуванням як внутрішньо системних, так і між системних механізмів дозволяє прогнозувати оптимальні величини активних параметрів керування – вентиляції, об’ємних швидкостей системного та органних кровообігів.Предлагается применить математическую модель функциональной системы дыхания для имитации конфликтно-управляемых процессов, возникающих при самоорганизации системы дыхания в условиях сложного ситуационного напряжения при принятии решений. Математическая модель массопереноса и массообмена респираторных газов в организме человека представлена системой обыкновенных дифференциальных уравнений, которые в динамике дыхательного цикла описывают изменения напряжений кислорода и углекислого газа на всех этапах его пути в организме человека

Resonances of the Unknown

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of second-order cybernetics for a theory of architectural design and related discourse. Design/methodology/approach – First, the relation of architectural design to the concept of “poiesis” is clarified. Subsequently, selected findings of Gotthard Günther are revisited and related to an architectural poetics. The last part of the paper consists of revisiting ideas mentioned previously, however, on the level of a discourse that has incorporated the ideas and offers a poetic way of understanding them

The Contribution of Society to the Construction of Individual Intelligence

It is argued that society is a crucial factor in the construction of individual intelligence. In other words that it is important that intelligence is socially situated in an analogous way to the physical situation of robots. Evidence that this may be the case is taken from developmental linguistics, the social intelligence hypothesis, the complexity of society, the need for self-reflection and autism. The consequences for the development of artificial social agents is briefly considered. Finally some challenges for research into socially situated intelligence are highlighted

A Neural Network Model for the Development of Simple and Complex Cell Receptive Fields Within Cortical Maps of Orientation and Ocular Dominance

Prenatal development of the primary visual cortex leads to simple cells with spatially distinct and oriented ON and OFF subregions. These simple cells are organized into spatial maps of orientation and ocular dominance that exhibit singularities, fractures, and linear zones. On a finer spatial scale, simple cells occur that are sensitive to similar orientations but opposite contrast polarities, and exhibit both even-symmetric and odd-symmetric receptive fields. Pooling of outputs from oppositely polarized simple cells leads to complex cells that respond to both contrast polarities. A neural network model is described which simulates how simple and complex cells self-organize starting from unsegregated and unoriented geniculocortical inputs during prenatal development. Neighboring simple cells that are sensitive to opposite contrast polarities develop from a combination of spatially short-range inhibition and high-gain recurrent habituative excitation between cells that obey membrane equations. Habituation, or depression, of synapses controls reset of cell activations both through enhanced ON responses and OFF antagonistic rebounds. Orientation and ocular dominance maps form when high-gain medium-range recurrent excitation and long-range inhibition interact with the short-range mechanisms. The resulting structure clarifies how simple and complex cells contribute to perceptual processes such as texture segregation and perceptual grouping.Air Force Office of Scientific Research (F49620-92-J-0334); British Petroleum (BP 89A-1204); National Science Foundation (IRI-90-24877); Office of Naval Research (N00014-91-J-4100); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409