cybernetyka

Cybernetyka, also known as cybernetics in English, is an interdisciplinary science that studies regulatory and communicative processes in systems such as living organisms, machines, and organizations. It emphasizes how systems use information, feedback, and control to maintain stability, adapt to changing conditions, and achieve goals. Core ideas include feedback loops, homeostasis, communication, learning, and self-organization.

The field emerged in the mid-20th century, influenced by work on automatic control, information theory, and the study of complex systems. Norbert Wiener popularized cybernetics in his 1948 book, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. The Macy conferences (starting in the late 1940s) brought together researchers from engineering, biology, cognitive science, and social sciences, helping to shape the foundational concepts. Early cybernetics also featured prominent work such as Ross Ashby’s Homeostat and the development of feedback-based models of regulation.

Key concepts in cybernetics include negative and positive feedback, information as a measure of order, and the idea that systems can be analyzed as processes that receive inputs, process information, and produce outputs. The field often uses abstract models and mathematical tools to describe regulation, communication, and control, with applications ranging from engineering and computer science to biology and organizational theory.

Legacy and influence extend into modern control theory, artificial intelligence, robotics, and systems thinking. In Polish, the term cybernetyka is used to refer to the same field, reflecting its broad legacy in studying regulation, communication, and adaptive behavior across domains.