Episode Description
Matt Prewitt and Gary Zhexi Zhang discuss Chinese cybernetics, focusing on pioneer Qian Xuesen and how the field developed differently in China versus the West. They explore how Chinese cybernetics emerged as a practical tool for nation-building, examining its scientific foundations, political context, and broader cultural impact. Together, they discuss key concepts like information control systems while highlighting the field's interdisciplinary nature and its evolution from thermodynamic to information-based approaches.
Links & References:
References:
- The Critical Legacy of Chinese Cybernetics by Gary Zhexi Zhang | Combinations Magazine
- Cybernetics - Wikipedia
- Norbert Wiener ("Father of Cybernetics")
- Whose entropy is it anyway? (Part 1: Boltzmann, Shannon, and Gibbs ) — Chris Adami
- Collection: Norbert Wiener papers | MIT ArchivesSpace
- Relationship between entropy of a language and crossword puzzles (a comment from Claude Shannon) - Mathematics Stack Exchange
- A Mathematical Theory of Communication BY C.E. SHANNON | Harvard Math
- Cybernetics - MIT
- Brownian motion - Wikipedia
- Intercontinental ballistic missile - Wikipedia AKA “ICBMs”
- Summary: The Macy Conferences
- Warren Sturgis McCulloch (Neuroscience), Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead (Cultural Anthropology)
- Claude Shannon (Mathematician)
- From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner, introduction
- From Cybernetics to AI: the pioneering work of Norbert Wiener - Max Planck Neuroscience
- Marvin Minsky | AI Pioneer, Cognitive Scientist & MIT Professor | Britannic
Bios:
Gary Zhexi Zhang is an artist and writer. He is the editor of Catastrophe Time! (Strange Attractor Press, 2023) and most recently exhibited at the 9th Asian Art Biennial, Taichung.
Gary’s Social Links:
Matt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation.
Matt’s Social Links:
Production Credits:
- Produced by G. Angela Corpus.
- Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides.
- Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.
- Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Additional Credits:
- Introduction by Guy Mackinnon-Little
This is a RadicalxChange Production.
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