The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future

Cybernetics is often thought of as a grim military or industrial science of control. But as Andrew Pickering reveals in this beguiling book, a much more lively and experimental strain of cybernetics can be traced from the 1940s to the present. The Cybernetic Brain explores a largely forgotten group of British thinkers, including Grey Walter, Ross Ashby, Gregory Bateson, R. D. Laing, Stafford Beer, and Gordon Pask, and their singular work in a dazzling array of fields. Psychiatry, engineering, management, politics, music, architecture, education, tantric yoga, the Beats, and the sixties counterculture all come into play as Pickering follows the history of cybernetics’ impact on the world, from contemporary robotics and complexity theory to the Chilean economy under Salvador Allende. What underpins this fascinating history, Pickering contends, is a shared but unconventional vision of the world as ultimately unknowable, a place where genuine novelty is always emerging. And thus, Pickering avers, the history of cybernetics provides us with an imaginative model of open-ended experimentation in stark opposition to the modern urge to achieve domination over nature and each other.

Biographies & Memoirs

Pickering, Andrew

Historical

University of Chicago Press

Cybernetics is often thought of as a grim military or industrial science of control. But as Andrew Pickering reveals in this beguiling book, a much more lively and experimental strain of cybernetics can be traced from the 1940s to the present. The Cybernetic Brain explores a largely forgotten group of British thinkers, including Grey Walter, Ross Ashby, Gregory Bateson, R. D. Laing, Stafford Beer, and Gordon Pask, and their singular work in a dazzling array of fields. Psychiatry, engineering, management, politics, music, architecture, education, tantric yoga, the Beats, and the sixties counterculture all come into play as Pickering follows the history of cybernetics’ impact on the world, from contemporary robotics and complexity theory to the Chilean economy under Salvador Allende. What underpins this fascinating history, Pickering contends, is a shared but unconventional vision of the world as ultimately unknowable, a place where genuine novelty is always emerging. And thus, Pickering avers, the history of cybernetics provides us with an imaginative model of open-ended experimentation in stark opposition to the modern urge to achieve domination over nature and each other.

Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice."A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."â€”Michael Riordan, New Scientist"An admirable history. . . . Detailed and so accurate."â€”Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today

Constructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Univ of Chicago Pr

Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice. "A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."—Michael Riordan, New Scientist "An admirable history. . . . Detailed and so accurate."—Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today

History

The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science

This ambitious book by one of the most original and provocative thinkers in science studies offers a sophisticated new understanding of the nature of scientific, mathematical, and engineering practice and the production of scientific knowledge. Andrew Pickering offers a new approach to the unpredictable nature of change in science, taking into account the extraordinary number of factors—social, technological, conceptual, and natural—that interact to affect the creation of scientific knowledge. In his view, machines, instruments, facts, theories, conceptual and mathematical structures, disciplined practices, and human beings are in constantly shifting relationships with one another—"mangled" together in unforeseeable ways that are shaped by the contingencies of culture, time, and place. Situating material as well as human agency in their larger cultural context, Pickering uses case studies to show how this picture of the open, changeable nature of science advances a richer understanding of scientific work both past and present. Pickering examines in detail the building of the bubble chamber in particle physics, the search for the quark, the construction of the quarternion system in mathematics, and the introduction of computer-controlled machine tools in industry. He uses these examples to address the most basic elements of scientific practice—the development of experimental apparatus, the production of facts, the development of theory, and the interrelation of machines and social organization.

This ambitious book by one of the most original and provocative thinkers in science studies offers a sophisticated new understanding of the nature of scientific, mathematical, and engineering practice and the production of scientific knowledge. Andrew Pickering offers a new approach to the unpredictable nature of change in science, taking into account the extraordinary number of factors—social, technological, conceptual, and natural—that interact to affect the creation of scientific knowledge. In his view, machines, instruments, facts, theories, conceptual and mathematical structures, disciplined practices, and human beings are in constantly shifting relationships with one another—"mangled" together in unforeseeable ways that are shaped by the contingencies of culture, time, and place. Situating material as well as human agency in their larger cultural context, Pickering uses case studies to show how this picture of the open, changeable nature of science advances a richer understanding of scientific work both past and present. Pickering examines in detail the building of the bubble chamber in particle physics, the search for the quark, the construction of the quarternion system in mathematics, and the introduction of computer-controlled machine tools in industry. He uses these examples to address the most basic elements of scientific practice—the development of experimental apparatus, the production of facts, the development of theory, and the interrelation of machines and social organization.

OCR A Level History B: Race and American Society 1865-1970s

Heinemann

An engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history. The Wars of the Roses and the struggle for the throne between the Houses of York and Lancaster dominate the history of England in the latter half of the fifteenth century. But what were the causes of over forty years of sporadic civil war and how was political stability at last restored? Andrew Pickering aanalyses the historical debates surrounding the characters and events. Topics include fifteenth-century kingship and the reign of Henry VI, the end of the Yorkists, Henry VII and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty, and social and economic change in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Lancastrians to Tudors: England 1450–1509 (Cambridge Perspectives in History)

Europe

Cambridge University Press

Constructing Quarks: Sociological History of Particle Physics

Science & Math

Physics

Edinburgh UP

Now that the railway has gone and most visitors disembark from the car and coach bays above the world-famous caves, this book explores Cheddar past and present from the top of its dramatic gorge to the substantial reservoir beyond the bustling village below. While its caves have long served as the village's main attraction, there is a great deal more to discover here regarding a singular tale of mills and trains, churches and schools, strawberries and cheese.Packed with archive and contemporary photographs, many previously unpublished, Cheddar Through Time serves as both a practical guidebook for the visitor exploring this fascinating place for the first time, and a useful resource for those interested in finding out more about its rich history.

Cheddar Through Time

Arts & Photography

Foster, Nicola

Photography & Video

Amberley Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pickering, Andrew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Pickering, Andrew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pickering, Andrew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future

The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future

Constructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics

Constructing Quarks: A Sociological History of Particle Physics

The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science

The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science

OCR A Level History B: Race and American Society 1865-1970s

Lancastrians to Tudors: England 1450–1509 (Cambridge Perspectives in History)

Constructing Quarks: Sociological History of Particle Physics

Cheddar Through Time