W. Ross Ashby Quotes

W. Ross Ashby was an English psychiatrist and a pioneer in cybernetics, the study of the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things. His first name was not used: he was known as Ross Ashby.

His two books, Design for a Brain and An Introduction to Cybernetics, were landmark works. They introduced exact and logical thinking into the brand new discipline of cybernetics and were highly influential. Wikipedia  

✵ 6. September 1903 – 15. November 1972
W. Ross Ashby: 26   quotes 0   likes

Famous W. Ross Ashby Quotes

“Every isolated determinate dynamic system, obeying unchanging laws, will ultimately develop some sort of organisms that are adapted to their environments.”

Ashby (1962), quoted in: V. Lawrence Parsegian (1972) This cybernetic world of men, machines, and earth systems'. p. 178: About the principle of self-organization

W. Ross Ashby Quotes about studying

“Many workers in the biological sciences — physiologists, psychologists, sociologists — are interested in cybernetics and would like to apply its methods and techniques to their own specialty. Many have, however, been prevented from taking up the subject by an impression that its use must be preceded by a long study of electronics and advanced pure mathematics; for they have formed the impression that cybernetics and these subjects are inseparable.
The author is convinced, however, that this impression is false. The basic ideas of cybernetics can be treated without reference to electronics, and they are fundamentally simple; so although advanced techniques may be necessary for advanced applications, a great deal can be done, especially in the biological sciences, by the use of quite simple techniques, provided they are used with a clear and deep understanding of the principles involved. It is the author’s belief that if the subject is founded in the common-place and well understood, and is then built up carefully, step by step, there is no reason why the worker with only elementary mathematical knowledge should not achieve a complete understanding of its basic principles. With such an understanding he will then be able to see exactly what further techniques he will have to learn if he is to proceed further; and, what is particularly useful, he will be able to see what techniques he can safely ignore as being irrelevant to his purpose.”

Preface
An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956)

“The most basic facts in biology are that this earth is now two thousand million years old, and that the biologist studies mostly that which exists today.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 3: Regulation and control, p. 196

W. Ross Ashby Quotes

“All the changes that may occur with time are naturally included, for when plants grow and planets age and machines move some change from one state to another is implicit.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part I: Mechanism, p. 9: Chapter 2 Change, lead paragraph.
Context: The most fundamental concept in cybernetics is that of "difference", either that two things are recognisably different or that one thing has changed with time. Its range of application need not be described now, for the subsequent chapters will illustrate the range abundantly. All the changes that may occur with time are naturally included, for when plants grow and planets age and machines move some change from one state to another is implicit. So our first task will be to develop this concept of "change", not only making it more precise but making it richer, converting it to a form that experience has shown to be necessary if significant developments are to be made.

“Cybernetics treats not things but ways of behaving.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part I: Mechanism, p. 1; As cited in: Stuart A. Umpleby, "Ross Ashby's general theory of adaptive systems." International Journal of General Systems 38.2 (2009): 231-238.
Context: Cybernetics treats not things but ways of behaving. It does not ask “what is this thing?” but “what does it do?”... It is thus essentially functional and behaviouristic. Cybernetics deals with all forms of behavior in so far as they are regular, or determinate, or reproducible. The materiality is irrelevant... The truths of cybernetics are not conditional on their being derived from some other branch of science. Cybernetics has its own foundations.

“Variety can destroy variety.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 3: Regulation and control, p. 207

“Further, as every law of nature implies the existence of an invariant, it follows that every law of nature is a constraint.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 2: Variety, p. 130

“The concept of "variety" [is] inseparable from that of "information."”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 2: Variety, p. 140

“When a constraint exists advantage can usually be taken of it.”

Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 2: Variety, p. 130

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