Heinz von Foerster

Heinz von Foerster

We are free to act towards the future we desire.

Summary

Heinz von Foerster (1911 - 2002) was a scientist combining physics and philosophy. He worked in the field of Cybernetics and was essential for the development of the theory of Radical Constructivism.

His ideas influenced the concept of the Unity of Observer/Observed (see Vital Unconscious and Biocentric Principle).

Ideas

  • Memory - His work with electromagnetic signals and the technical notion of information triggered the idea that forgetting might be caused by the physical decay of molecules in the brain.
  • Inventer of Second Order Cybernetics - It investigates Cybernetics with awareness that the investigators are part of the system, and of the importance of self-referentiality, self-organizing, the subject-object problem, etc.
  • Radical Constructivism - Claims that knowledge is the self-organized cognitive process of the human brain. The process of constructing knowledge regulates itself, and since knowledge is a construct rather than a compilation of empirical data, it is impossible to know the extent to which knowledge reflects a true reality.
  • Self Organisation - He discovered of the principle of Order from Noise. If a box containing a haphazardly arranged collection of cubes, each magnetized on two faces, is shaken, the cubes spontaneously form themselves into a coherent whole. A principle of order (magnetization) plus disordered energy have created an ordered organization. In this way, order is created from disorder.

See Also

Edgar Morin: French writer and philosopher, studied Information Theory, Cybernetics, and Systems Theory and opened a new field of research into Complex Systems.

Gregory Bateson: British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and Cybernetician whose work intersected that of many other fields.

Fritjof Capra: a physicist who has done research on Particle Physics and Systems Theory.

Henri Atlan: biologist and professor of biophysics, interested in applying Cybernetics and Information Theory to living organisms, he has a an international reputation for his research on the self-organization of cells and Artificial Intelligence.

Jakob von Uexkull: biologist who had important achievements in the fields of muscular physiology and the Cybernetics of life, also a pioneer of semiotic biology, or Biosemiotics.

Links

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_von_Foerster

The Heinz von Foerster Page: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/HvF.htm

Bibliography: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/HvF/bib.htm

Francisco Varela, Heinz von Foerster, the Scientist, the Man, prologue to the interview, Stanford Humanities Review, Vol 4, Issue 2: Constructions of the Mind, 1995: http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/varela.html

Interview: by Stefano Franchi, Guven Guzeldere, and Eric Minch, Stanford Humanities Review, Vol 4, Issue 2: Constructions of the Mind, 1995: http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/interviewvonf.html

Interview by Christina Waters, Invitation to Dance - A Conversation with Heinz von Foerster, Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Vol 6, no 4, 1999, pp 81-84: http://www.imprint.co.uk/C&HK/vol6/asc_6-4.PDF

More Foerster Links: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/people.html

Radical Constructivism: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/people.html

Heinz von Foerster, Time and Memory, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 138(2), pp 866-873, 1967: http://www.vordenker.de/ggphilosophy/hvf_time_memory.pdf

Heinz von Foerster, Disorder/ Order: Discovery or Invention?, 1984:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/946591/DisorderOrder-Discovery-or-Invention-von-Foerster

Heinz von Foerster, Cybernetics and Circularity, American Society for Cybernetics, 1995 :
http://www.cybsoc.org/heinz.htm

Heinz von Foerster, Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics, Stanford Humanities Review, Vol 4, Issue 2: Constructions of the Mind, 1995: http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/4-2/text/foerster.html

Heinz von Foerster, Perception of the Future and the Future of Perception:
http://grace.evergreen.edu/~arunc/texts/cybernetics/heinz/perception/perception.html