| Title | On the Notion of Cybernetic Frictions and its Role in Radical Media Archaeology |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Wolfgang Ernst (author) |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Wolfgang Ernst |
| Publisher | meson press |
| Published on | 2023-09-29 |
| Short abstract | This chapter asks to what extent the technical realizations of cybernetic projects still relate to their conceptual diagrams. This is assessed by discussing three types of endeavors: a) those from the early years of cybernetics showing asynchronous frictions between the unfolding of cybernetic thinking and the pace of technological deployment; b) the mid-century attempts to implement cybernetic models in culture and society, where infrastructure itself appears as the source of resistance; and c) the still recurrent efforts to develop diagrammatic and techno-material methods to study the feedback loops between the environment, natural resources, and their industrial appropriation. Hence, it will be argued that the techno-logical frictions emerging from mate(real)izing cybernetic systems should not be seen simply as collateral damage, nor as noisy disturbances, but rather as an essential component of the technológos of cybernetics. |
| Long abstract | This chapter asks to what extent the technical realizations of cybernetic projects still relate to their conceptual diagrams. This is assessed by discussing three types of endeavors: a) those from the early years of cybernetics showing asynchronous frictions between the unfolding of cybernetic thinking and the pace of technological deployment; b) the mid-century attempts to implement cybernetic models in culture and society, where infrastructure itself appears as the source of resistance; and c) the still recurrent efforts to develop diagrammatic and techno-material methods to study the feedback loops between the environment, natural resources, and their industrial appropriation. Hence, it will be argued that the techno-logical frictions emerging from mate(real)izing cybernetic systems should not be seen simply as collateral damage, nor as noisy disturbances, but rather as an essential component of the technológos of cybernetics. |
| Page range | pp. 119–130 |
| Language | English (Original) |
Wolfgang Ernst is chair of Media Theories at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research covers media archaeology as method, theory of technical storage, technologies of cultural transmission, micro-temporal media aesthetics, critique of history as master discourse of cultural and technological time, and sound analysis from a media-epistemological perspective.