1993/02/01 by Geof Bowker · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Computer Science · #Cybernetics and Technology in Society #Diverse Interdisciplinary Research Studies #History of Computing Technologies
paper · doi:10.1177/030631293023001004
openalex publication_date 1993/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The new discipline of cybernetics expanded exponentially in the period 1943-70. Unlike traditional scientific disciplines, its practitioners claimed (to varying degrees) that they were producing a new universal science. This paper anatomizes the claim to universality, details some rhetorical strategies used to support that claim, and examines some practical consequences for the general economy of the sciences argued by cyberneticians. It concludes by characterizing cybernetic strategies in terms of a form complementary to the obligatory passage point - the `distributed passage point'.