In Print: Cybernetics and the Origin of Information
Publication Title
Cybernetics and the Origin of Information
Author
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield
Publication Date
2023
About the Book (from the publisher)
One of the lost classics of French philosophy, Cybernetics and the Origin of Information has never before been published in English. Raymond Ruyer—who was a major influence on Simondon and Deleuze, among others—originally wrote this book, one of the first critiques of Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics program, in 1954. At once critical and analytical, it is a deep exploration of information theory, cybernetics, and the philosophical assumptions and implications of both. Among the themes covered in the book are the main types of information machines, information’s relationship to behavior and communication, and the nature of entropy and time in cybernetics. This translation contributes to understanding the rich history of cybernetics and the philosophy of information. A true hidden gem in the history of philosophical thought, this text will help readers understand foundational criticisms of ideas that have led to artificial intelligence.
About the Author
Daniel W. Smith received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and works primarily in continental philosophy. He is the author of Essays on Deleuze (Edinburgh 2012), the co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Deleuze (2012, with Henry Somers Hall), and has translated, from the French, books by Gilles Deleuze, Pierre Klossowski, Isabelle Stengers, and Michel Serres. He is the co-director of “The Deleuze Seminars” project, which is translating Deleuze’s seminar lectures and is supported by grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities. He is currently working on a book entitled Technicity and Thought. In his free time he enjoys not working.