[p2p-research] Cybernetics the missing piece for partnership state and steady state economy?

[Paul D. Fernhout]

It's interesting to me to see this cybernetics issue coming up as a theme (E 
see it's been mentioned twice before in subjects).

That video is related to an issue I brought up in Post-Scarcity Princeton on 
reinventing economics where I mentioned cybernetics (including three levels 
of a model). From theret:
   "Post-Scarcity Princeton "
   http://www.pdfernhout.net/post-scarcity-princeton.html
"""
Here is a sample meta-theoretical framework PU economists no doubt could 
vastly improve on if they turned their minds to it. Consider three levels of 
nested perspectives on the same economic reality -- physical items, decision 
makers, and emergent properties of decision maker interactions. (Three 
levels of being or consciousness is a common theme in philosophical 
writings, usually rock, plant, and animal, or plant, animal, and human.)
   At a first level of perspective, the world we live in at any point in 
time can be considered to have physical content like land or tools or fusion 
reactors like the sun, energy flows like photons from the sun or electrons 
from lightning or in circuits, informational patterns like web page content 
or distributed language knowledge, and active regulating processes 
(including triggers, amplifiers, and feedback loops) built on the previous 
three types of things (physicality, energy flow, and informational patterns) 
embodied in living creatures, bi-metallic strip thermostats, or computer 
programs running on computer hardware.
   One can think of a second perspective on the first comprehensive one by 
picking out only the decision makers like bi-metallic strips in thermostats, 
computer programs running on computers, and personalities embodied in people 
and maybe someday robots or supercomputers, and looking at their 
characteristics as individual decision makers.
   One can then think of a third level of perspective on the second where 
decision makers may invent theories about how to control each other using 
various approaches like internet communication standards, ration unit tokens 
like fiat dollars, physical kanban tokens, narratives in emails, and so on. 
What the most useful theories are for controlling groups of decision makers 
is an interesting question, but I will not explore it in depth. But I will 
pointing out that complex system dynamics at this third level of perspective 
can emerge whether control involves fiat dollars, "kanban" tokens, 
centralized or distributed optimization based on perceived or predicted 
demand patterns, human-to-human discussions, something else entirely, or a 
diverse collection of all these things. And I will also point out that one 
should never confuse the reality of the physical system being controlled for 
the control signals (money, spoken words, kanban cards, internet packet 
contents, etc.) being passed around in the control system.
   The above is somewhat inspired by "cybernetics".
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics
So, I'd suggest, should the PU Economics Department faculty be kept on, the 
department should be renamed the "Princeton University Cybernetics 
Department" with there being an "historical economics" subsection all the 
current economics faculty are assigned to, and one faculty member each from 
the PU Department of Religion, the PU Department of History, and the PU 
department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering be put in as an acting 
team triumvirate leadership of the larger department. :-) As economics 
faculty broaden their research, then they could move into other new 
Cybernetics department sections. See also:
     "The Human Use Of Human Beings: Cybernetics And Society" by Norbert Wiener
   http://www.amazon.com/Human-Use-Beings-Cybernetics-Paperback/dp/0306803208
"""

One can compare/contrast with that video:
   "Management Cybernetics: The Cybernetic State"
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrgRJiJBU2I
"The Cybernetic State is inevitable. We have everything to do it. We look 
the basic structure of the modern democratic state through the lens of 
Management Cybernetics and the Viable System Model. The teachings of 
Stafford Beer are applied to understanding the evolution of the State and 
the reason why Law, Economics and Politics are different aspects of the 
State. The Cybernetic State is not so much about computers as it is about 
following nature's rules. The influence of the Iroquois on the US 
Constitution is referenced. "

Though one has to be cautious about elitism; also that video misses the 
issue of meshwork and hierarchy balance, and misses some understanding of 
the diversity of nature. But it is a great start down that road.

The video relates to the first 9/11 (in Chile, in 1973) where people in the 
USA government actively destroyed the first computerized cybernetic 
government on the planet (it was mixing aspects of top-down and bottom-up 
control, so, had some form of hierarchy/meshwork balance):
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn

And the video mentions the Iroquois Confederacy:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=100th+congress+iroquois+331&btnG=Search

Leading to:
"H. Cons. Res 331"
http://senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/hconres331.pdf
"100th congress. 2d Session. H. CON. RES. 331. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED 
STATES ... To acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy [to 
the development of the US Constitution]..."

So, while the Iroquois used wampum (tapestries of beads) instead of 
electronics as their external computing, communication, and record-keeping 
medium, See:

"NativeTech: Wampum; History and Background"
http://www.nativetech.org/wampum/wamphist.htm
"Wampum as Hypertext: An American Indian Intellectual Tradition of 
Multimedia Theory and Practice"
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_american_indian_literatures/v019/19.4haas.html

maybe it would be fairer to consider the Iroquois Confederacy the first 
cybernetic government on the planet? And one *also* severely damaged by the 
corporatized social system brought from England that would later control the 
US government? :-(

Anyway, one might hope for a peaceful upgrade of the US government and 
related socio-economic systems to incorporate more aspects of cybernetics 
over time. Still, ultimately, a broad definition of human rights is 
essential to make any such systems function well for most people. The 
Iroquois had that too, so it is not just the notion of "a learning people", 
or a "system of checks and balances", but also upholding core values.

In the USA, those values were articulated in 1941 by US President Franklin 
Roosevelt to an extent (in an age that already had 945 marginal tax rates), 
but the last seventy years has seen a long struggle to achieve them against 
a neo-conservative backlash:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms
"""
The Four Freedoms are goals famously articulated by United States President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged by wife Eleanor Roosevelt and friend Jon Run, 
on January 6, 1941. In an address also known as the Four Freedoms speech, 
FDR proposed four points as fundamental freedoms humans "everywhere in the 
world" ought to enjoy:
    1. Freedom of speech and expression
    2. Freedom of religion
    3. Freedom from want
    4. Freedom from fear
His inclusion of the latter two freedoms went beyond the traditional 
American Constitutional values protected by the First Amendment, and 
endorsed a right to economic security and an internationalist view of 
foreign policy that have come to be central tenets of modern American 
liberalism. They also anticipated what would become known decades later as 
the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.
"""

A "Basic Income" and universal health care is an updated version of that 
third theme.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
And as mentioned in the "Triple Revolution" memorandum is essential for 
cybernetic reasons:
   http://educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/C_CC2a_TripleRevolution.htm
"""
The Cybernation Revolution: A new era of production has begun. Its 
principles of organization are as different from those of the industrial era 
as those of the industrial era were different from the agricultural. The 
cybernation revolution has been brought about by the combination of the 
computer and the automated self-regulating machine. This results in a system 
of almost unlimited productive capacity which requires progressively less 
human labor. Cybernation is already reorganizing the economic and social 
system to meet its own needs.  ... The continuance of the income-through 
jobs link as the only major mechanism for distributing effective demand—for 
granting the right to consume—now acts as the main brake on the almost 
unlimited capacity of a cybernated productive system.
"""

"Mutual security" by Morton Deutsch is an updated version of that fourth 
theme, and something that again relates to Cybernetics (since it tries to 
dampen down positive feedback loops that lead to arms races). Example:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/audio/morton_deutsch/?nid=2430

My interest in peer to peer is in part not so much a desire to see p2p 
everywhere in everything as the *only* control system, so much as to, 
following Manuel de Landa, rebalance our current system, so that peer to 
peer meshworks regain a lot of the importance they once had. So, I expect 
that p2p meshworks will interact with hierarchies that peers create or 
direct for self governance (like, for example, standards of internet packet 
exchange, or authorities that regulate and tax markets).
   http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm

Or, as US President Lincoln said, my efforts are ideally so that:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
"government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth."

But within that, there is a lot of room for negotiation and experiment. :-) 
Again, from Manuel de Landa:
   http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm
"Indeed, one must resist the temptation to make hierarchies into villains 
and meshworks into heroes, not only because, as I said, they are constantly 
turning into one another, but because in real life we find only mixtures and 
hybrids, and the properties of these cannot be established through theory 
alone but demand concrete experimentation."

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/


Michel Bauwens wrote:
> Thank you for the contribution, which will appear on the 20th!
> 
> (
> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/cybernetics-for-resource-based-economics/2009/09/20
> )
> 
> Michel
> 
> On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Alton Lindsay Jr.
> <junioreality at yahoo.com>wrote:
> 
>> One of the key aspects of enhancing P2P in the material world is figuring
>> out how we can divide up natural resources for means of production. And
>> while we divide up such resources, the need for stabilizing this resource
>> throughput and waste disposal is important in not deteriorating ecosystems.
>>  The current organizational structures of governments and corporations are
>> not designed for such solutions. What does a new redesign look like? This is
>> the answer from the viewpoint of Cybernetics and the Viable System Model.
>> Parliaments and Congresses are replaced by citizens chosen for their
>> knowledge and competence, not their ability to run political campaigns.
>> Ideology is scrapped in favor of practical organizations and technical
>> solutions.
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrgRJiJBU2I&feature=related
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cybernetics is inevitable and we have the means to do it in every aspect of
>> the social environment. When computers eventually have sensors extended into
>> all areas of the physical and social complex, we will be able to achieve
>> centralization of decision-making. In a global resource-based economy,
>> decisions would not be based on local politics but on a holistic problem
>> solving approach.
>>
>>
>>
>> For example, with electrical sensors extended into the agricultural region,
>> computerized systems would manage and control agriculture by monitoring the
>> water table, insects, pests, plant diseases, soil nutrients, and so forth.
>> The information processed will enable us to arrive at more appropriate
>> decision-making based on feedback from the environment.
>>
>>
>> Computers, open software, and artificial intelligence will serve as
>> catalysts for change. They will establish scientific scales of performance.
>> Eventually, the installation of machine decision-making will manage all
>> resources serving the common good of a steady state economy and P2P
>> production.
>>
>>
>> This will result in a more humane and meaningful approach for shaping
>> tomorrow’s civilization that is not based on the opinions or desires of a
>> particular sect or individual. All decisions would be made on the basis of a
>> comprehensive survey of resources, energy, and existing technology without
>> allowing any advantage to a particular nation or select group of people.
>>
>>
>> This may be accomplished with large-scale, computer-based processors that
>> can assist us in defining the most humane and appropriate ways to manage
>> environmental and human affairs. This is essentially the function of
>> government. With computers processing trillions of bits of information per
>> second, existing technologies far exceed the human capacity for processing
>> information and they can arrive at equitable and sustainable decisions about
>> the development and distribution of physical resources. With this potential,
>> we would evolve beyond political decisions made on the basis of power and
>> advantage.
>>
>>
>> Further readings on cybernetics:
>>
>>
>> http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASC/CYBERNETICS.html
>>
>>
>> http://www.thevenusproject.com/images/stories/a-designingthefuturee-book.pdf
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model
>> http://www.metaphorum.org/govpol.htm
>>
>>
>> --- On *Thu, 9/17/09, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>* wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: Cybernetics the missing piece for partnership state and steady
>> state economy?
>> To: "Alton Lindsay Jr." <junioreality at yahoo.com>
>> Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 10:59 PM
>>
>> Dear Alton:
>>
>> Would you like to write an intro to that video, which we could show on the
>> site, and explain how you see the connection with steady state and p2p?
>>
>> In any case, thanks for the references!
>>
>> It's not an area I'm well versed in myself,
>>
>> Michel
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 9:49 AM, Alton Lindsay Jr. <junioreality at yahoo.com<http://mc/compose?to=junioreality@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>  Hello, I've recently became a big reader of your p2p blog and i thought
>>> you would find this video and readings on Cybernetics interesting and a
>>> possible solution for establishing a partnership state and a steady state
>>> economy.
>>>
>>> http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASC/CYBERNETICS.html
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrgRJiJBU2I&feature=related
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model
>>> http://www.metaphorum.org/govpol.htm
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Research:
>> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html - Think thank:
>> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>
>> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>>
>> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>>
>> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
>> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>