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  • The Ludditetheluddite@assemblag.es
    Oct 19, 2026, 1:27 PM

    @abucci

    The point of the passage I was quoting about "second order cybernetics" is that the observer is always part of the system. The challenge is not to find the outside, objective perspective, but that there isn't one.

    imo this is like critiquing pharmacology's view of humans as just a vessel for chemical reactions. It definitely can do that, and the critique has value in our current psycho-pharmacological context, but it can also be productive to view humans this way. (1/2)

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  • The Ludditetheluddite@assemblag.es
    Oct 19, 2026, 1:28 PM

    @abucci

    re:mechanization - One of Taiichi Ohno's huge triumphs in industrial engineering at Toyota was specifically against mechanizing humans, so against the Taylorist view of human beings as unthinking machines, and for designing systems around human individuality and innovation. Cybernetics gives us a framework for why this was a productive move, and this is the kind of things that my reading group looked at. I'm happy to pass along pretty niche lit if this is of interest.

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