Cybernetics is the science of the polycrisis ⊗ When utopia is oblivion ⊗ Kardashev Street

Cybernetics is the science of the polycrisis

Second week in a row featuring Henry Farrell, this time with a piece about Dan Davies’ book on cybernetics and Stafford Beer’s writing, The Unaccountability Machine. Management cybernetics more precisely, which serves as a common language for discussing the interplay between information, politics, and economics. Farrell also weaves in Jen Pahlka’s book Recoding America, which he says is a great example of cybernetics as a framework to understand policy, even if she doesn’t mention the term.

Beer talks about “requisite variety,” according to which, “anything which aims to be a ‘regulator’ of a system needs to have at least as much variety as that system.” Two approaches to accomplishing this are attenuation (reducing the complexity of the system) and amplification (augmenting the the “variety” within the organisation).

You’ll have to read the whole piece but Farrell comes to two useful conclusions, one is that “management cybernetics is the best candidate we have for a science of the polycrisis. It is the only practically oriented approach that I am aware of that really takes the management of complex interlocking problems as its explicit central aim.”

The other starts with saying that neoliberalism “came to dominate because it was the only plausible language that people could minimally agree on, at a moment when enormously consequential new policies needed to be enacted.” Then, citing Suresh Naidu, he argues that “neoliberalism will not be replaced by liberal humanism, because liberal humanism isn’t up to the task of managing a complex society at scale,” and that cybernetics proposes a language that connects the chasm between “computer science and the needs of the large administrative state.” I don’t know if they’re correct, but it’s certainly intriguing and something to ponder further.

Btw, the piece starts with an anecdote involving Brian Eno, making it the fifth issue in a row where I mention him. A random and unlikely series.

Here’s my imperfect and unmathematical gloss on it. We live in a complex world which keeps on producing variety that builds on previous variety. That means that there are many, many surprises - complex systems are by their nature difficult to predict. If you do want to anticipate these surprises, and even more importantly, to manage them, you need to have your own complex systems, built into your organization. And these systems need to be as complex as the system that you’re trying to manage. […]

The solutions that Jen emphasizes - bringing policy design and implementation into much closer contact; identifying bottlenecks and chokepoints; allowing people far greater flexibility to do needed stuff towards the shared end goal, even if no-one anticipated this stuff was needed - are just the kinds of solutions that a cybernetician would press for too. […]

What the language of cybernetics could possibly offer is a way to talk about which kinds of input help resolve problems, which forms of coupling and consultation work best, and which work badly.

When utopia is oblivion

Two weeks ago I mentioned my favourite talk at MUTEK Forum, this is the written version. Every speaker should do this btw, a written version of talks, copiously imaged and linked. In that issue I said: “David McConville and Dawn Danby’s immersive talk in the SAT’s Satosphere, mixing Buckminster Fuller’s work, maps, history, utopias, colonisation, [tech bros,] infrastructure, water, and community design.” That’s still a good extremely short overview and it’s still hard to summarise the content because of the scope of everything they covered. Read or watch, for sure!

Speaking of which, there’s also a 360 interactive video available. You should click through, listen, and use the arrows or dragging to swing the view and get an idea of the show put on with the visuals. You can even catch a glimpse of my mug at some point.

Ironically, it was Vespucci’s tales from what he called the New World that fueled More’s belief in Eden As Utopia, and that it was within reach. Nearly every aspect of Utopia described by More could be found within the diverse places and practices tended by Indigenous cultures worldwide. Understanding this contradiction, this paradox, this hypocrisy, is crucial to grasping why utopia and oblivion are so often inseparable. […]

In essence, the pursuit of Utopia frequently demands a form of collective amnesia, erasing the complexities and imperfections of real human societies in favor of abstract ideals. This tension between aspiration and erasure lies at the heart of these endeavors, reminding us that fantasies of perfection often exact a steep price. Utopias continue to be used as the ends to justify any means, often in the name of “progress” and “enlightenment.” […]

Yet such dreams of technological salvation are often predicated on the very forces devouring the web of life. Moving fast and breaking things requires voraciously consuming water, energy, minerals, labor, and capital—all with the insatiable appetite of a hungry ghost. And a sleight of hand occurs.

Kardashev Street: Planetary energy system changes at street level

Transcript of Matt Jones speaking at The Conference in Malmö. He talks about his concept of the Kardashev Street, inspired by Nikolai Kardashev’s energy civilisation scale. In that speculative exercise, “a Type I civilization is usually defined as one that can harness all the energy that reaches its home planet from its parent star.” Jones’ vision would be more bottom up than the opposite, with home-installed solar providing an important piece.

What Jones is talking about is what the two shorter quotes (§) below and part of Deb Chachra’s recent TEDCountdown talk are also talking about, is something I’m still trying to wrap my head around, especially in contrast to what we’ve been told for the last couple of decades. Which is that we do have unlimited energy available, solar, and capturing just a tiny fraction of that would give us, basically limitless and nearly free energy. As Jones puts it, “we don’t have an energy problem, we have a matter problem.” (Btw, not a fan of his inaccurate depiction of doughnut economics but the scale of the objects in his representation do the job they are meant to.)

A friend accused me of techno-optimism when I told him I was thinking about this a lot, but I usually see that posture as believing imagined techs will solve a problem. These are not imagined, they ‘just’ have to be deployed. I’d love a discussion between one of the above mentioned and Nate Hagens, not sure they line up, pretty sure they don’t actually, but it would make for a great chat for sure.

There may well be a role for more advanced technologies, and goodness I’d love us to have nuclear fusion – but we already have what we need, we just need to build it. […]

By aggregating these individual batteries in a network they can show up to the traditional grid as something resembling a fossil fuel power station, helping to replace them.

§ Solar power’s spread and cheap price will change the climate. “‘The next tenfold increase will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.’ By the 2030s — not very long from now — solar power will most likely be the largest source of electricity on the planet.”

§ First time I see this argument. A fossil fuel economy requires 535x more mining than a clean energy economy. “Transitioning to clean energy will mean we no longer have to mine and extract vast quantities of fossil fuels each year.“ … “Every year, about 15 billion tons of fossil fuels are mined and extracted. That’s about 535 times more mining than a clean energy economy would require in 2040.”

Futures, Fictions & Fabulations

• The return of the grand narrative. “The officers of the good ship Sustainable Design find themselves in a similar situation: trapped in a system that can countenance slowing down the boat, but not changing direction, anticipating no other future than a slow-motion crash.”
• Lighting up the future for children. “Produced by IFTF in partnership with WKKF, the map aims to be a strategic resource to align stakeholders within the child-centered ecosystem to connect their present-day work with a more future-ready, longer-term vision of thriving children and families.”
• Powerful Futures: Practitioner insights on the just transition to renewable energy. “A guide by practitioners for practitioners who are committed to ensuring that the global shift to renewable energy is equitable and inclusive.”

Algorithms, Automations & Augmentations

• AI-Implanted false memories. “This study examines the impact of AI on human false memories--recollections of events that did not occur or deviate from actual occurrences. It explores false memory induction through suggestive questioning in Human-AI interactions, simulating crime witness interviews.”
• OpenAI’s new AI models could cost up to $2,000/month. Not very detailed and very preliminary, but considering how much they burn through every month, it wouldn’t be surprising. “OpenAI is reportedly considering a subscription fee of up to $2,000 per month for its forthcoming large language models (LLMs) codenamed Strawberry and Orion. This information was revealed by The Information. However, the discussion about the potential pricing strategy is still in its early stages within the AI organization.”
• Announcing Black Forest Labs. “Deeply rooted in the generative AI research community, our mission is to develop and advance state-of-the-art generative deep learning models for media such as images and videos, and to push the boundaries of creativity, efficiency and diversity.”

Built, Biosphere & Breakthroughs

• Intergenerational housing could help older adults combat loneliness. “Belong bills itself as the first “intergenerational care village” in the UK. Spontaneous, casual happenings, like informal conversations and run-ins in the bistro or hallways, as well as planned activities such as choir and storytime, allow for elderly residents and children to come together in a variety of ways.”
• When EV startups shut down, will their cars still work? Good question! “Chinese EV owners are losing access to smartphone app updates and driving features when companies go bust. Drivers’ frustrations point to the broader risks of ‘smartphones on wheels,’ where reliability is contingent upon software maintenance and updates.”
• How massive holes in Berlin help fight water shortages. “Germany’s capital has a problem with rising temperatures and drought. So the city has come up with solutions for how to collect and store rainwater, turning Berlin into a sponge city.”

Asides

• 👏🏼 🖼️ 🎥 Every Frame a Painting is back! The Sustained Two-Shot. “What do you do when you’ve got two actors, a bunch of dialogue, and only enough time to get one camera angle? Consider one of the oldest tools in the filmmaking toolbox: the sustained two-shot.”
• 📚 🤩 Interview with Richard Turley, which most of you probably know by his Bloomberg Businessweek covers. Haven’t read it, but the collection of covers is worth clicking through. Richard Turley Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. (Via Brilliantcrank, and thanks for the mention Greg!)
• 📷 📹 🎛️ 📧 😍 Obsolete Sony newsletter. “Embark on a journey through the obscure world of forgotten, odd, and obsolete Sony devices.” With pictures of course. (Also via Brilliantcrank.)
• 🧵 A Navajo Weaving of an Intel Pentium Processor. “In 1994, a Navajo/Diné weaver named Marilou Schultz made a weaving of the microscopic pattern of an Intel Pentium processor.”