Complexity and Cybernetics Redux

Recently identified correlations between biology, mathematics, mysticism, spirituality and the theory of complex systems provide an exciting frontier for research discoveries.  It appears that certain theological and philosophical principles can be linked to chaos theory and complexity yet at the present time practical application of these theories are rare. Complexity remains difficult to define, as most of the current definitions are used to describe and analyze specific standard or systems. According to alternative speculations some systems might commence from a discrete or chaotic state and yet produce a complex order. The hypothesis has been used to investigate a wide range of models, including the behavior of animals, religious beliefs, organizations, and the human immune system. The theory is of additional interest as it is claimed that our comprehension of concepts such as chaos, enigma and complexity will fundamentally change our lives in the twenty-first century. Concerning mysticism, the interpretations and arrangements of Magic Squares for example, endowed with symbolic meaning and powerful mysticism has inspired mathematicians and philosophers for thousands of years. Magic Squares or cryptographic mathematics are often linked to divination, to what is called "human observer capability" in complexity theory. Buchanan proposed in his Spirituality and Complex Systems text that  "from the point of view of systems sciences we may say that the world is sustained by complex relationships of which we understand relatively little". Before we proceed to further explore how cybernetics, magic squares and their mystic qualities relate to considerations of complexity, we need to establish a few facts about Systems Theory a discipline that has fundamentally changed since the introduction of cybernetics by Norman Wiener in the 1940s. While fundamental network conventions have been corroborated, it might be illuminating to briefly review cybernetics or systems science. Cybernetics is a scientific paradigm originating from electronic engineering and is now widely applied to the analysis of an expanded range of systems embracing most traditional disciplines from mathematics, technology, quantum physics and biology to philosophy, commerce and the social sciences. Gregory Bateson and other early cyberneticists positioned cybernetics as a complete world -view, unifying principles underlying all phenomena, natural, cultural and technological. Contemporary cybernetics is closely related to the emerging "sciences of complexity". The extremely active and wide-ranging Cybernetics Serendipity Redux on-line discussion on the Yasmin mailing list in the month of September 2008 revealed numerous contemporary interpretations of this subject. The discussion focused on the reconsideration between the relationship between cybernetics and art. The copious contributions to this discussion will be reviewed in this presentation especially at as it might be useful to look beyond the conventional discourse restricted to established system structure and explore innovative seldom-charted domains such as the current interpretation of cybernetics, art and its relation to complex systems.

Nina Czegledy, artist, curator and writer works internationally on collaborative art&science&technology projects. She has exhibited widely, won awards for her artwork and has lead and participated in workshops, forums and festivals worldwide. She curated and presented numerous international touring projects and published extensively. The City of Toronto has commissioned Czegledy’s most recent public art collaboration  (with Greg Judelman and Daniel Barber) on climate change . “What will you do to cool the earth?” for Nuit Blanche 2007. Czegledy, is a Senior Fellow, KMDI, University of Toronto, Associate Adjunct Professor Concordia University, Montreal, Honorary Fellow, Moholy Nagy University of Design, Budapest, member of the international space art network, outgoing chair of the Inter Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA) and co-chair of the Leonardo Education Forum (LEF).

Keywords: Complexity, mysticism, cybernetics