A Summary of the Macy Conferences: The Birthplace of Cybernetics and Early AI Thought
ArtificialOther · x · 2026-11-13
The American Society for Cybernetics publishes a collated summary of the Macy Conferences, chronologically listing core members and guests (with quotes from Maturana and Heinz von Foerster). It notes the first five lively conferences were never formally documented, and that systematic histories only came decades later via Heims' The Cybernetics Group and Dupuy's Mechanization of the Mind — a useful entry point into the intellectual roots of AI.
More from AGI Musings
- College instructors: Gen Z students openly hate AI-generated content in class — ZeroStateReflex · 2026-11-13
- 'You made this with AI?' A casual conversation captures how creative norms are shifting — sull · 2026-11-13
- 15-minute video explainer of the METR report on recursive AI self-improvement — austinc3301 · 2026-11-13
- Ranking AI doom scenarios as memes: 'Permanent Underclass' takes the top spot — akbirthko · 2026-11-13
- Thomas Ptacek: the window for open source AI is closing — nptacek · 2026-11-13
- Home Depot and Amazon block Grok shopping bot; Walmart lets it in — Scobleizer · 2026-11-13