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Leonardo | 1977

The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance

Michael J. Apter; Gordon Pask

A coupler for coupling the signal in any one of a plurality of optical signal transmission lines to all of the remaining transmission lines. The coupler comprises an elongated cylindrically shaped rod of transparent material having first and second endfaces that are substantially perpendicular to the axis thereof, the second endface having a light reflecting layer disposed thereon. Support means disposes the ends of the transmission lines in a bundled arrangement in such a manner that the optical waveguides of which the transmission lines are comprised terminate adjacent to the first endface of the rod, the axes of the waveguides being substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rod.


Leonardo | 1969

CYBERNETICS AND ART

Michael J. Apter

This article is a non-technical introduction to cybernetics, the study of ‘control and communication in the animal and the machine’. A number of fundamental cybernetic concepts are described including some of those involved in information theory (like the notion of a message and amounts of information), in control theory (like homeostasis, negative feedback and servomechanisms) and in automata theory (like algorithms, Turing machines and networks). The structure of cybernetics is outlined showing the relationship between work on the further development of the theory, on understanding organismic processes in cybernetic terms (especially through model building) and on constructing more purposeful hardware systems. Bionics, cybernation and artificial intelligence (which especially involves heuristic programming) are all fields concerned with the development of such hardware systems. It is argued that cybernetics is related to art in three ways: it may be used by the scientist in studying art, it may be used by the artist in creating works of art—and may have been one of the influences behind the development of the idea of machines as works of art and machines for creating art, as well as the increasingly process-oriented nature of contemporary art—and finally cybernetics may itself be regarded in certain respects as an art form in its own right. Cet article se veut une introduction non technique à la cybernétique, une étude ‘des contrôles et des communications dans l’animal et dans la machine’. Un certain nombre de principes cybernétiques fondamentaux sont décrits, y compris ceux qui traitent de la théorie de l’information (par exemple les notions de message et de quantité d’information), de la théorie des contrôles (par exemple l’homeostase, la contre-réaction et les servomécanismes) et de la théorie des automates (par exemple les algorithmes, les machines de Turing et les réseaux). L’auteur définit la structure de la cybernétique, en montrant les relations qui existent entre les travaux réalisés sur la base des récents progrès faits sur le plan théorique, de la compréhension des processus organismiques en termes cybernétiques, en particulier par la fabrication de modèles, et de la construction de systèmes ‘hardware’ capable d’une meilleure adaptation en vue d’un but précis. Ces systèmes ‘hardware’ sont utilisés surtout en bionique, pour l’application industrielle de la cybernétique, et pour l’intelligence artificielle, laquelle nécessite une programmation heuristique. L’auteur pense qu’il existe trois sortes de rapports entre la cybernétique et l’art: le savant peut se servir de la cybernétique pour étudier l’art, l’artiste peut l’utiliser pour créer des œuvres d’art—la cybernétique est peut-être même à l’origine de la notion de machine en tant qu’œuvre d’art et de machine créant l’art—et enfin la cybernétique peut être dans une certaine mesure considérée elle-même comme une forme d’art à part entière.


Leonardo | 1977

CAN COMPUTERS BE PROGRAMMED TO APPRECIATE ART

Michael J. Apter

The basic arguments of this paper are that art is not intrinsically mysterious and that there is no reason why art should not serve various functions for computers as well as for human beings. Asking what such functions might be for computers leads to an examination of the functions of art for humans from a new perspective. The author suggests that artworks are like computer programs and observers of artworks must develop compilers in their brains to decode them (music, however, may be said to be in machine code in certain of its aspects, that is, already decoded). One function of art is then to provide observers with practice in constructing de-coding compilers. Other functions of art are also suggested. It is further argued that more attention should be paid to semantic features of representational visual art and that from this point of view such an artwork can be regarded as a program that incorporates a model. Compiling here involves two processes: (1) reconstructing reality from a model and (2) inferring an underlying general theoretical construct that it exemplifies.


Leonardo | 1974

Scientific Thought: Some Underlying Concepts, Methods and Procedures (review)

Michael J. Apter

‘Interdisciplinary concepts in contemporary science’ would have been a more helpful title to this book. It deals with a number of those exciting ideas, currently much in the air, which disclose formal similarities underlying a range of superficially dissimilar phenomena across a variety of fields. In particular, it deals in the main with concepts that relate to complex systems and structures of the kind one finds in such fields as biology, psychology, sociology, linguistics, business management and computer engineering. The book consists of a set of essays, each specially written by a distinguished contributor and spirited together by an anonymous editor. The fundamental concept of structure is written about by Piaget and that of system by Mesarovic. The even more fundamental concept of sets is discussed in the introductory chapter by Mostowski. Other concepts dealt with are symmetry (Abdus Salam), sign (Tondl), information (Watanabe), model (Stachowiak) and optimation (Kaufmann). In addition there are chapters on game theory (Vorobyev), language (Bar-Hillel), management in cybernetic terms (Beer) and metatheory (Bunge). Between them these chapters throw light on each other in various ways and show something of the complex interplay of the concepts concerned-not only with each other but also with the various concrete situations they have been used to analyse and with approaches to a number of philosophical problems. Unfortunately, little guidance appears to have been given to contributors about the intended readership of the book and, therefore, there is some variation in the level of difficulty of the different chapters. Some chapters, for example, the chapter on signs, will be understood by any general reader of sufficient intelligence; others, like the chapter on models, are more specialised and will be impossible to understand without certain mathematical and logical skills. It must also be said that the chapters are not uniformly well written. Thus, Stafford Beer’s chapter is up to his usual high standard of lucidity, while Jean Piaget’s chapter is quite unnecessarily difficult to follow. A minor irritation is the absence of an index, particularly because many topics come back again and again and are treated from different perspectives and in different contexts throughout the book, e.g. homoestasis, theory of groups. However, this is an authoritative work that is much to be welcomed, especially since there is no other book of a comparable kind at present available. Although art is hardly mentioned at all as such, the perceptive reader will realize the relevance to art of many of the ideas discussed. Apart from this, the book may prove invaluable to those artists in all fields who feel that to function fully, they need to be sensitive to the intellectual forces shaping their time. Science as Metaphor: The Historical Role of Scientific Theories in Forming Western Culture. Richard Olson. Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif., 1971. 321 pp. Reviewed by Peter T. Landsberg*


Leonardo | 1983

The Experience of Motivation: The Theory of Psychological Reversals

Kim James; Michael J. Apter


Archive | 2001

Motivational styles in everyday life : a guide to reversal theory

Michael J. Apter


Archive | 2001

An introduction to reversal theory.

Michael J. Apter


Motivational styles in everyday life: a guide to reversal theory / Michael J. Apter (ed.) | 2001

Basic research on reversal theory

Michael J. Apter; Ken Heskin


Humor: International Journal of Humor Research | 2012

Disclosure humor and distortion humor: A reversal theory analysis

Michael J. Apter; Mitzi Desselles


Archive | 2001

Reversal theory measures.

Michael J. Apter; Mitzi Desselles

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Mitzi Desselles

Louisiana Tech University

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Gordon Pask

University of Amsterdam

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