Wiener and the Engineers

MIT professor David Mindell traced the development of cybernetic thinking through the history of military fire control systems, beginning with early efforts in 1916. He showed how radar technology transformed these systems and how the resulting insights about human-machine interaction laid the groundwork for Wiener's cybernetics. The trajectory from wartime engineering problems to fundamental theories of communication and control exemplified the practical roots of Wiener's abstract ideas.

Mindell identified the Apollo moon landings as the "ultimate moment of mid-century cybernetics," noting that Neil Armstrong's famous lunar landing involved supervisory control rather than full automation. This example powerfully illustrated Mindell's central thesis: "All autonomous systems are joint human-machine cognitive systems." The presentation challenged simplistic narratives about automation by revealing the essential role of human judgment in even the most technologically sophisticated achievements.