Thomas Swann on anarchist cybernetics

Thomas Swann on anarchist cybernetics

From Future Histories

Thomas Swann brings together the rich tradition of anarchist self-organization with Stafford Beers Viable System Model.

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Shownotes

Thomas Swann at Loughborough University:

https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/crcc/about/people/thomas-swann/

Swann, Thomas. 2020. Anarchist Cybernetics: Control and Communication in Radical Politics. Bristol University Press.:

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/anarchist-cybernetics

Parker, Martin, Konstantin Stoborod, Thomas Swann. 2020. Anarchism, Organization and Management: Critical Perspectives for Students. Routledge London.:

https://www.routledge.com/Anarchism-Organization-and-Management-Critical...

Swann, Thomas. 2018. Towards an anarchist cybernetics: Stafford Beer, self-organisation and radical social movements. Ephemera Journal: theory & politics in organization, 18(4). [PDF available]:

http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/towards-anarchist-cybernetic...

General Intellect Unit Podcast – Episode 079 - Anarchist Cybernetics, Part 1:

http://generalintellectunit.net/e/079-anarchist-cybernetics-part-1/

Further Shownotes:

Occupy Wallstreet Movement:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

Indignados Movement in Spain:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-austerity_movement_in_Spain

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon

Colin Ward:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Ward

Stafford Beer at Monoskop:

https://monoskop.org/Stafford_Beer

Viable System Model (VSM):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_system_model

The VMS Guide:

https://vsmg.lrc.org.uk/screen.php?page=0cybeyes

"Designing Freedom" - The 1973 CBC Massey Lectures by Stafford Beer [audio]:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-1973-cbc-massey-lectures-designing-fr...

"Designing Freedom" - The 1973 CBC Massey Lectures by Stafford Beer [pdf via Internet Archive]:

https://archive.org/details/designingfreedom00beer/mode/2up

Norbert Wiener at Monoskop:

https://monoskop.org/Norbert_Wiener

Wiener, Norbert. 2019. Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. MIT Press. [PDF available]:

https://monoskop.org/images/0/08/Wiener_Norbert_1948_Cybernetics.pdf

Medina, Eden. 2011. Cybernetic revolutionaries: technology and politics in Allende's Chile. MIT Press.:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cybernetic-revolutionaries

Allenna Leonard:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allenna_Leonard

van Duijn, Roel. 1972. Message of a wise Kabouter. London: Duckworth.:

https://libcom.org/article/message-wise-kabouter-roel-van-duijn

Gordon Pask:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Pask

Claude Shannon:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon

Loomio:

https://www.loomio.com/

Jitsi Meet:

https://meet.jit.si/

Framapad:

https://framapad.org/abc/

Further Future Histories Episodes on related topics

[German] S02E07 | Simon Schaupp zu Technopolitik von unten:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s02/e07-simon-schaupp-zu...

S01E58 | Jasper Bernes on Planning and Anarchy:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e58-jasper-bernes-on...

[German] S01E51 | Timo Daum zur unsichtbaren Hand des Plans:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e51-timo-daum-zur-un...

S01E44 | Benjamin Bratton on Synthetic Catallaxies, Platforms of Platforms & Red Futurism:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e44-benjamin-bratton...

[German] S01E18 | Simon Schaupp zu Kybernetik und radikaler Demokratie:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e18-simon-schaupp-zu...

S01E16 | Richard Barbrook on Imaginary Futures:

https://www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blog/s01/e16-richard-barbrook...

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Episode Keywords:

#FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #Podcast, #JanGroos, #Interview, #ThomasSwann, #Anarchism, #Self-Organization, #Cybernetics, #Autonomy, #CentralControlStructure, #Decentralisation, #OrganizationalCybernetics, #WorkerCoopertives, #Activism, #AnarchistCybernetics, #Platforms, #StaffordBeer, #ViableSystemModel,

There are 2 Comments

Only good system is a sound system!

Otherwise you're just being another flavor of authoritarians seeking to impose your abstract perfect word. Which is as scary as Bolcheviks and Fascists.

Get a fucking grip.

Perfect "viable" systems hand-drawn by academics... What could go wrong!?

I'll be waiting a few more centuries 'till they realize the natural ecosystems are already anarchistic and pretty "viable" systems. Yet since they still don't require some academic input...

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