The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society

Norbert Wiener

How should we live with machines that communicate, learn and control, and what does that mean for freedom and society?

At a glance

You will understand why order is local, since entropy tends to rise overall yet temporary islands of decreasing entropy exist
You will question the fascist dream of a human society modeled on the ant colony, with every person fixed in one role
You will see why science needs faith that nature obeys law, and why that faith cannot be commanded from outside