Common Cybernetics
= "c/cyb concerns itself with increasing the capacity to self-organise - to organise *the commons* - whether in the form of developing new economic relations, social relations, organisational structures or whatever else". [1]
Definition
Tektological҉ - Serendipity:
"Common Cybernetics (c/cyb) concerns itself with increasing the capacity to self-organise - to organise *the commons* - whether in the form of developing new economic relations, social relations, organisational structures or whatever else. C/cyb aims to propagate shared knowledge of cybernetics in the service of *common* purposes." (https://tektology.substack.com/p/common-cybernetics)
Description
Tektological҉ - Serendipity:
"Common Cybernetics (c/cyb) is simply what happens when an agent applies cybernetic resources towards a common purpose.
An agent is any decision-making entity which occupies a world (or 'environment', 'context'). It can be an individual or collective entity and it is often, though not necessarily, constituted by one or many persons. Such an agent is necessarily an embodied mind, a decision-making entity which has purpose and a cognitive model of its world with which it relates to pursue its goals.
Resources are materials which are utilised towards a particular end. They are things put towards a purpose. Resources can be informational or physical, they may be made up of ideas, concepts, models and heuristics; they sometimes constitute machines, devices, books or whatever other physical objects.
A Purpose in the context of c/cyb is a general term to denotes the goal, project, end, aim, or telos of a system. A purpose can be understood both as an intended future state which an agent attempts to bring into actuality, or as an emergent property of a systems organisation in relation to its world. C/cyb concerns itself with those purposes which are directed towards the extension and propagation of the common.
...
Common Cybernetics (c/cyb) is a posture taken up in relation to a world, or an orientation with respect to a complex environmental system. It is a stance, a style of relating to one's environmental context. While a 'perspective' is a way of viewing the world, c/cyb denotes a way of relating to the world actively. It is manifested through its practice, it is activated through the production or reproduction of common systems. One becomes a Common Cybernetician only when one is in the midst of producing or reproducing such a system, whether in the form of writing, design, hacking, production, collaboration, mass action, whatever.
The common is not contained by any of its meanings exclusively, it can be expressed and practised in all manner of ways. Commoning cybernetics delineates a broad multidimensional territory which must be regained and rendered common." (https://tektology.substack.com/p/common-cybernetics)
Example
... of a Common Cybernetic tool.
"C/cyb seek to propagate the commons in all the senses discussed above. As a consequence, the best works of c/cyb speak to many or even all of the above stated meanings. While the best expressions of c/cyb are likely to be those inventions which were unforeseeable prior their emergence, it may still be appropriate to provide one example of an arguably exemplary c/cyb tool.
The Whole Earth Catalogue was inspired by the emergence of the first photographs which pictured the entire globe in a single frame; a fitting metaphor for such a project. It sought to provide “access to tools” through the production of practical DIY guides, exposure to independent producers3 and the publication of cybernetic and systems philosophy, among other subjects of direct relevance to self-organising commons. The catalogue provides introductory texts on understanding aspects of the cybernetic paradigm, as well as enumerating and popularising tools for the propagation of commons. The Whole Earth Catalogue can therefore be understood both as an excellent example of a c/cyb tool and as an early attempt to accessibly catalogue c/cyb tools." (https://tektology.substack.com/p/common-cybernetics)
Discussion
The dangers of c/cyb
"While the common is the goal of any c/cyb project, its practitioners must remain aware of any pathological uses the common can be put to. The common can be turned against itself, its resources used to break social bonds and to engender exclusivity in the commons. The sustenance and flourishing of the commons is always a sensitive process because commons necessarily constitute open systems. It is vulnerable to disturbance if confronted with unaccounted for turbulence, whether from within or without. The commons are always fragile systems, whether they are made up of common beings or common resources. In both cases division in the commons might manifest in exclusivity, selfishness, or self-harm. The common people are most frequently torn apart by othering, and common resources often come into contention when exclusive ownership is imposed upon them, or they are distributed improperly. C/cyb concerns itself with rendering the common both plentiful and viable."