Reviews and Comments

A very short and approachable work that functions as a good introduction to Beerian Cybernetics. It actually makes me really sad to think about because it was mostly written in Chile during a period of turbulence that led to the end of Chilean Socialism.

The main idea of the book is that our institutions are failing us, they're not sufficiently dynamic and their main purpose is reproducing themselves. If we are to overcome the problems of our societies and to build something that works better for all we have to think cybernetically and redesign our societies. The book was/is a set of lectures given in the 70s and sadly its criticisms are still as relevant today as they were then.

The lecture version are here: archive.org/details/DesigningFreedom_CBC_Lectures. Recommend a listen, Beer has a really nice voice.

The State and Revolution was incredibly important for my political development. It was the work that plunged me into a Marxist worldview. One of the main realizations that I remember from reading it was the idea that the state isn't just a neutral entity that represents the interests of all classes in society, but rather, it's an instrument of class rule that suppresses the will of the working class to the benefit of the capitalist class (under capitalism). That idea clicked with me and transformed my worldview.

The State and Revolution is a pretty good introduction to Marxism.

Collective biography about some British second order cyberneticists (g.e. Ross Ashby, Stafford Beer, others). The history dances around disciplines like you'd expect cybernetics to. Would also recommend the related episodes of General Intellect Unit (and the podcast in general) as well!

I think it's pretty good. It's pretty polemical and lays out the political goals of communists, it doesn't really get into Marxist philosophy and the methods in which Marx comes to his conclusions though. I'd probably recommend "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" as a better introduction to Marxism.