Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The theoretical study of communication and control processes in biological, mechanical, and electronic systems, especially the comparison of these processes in biological and artificial systems.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The theory/science of communication and control in the animal and the machine.
  • noun The art/study of governing, controlling automatic processes and communication.
  • noun Technology related to computers and Internet.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (biology) the field of science concerned with processes of communication and control (especially the comparison of these processes in biological and artificial systems)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek kubernētēs, governor, from kubernān, to govern.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek κυβερνητικός (kubernētikos, "good at steering, good pilot"), from κυβερνάω (kubernaō, "I steer, drive, guide, act as a pilot"), possibly based on 1830s French cybernétique "the art of governing." The term was coined in 1948 by U.S. mathematician Norbert Wiener.

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Examples

  • The term cybernetics was coined by Norbert Wiener, an American mathematician of the twentieth century.

    cybernetics 2002

  • It was the century of Clerk Maxwell, yes-I'm thinking mainly of his work on what we call cybernetics-and Babbage and Peirce and Ricardo and Clausewitz and a slew of other thinkers whom we're stifi living off of.

    There Will Be Time Anderson, Poul, 1926-2001 1972

  • It was the century of Clerk Maxwell, yes -- I’m thinking mainly of his work on what we call cybernetics -- and Babbage and Peirce and Ricardo and Clausewitz and a slew of other thinkers whom we’re still living off of.

    Two in Time Anderson, Poul 1970

  • Sankai, 48, is one of Japan’s foremost experts in cybernetics, the science of merging man with machine.

    Seven Robots Destined to Change Your Life | Impact Lab 2006

  • The possibility for this sort of analysis was recognized early and practical applications were developed more or less independently by modelers in economics, ecology, industrial management, and what was then called cybernetics [53].

    An Introduction to Ecological Economics~ Chapter 2 2007

  • The new ecosystem was known as cybernetics, which was given a wider meaning than the same word was in the West.

    The Yorkshire Ranter 2010

  • The characteristic feature of the new view of unity was the idea of cross-fertilization, instantiated in the creation of war-boosted inter-disciplines such as cybernetics, computation, electro-acoustics, psycho-acoustics, neutronics, game theory, and biophysics.

    The Unity of Science Cat, Jordi 2007

  • My favorite anecdotes in the book concern another old hero of mine, Norbert Wiener, who coined the term "cybernetics" and whose decidedly non-commercial The Human Use of Human Beings was published in paperback by Jason Epstein as an Anchor book.

    The Believer 2001

  • My favorite anecdotes in the book concern another old hero of mine, Norbert Wiener, who coined the term "cybernetics" and whose decidedly non-commercial The Human Use of Human Beings was published in paperback by Jason Epstein as an Anchor book.

    The Believer 2001

  • He created the term by combining "cybernetics," the science of replacing human functions with computerized ones, and "punk," the raucous music and nihilistic sensibility that became a youth culture in the 1970s and '80s.

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day 2009

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