Cybernetics
The term cybernetics was first coined in 1948 by a man named Norbert Weiner to describe a new science which combined the theories of communications and control. For Weiner, cybernetics had the ability to encompass the human mind, body and the world of technology and attempted to reduce all three to the common denominator of control and communication (Burrows and Featherstone, 2000).
Cybernetics has many different definitions, this is due to the many individuals who have personally influenced the direction of cybernetics in our technology filled era. Cybernetics considers our behavioural habits online as apposed to considering the treatment of things online. In simpler terms, cybernetics asks “What does this do?” or “What can this do?” rather than “What is this thing?” because it follows the theory that numerous systems in our living, social and technological worlds can be better understood this way. Cybernetics encompasses the concepts which cyberneticians have developed through language so that we may better understand and regulate our world of communications, both online and in the real world.
References:
Burrows, R. and Featherstone, M. (2000). Cyberspace/cyberbodies/cyberpunk. London: Sage.
New Communication Technologies 