What is Cybernetics?

Cybernetics is the study of communication, control, and feedback in systems, whether biological, mechanical, or social. It examines how systems regulate themselves toward a goal using information about their own performance, the same principle at work in a thermostat, a steering mechanism, or a well-run team.

Founded by Norbert Wiener in the 1940s, cybernetics supplied much of the vocabulary that systems thinking still uses today, including feedback loops and self-regulation, and it directly influenced later frameworks like the Viable System Model that apply cybernetic principles to organizational design.