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This is a critical exposition of cybernetics. The nature of the feed-back mechanisms is explained in detail and several types of feed-back distinguished. The hypotheses of cybernetics are stated to be (i) 'that the chief mechanism of the central nervous system is one of negative feed-back' (p. 5), and (ii) that the negative feed-back mechanism explains 'purposive' and 'adaptive' behaviour. The latter is illustrated by a radar-controlled gun. Several kinds of application and confirmation are mentioned and discussed, e.g. the oscillations displayed in cerebellar disease are interpreted as effects of undamped feed-back mechanisms in the central nervous system; a homoeostat is described which is capable of reorganizing itself when interfered with; the possibility that the scansion mechanism of television is the mechanism of vision is discussed; closed circuits of neurons reverberating like electronic tubes (and other analogies) are mentioned. Attention is drawn to von Bertalanffy's theory of the organism as an 'open system' and to electro-encephalography on account of their bearing on cybernetics. In the concluding evaluation it is suggested that cybernetics leaves out the mind and is in the tradition of physiology and neurology. A bibliographical note is attached.
Author's Abstract.