1. Bipin Pradeep Kumar [bipin.kumar@ril.com]
IoT and Fourth Order Cybernetics GISFI - 5G “Networked Society” September 01, 2014
Bipin Pradeep Kumar

2. Cybernetics Κυβερνητική: kyverni̱tikí̱ - steer, navigate, govern
“the study of self-governance”
Plato (Alcibiades, 350 BC)
"the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.”
Long ago when I was growing, I heard the term Cybernetics around It was in the cult movie Terminator 2 – Judgement Day, where after a bike ride where the Terminator rescues John Connor, the terminator says the line – “I’m a cybernetic organism”. Lots of cyber in that movie – The company was called Cyberdyne, they were cyborgs, etc. I was fascinated with it and it stayed sublimally. More low level, the term cybernetics – like the etymology of most words, is attributed to a Greek word - kyverni̱tikí̱ which means to steer, govern, navigate. And if it is an ancient Greek work, it is old.. And undoubtedly, yes, the earliest usage of the word is attributed to Plato in his dialogues ‘Alcibiades’ in 350 BC, in the context of ‘The study of self-governance’. There are other usages since then, but in a more recent context, Norbert Wiener defined cybernetics in 1948 as "the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.“ Norbert Wiener is a 20th century prodigy. He is considered the originator of cybernetics as a formalization of the notion of feedback, with implications for engineering, systems control, computer science, biology, philosophy, and the organization of society. For those interested in India trivia, Norbert advised the Indian government during the 1950s. And Amar Bose, the founder of BOSE is one of his doctoral students.
Wiener helped develop the theories of cybernetics, robotics, computer control, and automation.
John: “You're like a machine underneath, right? But sort of alive outside?”
Terminator: “I'm a cybernetic organism. Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton”
Norbert Wiener (Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, 1948)
John and the Terminator (Terminator II, 1991)

3. Automatic Regulatory System (Self Regulatory Mechanisms)
Feedback loop
a water clock, invented by the mechanician Ktesibios, is the first artificial truly automatic self-regulatory device that required no outside intervention between the feedback and the controls of the mechanism
250 BC
1781
1927
2011
20XX
Water Clock
(Ktesibios)
Steam Engine
(James Watt)
Negative Feedback
Amplifier
(Harold Stephen)
Learning Thermostat
(Nest Labs)
Meta-materials
Emergence
Medical Cybernetics
Autopoiesis

4. Types of Cybernetics Two major types of Cybernetic systems
Evolving new
structure
New System State
6 principles and 2 Laws ( subsumed from Laws of Control Systems)
System
System
“Principles of Systems and Cybernetics: an evolutionary perspective”, Heylighen
4 Orders of Cybernetics
Morphostatic
Morphogenetic
System internally dynamic
Structurally Stable
Governed by negative feedback loops
Feedback loops contained within system
Ex: Thermostat
System internally dynamic
Dynamic structure
Governed by negative & positive feedback loops
Feedback loops to external systems
Ex: Living organisms, human society

5. Holons and Holarchies
“Ghost in the machine”, Arthur Koestler, 1967
Holon - Is something that is simultaneously a part of a whole and a whole itself Me
Organs
Holons are autonomous, self-reliant units that possess a degree of independence and handle contingencies without asking higher authorities for instructions.
Tissues
Cells
The Ghost in the Machine is a non-fiction work in philosophical psychology written by Arthur Koestler and published in Describes the dualist account of mind–body relationship. Being a whole and a part of a whole creates a dualism. Some philosophical systems regard an individual as a totally independent and self-determined unit that can and has to be fully in control of its own destiny. Other philosophical systems would regard an individual as totally a product of biological and environmental factors beyond its control.
Molecules
Holarchy – A form of hierarchy. Is a whole that is also a structure of parts that are in themselves wholes.

6. Holons and IoT
A Holon will look as a whole to those parts beneath it in the hierarchy, but it will look as a part to the wholes above it.
Smart Nation
(Digital India)
To an individual, s/he is a whole.
A home/office/industry is a whole
Civic infrastructure is a whole
A City is a whole
A Nation is a whole
Smart Cities
Smart Infrastructure
Smart Homes/
offices
Part vs. Whole creates dichotomies of:
Independence versus integration,
Individuality versus unity,
Competition versus cooperation,
Cause versus effect,
Individual/ Wearables

7. Orders of Cybernetics Level
The kind of systems that are applicable at this level
Defining characteristics
First Order Cybernetics
Self regulated mechanisms. No act of observation
Negative feedback; homeostasis; isolated/closed process
Second Order Cybernetics
The process of self regulation is affected by observer/s, but this is insufficiently complex to encourage new values to emerge
Positive and negative feedback can lead to morphogenesis
Third Order Cybernetics
The process is understood as an interaction that affects or is affected by the observer, but does not address what this means for the response-ability or responsibility of the participant observer
The system acknowledges its surroundings
Fourth Order Cybernetics
Multiple realities emerge by the freedom of choice of the creative observer, that determine the outcome for both the system and the observer.
4th order systems are Holarchic. The system is contextualised, embedded and integrated into the context

8. Complex Interacting Systems; Adaptive Systems
Integrated City Ops
Trans-disciplinary; Collaborative
Smart Cities/ Villages
(Digital India)
Perennial water
Sufficient Energy for all
Evolving new structure
Smart Water Mngmt
Smart Grid
Smart Infrastructure/ Utilities
Other civic/ environmental/ social/ cultural systems
Smart Homes/Industries
/Malls
Individual/ Personal Wearables

9. Concluding: Bringing it all together
We need software, applications, ecosystems that will leverage these
We need
Complex Interacting Systems,
Large Adaptive Systems
Creation of Massive Multi-Agent Ecosystems
Terra’mous’ Transdisciplinary Systems
We need Interconnected Ambient Intelligence- Intelligence at the periphery as much as at the core
There is more value in Interconnected Ambient Intelligence than individual intelligent systems
We need more Holons; more socially beneficial Emergence
We need large systems that interact with themselves and with each other and even produce for themselves
5G: ???
For 5G to succeed:
Not enough to just build high speed networks,
Not enough to create fixed-mobile convergence,
Not enough to think about small cells
Not enough to say ‘I will give you 4K quality video communication’

10. Bipin.Kumar[bipin.kumar@ril.com]
Thank you

11. Bipin.Kumar[bipin.kumar@ril.com]
Data and Back up slides

12. 6 principles of Cybernetics
The Principle of Selective Retention
Stable configurations are retained, unstable ones are eliminated.
The Principle of Autocatalytic Growth
Stable configurations that facilitate the appearance of configurations similar to themselves will become more numerous
The Principle of Asymmetric Transitions: entropy and energy
A transition from an unstable configuration to a stable one is possible, but the converse is not.
The Principle of Blind Variation
At the most fundamental level variation processes “do not know” which of the variants they produce will turn out be be selected
The Principle of Selective Variety
The larger the variety of configurations a system undergoes, the larger the probability that at least one of these configurations will be selectively retained.
The Principle of Recursive Systems Construction
BVSR processes recursively construct stable systems by the recombination of stable building blocks

13. 2 Laws of Control Systems
The Law of Requisite Variety
The larger the variety of actions available to a control system, the larger the variety of perturbations it is able to compensate.
The Law of Requisite Knowledge
In order to adequately compensate perturbations, a control system must “know” which action to select from the variety of available actions.