Non-trivial philosophy: Cybernetics, data analytics, and the biophysics of information theory

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to recuperate Heinz von Foerster’s “Quantum Mechanical Theory of Memory” from Cybernetics: Circular, Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems and John von Neumann’s The Computer and the Brain for present-day, and future, applications in biophysics, theories of information and cognition, and quantum theories; the main objective is to ground cybernetic theory for a critical evaluation of the historical evolution of the Monte Carlo method, with potential for application to quantum computing.

Design/methodology/approach

Close-reading of selected texts, historiography, and case studies in current developments in the Monte Carlo method of high-energy particle physics (HEP) for developing a platform for bridging the apparently incommensurable differences between the physical-mathematical and the biological sciences.

Findings

First, usefulness of the cybernetic approach for historicizing the Monte Carlo method in relation to digital computing and quantum physics. Second, development of an inter/trans-disciplinary approach to the hard sciences through a critical re-evaluation of the historical texts of von Foerster and von Neumann for application to developments in quantum theory, biophysics, and computing.

Research limitations/implications

This work is largely theoretical and uses dialectical thought experiments to engage between sciences operating across different ontological scales.

Practical implications

Consideration of developments of quantum computing and how that would change one’s perception of information, data, and the way in which analysis is currently performed with big data.

Originality/value

This is the first time that von Neumann and von Foerster have been contrasted and compared in relation to their epistemic compatibility, historical importance, and relevance for producing a creative approach to current scientific epistemology. This paper hopes to change how the authors view trans-disciplinary/inter-disciplinary practices in the sciences and produce new vistas of thought in the history and philosophy of science.

Citation

Lee, C.A.L. (2015), "Non-trivial philosophy: Cybernetics, data analytics, and the biophysics of information theory", Kybernetes, Vol. 44 No. 8/9, pp. 1310-1323. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-10-2014-0227