Special double issue: Some new theories about time and space

Citation

Feng, L., Paul Gibson, B. and Lin, Y. (2003), "Special double issue: Some new theories about time and space", Kybernetes, Vol. 32 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2003.06732gaa.001

Special double issue: Some new theories about time and space

Guest Editors: Leon Feng, B. Paul Gibson and Yi Lin

This special double issue is concerned with some of the new theories of space and time. We would wish to express our thanks to the Guest Editors, Leon Feng, B. Paul Gibson and Yi Lin for accepting the invitation of the Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) of this journal to prepare it. The invitation follows the success of workshops and seminars organised by them, particularly, at the recent 12th Congress of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC, 2002). It was at that gathering, they brought together some of the leading experts in the field and arranged presentations, which caught the imagination of the Congress participants.

They have carefully selected contributors for this issue whose work, our referees believe, provides new and exciting advances in the study of these fascinating concepts.

It has to be said, however, that not all members of the EAB of this journal consider the chosen subject to be relevant to what they regard as "true" cybernetics. Others quickly responded that without cybernetics and systems venturing into new fields that reflected current interests, there would be no progress in its studies and applications in the 21st century. Indeed, they pointed out that without the new approaches and application of cybernetics and systems by Norbert Wiener as exemplified by, for example, Wiener's Cybernetics (Wiener, 1961) where he affirms that "...if a scientific subject has a real vitality, the center of interest in it must and should shift in the course of years" there may have been little change from Ampère's "cybernetique" of the art of governing in general (Ampère, 1838). Dr Grey Walter made the comment (Walter, 1969) that:

So often as a cybernetical analysis merely confirmed or described a familiar phenomenon in biology or engineering, so rarely has a cybernetical theorem predicted a novel effect or explained a mysterious one

It may be well that this issue, by presenting some of the new theories on space and time, will go some way towards achieving Wiener's hopes and contradicts Grey Walter's comment.

Without accepting innovative ideas, cybernetics would not have embraced, for example, the works of such important figures of our evolving field as Stafford Beer and Heinz von Foerster.

Whilst the traditional researches and our current interests still continue to flourish, there is still a need for the injection of new and exciting ideas into our endeavours in systems and cybernetics. We believe that this specially compiled double issue will contribute to the way forward.

As is our current practice, we have also included our "regular journal sections" in addition to the specially contributed papers. Readers are reminded of the section "Communications and forum", which appears in our regular issues. It is designed to encourage reader's comments and alternative viewpoints on all matters pertaining to cybernetics and systems, particularly those raised in issues such as this one, that is devoted to a specially selected area of interest.

Brian H. RudallEditor-in-Chief