Kybernetes: Volume 19 Issue 3

Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics

The Newsletter of the Cybernetics Machine Group of the British Computer Society (30 November 1989) has given details of the group's activities. In this issue the Chairman gave an…

A New Method for Global Optimisation (Alienor)

Y. Cherruault

The Alienor technique for global optimisation is described. The method is deterministic and uses the approximate properties of Archimedes' spirals, reducing n variables to a…

Theories of Computational Complexity — Discussion and Review

Douglas S. Bridges

This is a review of a book of the same title written by Cristian Calude. A discussion is presented of the elements of computability and complexity theory and the origins of the…

Plato's Cave Revisited

Robert Vallée

Plato's cave, as described in The Republic, is considered as a source of inspiration for a mathematical presentation of the process of perception and decision. The epistemological…

The Essence of AI: A New Unifying Concept and its Programming

C. Musès

Recognition, Learning, and Inference are considered to be the three “bugbear” problems in Artificial Intelligence. The first two are described as having a close relationship and…

The Concept of Fuzzy Systems

Yi Lin

The concept of L‐fuzzy systems is introduced as a generalisation of that of general systems. A universal structure of a special kind of L‐fuzzy system is given, some mapping…

Communications: The Cybernetic Manifesto (Part II)

Valentin Turchin, Cliff Joslyn

The development of the philosophy of cybernetics, particularly in relation to human values and moral philosophy, is discussed.