Difference between revisions of "Macy Meetings"

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Inaugural Macy Conference entitled "Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Systems."
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===Definition===
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In the early 1990's Donna Haraway proposed an anthropology of cyborgs to study the relation between the machine and the human, and she adds that it should proceed by "provocatively" reconceiving "the border relations among specific humans, other organisms, and machines. But Haraway wasn't the first to discuss Cyborg Anthropology. In fact, concepts of human and technological interaction have been seriously examined by anthropologists since 1942, with the initial focus being the use and effects of feedback. These discussions led to the Macy Conferences in the 1940's and 50's. These were no ordinary conferences. They were attended by academic and technological luminaries such as Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, John von Neumann and Norbert Weiner, inventor of the field of Cybernetics.
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Events and Activities -  - Notes and Comments
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1st Conference
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8 - 9 March 1946
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Anthropologists and scientists paved the way for serious discussion on humans and technology in 1941. Early attendees were interested in the Macy Meetings because they felt that technology would increasingly become intertwined with humanity. The effects of technology on humanity would be important and widespread, and anything that signaled such a massive change in how people lived was important to discuss.<ref>Inaugural Macy Conference: "Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Systems. 1st Conference 8-9 March 1946. New York City. http://fido.rockymedia.net/anthro/arturo.pdf</ref> The Macy Meetings lasted for a decade, recurring yearly.  
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New York City
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See: http://fido.rockymedia.net/anthro/arturo.pdf
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Anthropologists have been planning/preparing for this since 1941
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The Macy meetings.
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A short history: Anthropologists and scientists have actually been discussing humans and technology since 1941. Margaret Mead and others such as the founder of cybernetics were at these meetings. The participants knew that technology would increasingly become intertwined with humanity, and so it was very important to discuss this. These meetings lasted for a decade, and occurred yearly. They were called the Macy Meetings.
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past applications:
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.reproductive technology  
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.the human genome project
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.cancer research
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.immunologcal science
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.brain imaging practices
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.genetics clinics
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.artificial intelligence and expert systems
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.science and Marfan’s syndrome
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Cyborg anthropology launched as a  
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subdiscipline of the anthropology of science at AAA
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in 1992
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Nothing was happening with the discipline, and nothing had happened in a long time.
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I decided to apply it to the web.
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Maggie: What's AAA?
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me:  American Anthropological Association
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Maggie:  ok
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In the early 90's Donna Haraway proposed what she termed a "cyborg anthropology" to study the relation between the machine and the human, and she adds that it should proceed by "provocatively" reconceiving "the border relations among specific humans, other organisms, and machines. But Haraway wasn't the first to discuss Cyborg Anthropology. In fact, concepts of human and technological interaction have been seriously examined by anthropologists since 1942, with the initial focus being the use and effects of feedback. These discussions led to the Macy Conferences in the 1940's and 50's. These were no ordinary conferences. They were attended by academic and technological luminaries such as Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, John von Neumann and Norbert Weiner, inventor of the field of Cybernetics.  
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During the Macy Meetings (there's a great analysis and history of them in the book How We Became Posthuman by N. Katherine Hayles) homeostasis was was a lens for which to understand cyborgs and cybernetics. Andrew Warner suggests extending this approach to today - in effect extending the Macy Meetings. If we were to do that we might be able to make serious headway into a better definition and proper domain of cyborgs. If the topic is already spurring this much discussion through asychronous and sychronously connected virtual space the imagine what we could do in reality.
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The Macy Meetings were an early attempt at this, and they are overdue. I think here we may be looking at the 4th wave of cybernetics and a revision on how things are defined with respect to humans and technologies.
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There is a lack of comprehensive documentation on the Macy Conferences. Part of this derives from the fact that the first five conferences, by all accounts the most lively and energizing, were never formally documented with published proceedings.<ref>Macy Summary. ASC Cybernetics - Foundations. Accessed Oct 2011. http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/history/MacySummary.htm</ref> N. Katherine Hayles' How We Became Posthuman<ref>Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies In Cybernetics, Literature, And Informatics. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1999.</ref> is one source that provides a meaningful overview.
  
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==References==
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<references />
  
 
[[Category:Book Pages]]
 
[[Category:Book Pages]]
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[[Category:Unfinished]]
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[[Category:Finished]]
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[[Category:Illustrated V2]]

Latest revision as of 19:47, 7 August 2012

Definition

In the early 1990's Donna Haraway proposed an anthropology of cyborgs to study the relation between the machine and the human, and she adds that it should proceed by "provocatively" reconceiving "the border relations among specific humans, other organisms, and machines. But Haraway wasn't the first to discuss Cyborg Anthropology. In fact, concepts of human and technological interaction have been seriously examined by anthropologists since 1942, with the initial focus being the use and effects of feedback. These discussions led to the Macy Conferences in the 1940's and 50's. These were no ordinary conferences. They were attended by academic and technological luminaries such as Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, John von Neumann and Norbert Weiner, inventor of the field of Cybernetics.

Anthropologists and scientists paved the way for serious discussion on humans and technology in 1941. Early attendees were interested in the Macy Meetings because they felt that technology would increasingly become intertwined with humanity. The effects of technology on humanity would be important and widespread, and anything that signaled such a massive change in how people lived was important to discuss.[1] The Macy Meetings lasted for a decade, recurring yearly.

There is a lack of comprehensive documentation on the Macy Conferences. Part of this derives from the fact that the first five conferences, by all accounts the most lively and energizing, were never formally documented with published proceedings.[2] N. Katherine Hayles' How We Became Posthuman[3] is one source that provides a meaningful overview.

References

  1. ↑ Inaugural Macy Conference: "Feedback Mechanisms and Circular Causal Systems in Biological and Social Systems. 1st Conference 8-9 March 1946. New York City. http://fido.rockymedia.net/anthro/arturo.pdf
  2. ↑ Macy Summary. ASC Cybernetics - Foundations. Accessed Oct 2011. http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/foundations/history/MacySummary.htm
  3. ↑ Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies In Cybernetics, Literature, And Informatics. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1999.
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