The Macy Foundation Seminal Conferences on Cybernetics, 1949-1953 [Set of All Published Proceedings]

New York: Macy Foundation, 1955. First Edition. Hardcover/Original Wraps. Near Fine to Very Good+ in Very Good DJs. First Edition. Hardcover/Original Wraps. The Macy Foundation Seminal Conferences on Cybernetics, 1949-1953 (the only five published)
"The Josiah Macy, Jr., Foundation sponsored a remarkable series of interdisciplinary conferences from 1946 through 1953 promoting open-ended discussion under the wide umbrella of "Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems." The members of the Cybernetics group "represented the fields of electrical engineering, mathematics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, biology, physiology, anatomy, zoology." Review of Activities, infra, 21. There were ten such conferences, five in 1946-1948, and five more annually from 1949-1953. The conferences were intended to be informal and unscripted, and the first five were not transcribed and published. Beginning with the sixth conference in 1949, the proceedings were transcribed, edited, and published. This is a set of all five published conferences.
Participants in these conferences included, among others, Ross Ashby, Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Donald MacKay, Warren McCulloch, Margaret Mead, Oskar Morgenstern, Walter Pitts, Arturo Rosenblueth, Claude Shannon, Heinz von Foerster, John von Neumann, Grey Walter, Norbert Wiener, and Jerome Wiesner. "Von Neumann and Wiener were the dramatic costars of the meetings, and the differences in their personal style became part of the excited and dramatic debates that characterized the formative years of cybernetics." [Rheingold, Howard. Tools for Thought. The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2000, p. 109] These proceedings "ultimately laid the groundwork for much of the future research on a diverse range of sciences, from biological physics to computer science." [NY Times, November 9, 2002, p. 20]
• von Foerster, Heinz, ed. Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems. Transactions of the Sixth Conference. March 24-25, 1949, New York, N.Y. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
• von Foerster, Heinz, ed. Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems. Transactions of the Seventh Conference. March 23-24, 1950, New York, N.Y. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1951.
• von Foerster, Heinz, ed. Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems. Transactions of the Eighth Conference. March 15-16, 1951, New York, N.Y. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1952.
• von Foerster, Heinz, ed. Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems. Transactions of the Ninth Conference. March 20-21, 1952, New York, N.Y. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1953.
• von Foerster, Heinz, ed. Cybernetics. Circular Causal, and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems. Transactions of the Tenth Conference. April 22, 23, and 24, 1953. New York, N.Y. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1955.
[together with] - The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. 1930-1955. A Review of Activities. New York: The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1955. [presentation copy from the publisher. Minor shelf/edge wear, wraps copy shows evening toning to wrappings, else tight, bright, and unmarred; DJs show light shelf/edge wear, minor rubbing/chips, else bright and clean. Green cloth boards, gilt lettering. 8vo. var pag. Illus. (b/w plates).