A (cybernetic) musing: encyclopaedias and the form of knowing. a celebration of Charles Francois’ ‘International Encyclopaedia of Systems and Cybernetics’, a Sort of Self-referential Work of Reference.

I'd like, in this column, to celebrate Charles Francois’ astonishing ‘International Encyclopaedia of Systems and Cybernetics’ (Saur, Munich, 1997). This mammoth undertaking, already reviewed in Cybernetics and Human Knowing (and other journals) is the outcome of an act of the greatest generosity towards our field and community. I believe, therefore, that it is an essentially cybernetic act: because, for me, cybernetics can only exist where generosity is the presumed mode of behavior. Cybernetics requires generosity: it requires generosity from us in our behavior, and, if we wish to benefit from having it, cybernetics also requires that we behave generously to get that benefit.