From the Roots of Cybernetics to Artificial General Intelligence: Norbert Wiener and the Dilemma of Modern Technology

At the beginning of 2025, Sam Altman, the visionary and businessman behind OpenAI, posted a six-word story on X, formerly known as Twitter:

i always wanted to write a six-word story. here it is: ___ near the singularity; unclear which side.

The reference here is to Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story, which has a very different tone from Altman’s attempt and is a much better story. Altman’s partly cryptic message came on the heels of claims that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) was nearing development. What did Altman mean by the two sides of the singularity, and where does all the fuss, rhetoric, competition and developments around improved versions of AI fit into a larger project hidden in plain sight?

Enter Turing

If we try to get to the root of the developments, we may end up with the acquisition of the ability to manipulate fire, or at least the use of tools. Let’s skip the obvious parts of Homo Sapiens evolution and technology and start with the 20th century. There is no need to go that far back, otherwise we would be attempting to write the entire history of Humanity. If a milestone is needed, I think the starting point is when Alan Turing first came up with the idea of the Turing Machine, and then he and his PhD advisor Alonzo Church matured the ideas that had been worked on for a long time, leading to the Church-Turing Thesis. You may not like this milestone. Some may want to start with Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, but the Church-Turing Thesis is more important, especially in terms of computers, artificial intelligence, the internet and their repercussions in the philosophy of mind (though I think Gödel’s findings point to a much deeper truth).

In a nutshell, a Turing machine is a theoretical computing device used to model the fundamental principles of computation, manipulating symbols on an infinite tape according to a set of rules. The Church-Turing Thesis states that any computation that can be performed by a human following an algorithm can also be performed by a Turing machine, implying that Turing machines capture the essence of mechanical computation. At the same time, the Church-Turing thesis suggests that all systematic thought processes can be modeled by mechanical computing systems:

This is important. If human cognition and the mind is algorithmic, then it could theoretically be simulated by a Turing machine or a computer. This supports the computational theory of mind, which proposes that the brain works like a computer and processes information algorithmically. If cognition involves non-algorithmic processes (e.g. intuition, creativity), then human thought can surpass Turing-computerized systems. Some scientists, such as Roger Penrose, argue that the human mind exists as a result of some quantum processes and is not algorithmic. According to this view, it is not possible to create a real mind through computation and algorithm manipulation.

This is where the rupture begins. Is the human mind a machine or does it function like a machine? If we think of it like a computer model, is it possible to replicate the human mind and ultimately consciousness, the awareness and feelings that make human beings human, and even create a super intelligence and super consciousness by eliminating its shortcomings? The answers to these questions would bring us to today. We have given the initial ideas, but the effort to collectively give the most important answers to these problems and problematics would lead to the science of Cybernetics. I would not be exaggerating if I call Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), the founder of Cybernetics almost single-handedly, the real father of the world we live in.

Cybernetics and the Legacy of Norbert Wiener

Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician, engineer and philosopher, known as the founder of cybernetics, the study of communication and control in systems, which has profoundly influenced fields such as systems theory, robotics and artificial intelligence. Wiener coined the term cybernetics in his 1948 book “Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine” in 1948 and established the field. He also developed mathematical frameworks for feedback control systems critical for automation and robotics with Control Theory. Not content with this, Wiener worked on the mathematics of stochastic (random) processes, including modern probability theory, statistical mechanics and the Wiener process, which forms the basis of finance.

His research focuses on human-machine interaction. His ideas about feedback loops in both biological and mechanical systems are visionary enough to anticipate developments in both human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. Is it over? No! By formalizing the concept of feedback, in which a system self-regulates by comparing its output against a desired goal, he made technologies such as thermostats, autopilots and adaptive algorithms possible, and his work on filtering noisy signals and stochastic processes laid the foundation for signal processing, communication and data analysis. He paved the way for the development of cybernetics, robotics, automated control systems and artificial intelligence, and encouraged systems thinking across disciplines, bridging biology, engineering, computer science and psychology.

In short, Cybernetics models the mind as a self-regulating system, suggesting that human thought and behavior arise from dynamic feedback loops, similar to machines. Wiener’s work challenges Cartesian dualism by showing parallels between biological and mechanical systems and supports a materialist view of the mind. His theories raise questions about how consciousness emerges from feedback processes and whether machines can exhibit goal-directed or autonomous behavior similar to humans. As such, Wiener’s views have sparked philosophical debates about autonomy, free will and moral responsibility in humans and machines.

Cybernetics contributes to the extended mind hypothesis, suggesting that cognition involves not only the brain but also interactions with external tools and systems. Norbert Wiener’s pioneering work in Cybernetics has had far-reaching consequences for science, technology and philosophy, shaping our understanding of control, communication and feedback in both living things and machines. Wiener’s insights challenge traditional views of the mind, emphasize its systemic nature, and continue to inspire debates about consciousness, autonomy, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Graduating from university at the age of 14 and receiving a PhD in mathematics from Harvard University at the age of 19, Wiener was undoubtedly a genius. The tragedy is that Wiener, who was a pacifist, a pacifist and refused to take part in studies funded by the government or the military after the Second World War, was most interested in these circles and, as will be seen in the rest of the article, pioneered studies funded by political and military authorities. Wiener saw automation and the help of machines as developments that would raise living standards and end poverty. Little did he know that his ideas would form the basis of a new order of techno-feudal magnates with multi-billion dollar fortunes.

From Visionary Ideas to Ethical Dilemmas

Wiener, who came from a highly intellectual family, tracing his paternal lineage back to the Aristotelian rabbi Maimonides, was a cultured, well-read and original intellectual. He based his findings on social realities. “Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”, it is obvious that he benefited not only from his physics, mathematics and engineering background but also from his socialist perspective. An example of this is that he deals with information in the context of language and society, unlike Claude Shannon, who inspired him in the book and whose work will be discussed in the next article of the series . In the same work, he refers to Goethe’s poem “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” while drawing attention to the dangers of leaving control mechanisms completely in the hands of machines. In Goethe’s poem, the inexperienced apprentice of the sorcerer, instead of fulfilling the cleaning task assigned by his master, magically runs a broom to fetch water, but because he does not know the spell to stop the broom, the room floods. Wiener similarly argued that people should not give full control to mechanisms whose workings they do not fully understand.

Unfortunately, Wiener’s warning does not seem to have been taken seriously. Uncontrolled automation under the name of artificial intelligence and the development of weapons systems based on this automation is exactly what Wiener warned us about. His warning in his book against giving control of nuclear weapons to machines due to the reality of the Cold War period is still valid today for unmanned aerial vehicles and robot soldiers-machines that are expected to be put into the field in the near future. So what happened to Wiener’s pacifist and communitarian ideas of prosperity, abundance, freedom and peace, which in turn paved the way for income inequality, uncontrolled wealth, systems of oppression and war technology? We will try to answer these questions in the following articles in this series. In the next article we will look at the scientific and political aspects of these developments, as well as the development of social engineering through psychological manipulation.