Cybernetic Revolutionaries

Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile

Eden Medina

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
10 January 2014

Cybernetics & systems theory; Computing: general

Series: The MIT Press

A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics.

In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile's experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile's economy. Neither vision was fully realized-Allende's government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented-but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government-which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network's Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.

By: Eden Medina
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 526g
ISBN: 9780262525961
ISBN 10: 0262525968
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 342
Publication Date: 10 January 2014
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Eden Medina is Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University Bloomington and the author of Cybernetic Revolutionaries- Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile. She received the IEEE Life Member's Prize in Electrical History in 2007 for her work on Chile's experiments with cybernetics and socialism.

Reviews for Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile

This is indispensable reading for historians of Latin America and historians of technology alike.-Suzanne Moone, American Historical Review

Winner of <PrizeName>Awarded the 2012 Computer History Museum Prize</PrizeName> 2014
Winner of <PrizeName>Honorable Mention &quot;Young Investigator&quot;, 2014 Recent History and Memory Book Prize, awarded by the Recent History and Memory Section of the Latin American Studies Association</PrizeName> 2014
Winner of <PrizeName>Winner of the 2012 Edelstein Prize, given by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)</PrizeName> 2014
Winner of Awarded the 2012 Computer History Museum Prize 2014
Winner of Awarded the 2012 Computer History Museum Prize</PrizeName> 2014
Winner of Honorable Mention Young Investigator , 2014 Recent History and Memory Book Prize, awarded by the Recent History and Memory Section of the Latin American Studies Association 2014