Dark Hero Of The Information Age: In Search of Norbert Wiener The Father of Cybernetics

Rating:
Summary: Great reading for both scientist & layman
Review: After reading the "Dark Hero" I find it a fascinating book that should appeal broadly to both academics & general readers who seek to understand the role of communication technology in society. The authors have put together a creative "tour de force" by drawing upon the memories, records & multiple interpretations of events leading up to & following the birth of Cybernetics. I believe that Wiener himself would be pleased with Conway & Siegleman's contribution to the understanding of how we may all may work toward creating " a world that embraces as its goal & highest good the human use of human beings'.

Rating:
Summary: A Most Valuable Literary Contribution
Review: DARK HERO OF THE INFORMATION AGE opens the doors to full understanding of the roots of our present information technology era. But beyond that, it presents, in Novel form, the fascinating and often difficult life of the Dark Hero, Norbert Wiener, who almost singlehandedly made it all possible.

The book is easy reading. The words flow and carry one along on Norbert's magnificent trip from boyhood genius to adult contributor of scientific truth: those truths and insights that have changed our world for the larger good.

One does not need an Engineering or Scientific degree to understand it. All can easily follow and appreciate this most interesting biography about a Boy Genius who did not flame out in adulthood, as have so many others with equal talent.

I highly recommend this book for all readers.


Rating:
Summary: A testimony to a true hero of science and humanity
Review: Having read "Dark Hero Of The Information Age" I am now somewhat taken aback when I look around and can recognise the hand and mind of Norbert Wiener throughout much of contemporary life. Be it in learning, language, communication or use of technology Wiener's scientific vision and development of cybernetics has had significant influence over the way human beings interact with each other and with technology.

But, as the authors make the point so clearly, his vision and thinking cannot be separated from his humanity. In their book Conway and Siegelman take the reader on an intimate journey into the complex life of an extraordinary person, complete with his personal struggles and failings as well as his triumphs. It's a journey that reveals just how human Wiener really was and the degree to which his scientific genius was underpinned by his innate sense of ethics and morality.

Today, those who bring new science into the world are sometimes criticised as 'soulless' individuals who only focus on assumed benefits, without regard for unrealised consequences. But Norbert Weiner, several decades ahead of his time, is revealed as a scientist whose motivations were tempered with concern for the protection of people, from both the perspective of social cohesion and that at the level of individual well-being. His legacy, apart from all his unique mathematical and scientific contributions, is that the advance of science is not at the cost of human dignity, and is the challenge that he has left squarely in front of today's scientists and of the community at large.

He lived his life across continents in the northern hemisphere. I was saddened to learn that we in Australia missed a rare opportunity to cross paths with his genius, when an academic appointment he pursued here earlier in his career did not come to fruition. Despite this, we have no doubt indirectly benefited from his wisdom in the many and varied aspects of human endeavour to which he contributed.

The authors bring into the 21st Century a fascinating and relevant story of a 'dark hero' - but also that of someone whose life should illuminate our path ahead, if humanity is to pursue scientific progress without bringing harm to itself.