In today’s post, I am looking at difference. Difference is a big concept in Cybernetics. As Ross Ashby noted:

The most fundamental concept in cybernetics is that of “difference”, either that two things are recognizably different or that one thing has changed with time.

In Cybernetics, the goal is to eliminate the difference. If we take an example of a steersman on a boat, they are continuously trying to correct their course so that they can reach their destination correctly. The course has set the path, and any difference due to environmental conditions or other things will need to be corrected. This is a negative feedback cycle, where the current value is compared against a set value, and any difference will trigger an action from the steersman. If the steersman has enough variety, in terms of experience or technology, they can easily correct the difference.

We can see from the…