Some details about the digitized video files derived from VHS tapes
from Heinz von Foerster’s lecture series “Understanding Understanding” (1980) [ver. 20211106 / p. schroeder]

Introduction by Paul Schroeder:

Please see attached page for an image of the list of video files and of the original VHS tapes.
In January 2010, exactly when the ASC’s archives were being physically transferred from Illinois to
Vienna, Pille Bunnell sent me (Paul Schroeder) a box that contained 11 VHS video tapes that were
labeled as being four lectures given by Heinz von Foerster in 1980. The lectures were presented to an
audience convened by Werner Erhard, founder of est, Erhard Seminars Training. The series was titled
“Understanding Understanding,” and the talks were given in four approximately two hour sessions.
As far as I can tell, there is not a complete copy of the talks on these tapes. As you can see from the
list of digital video files, there is not a file for “1A” which would be the very first segment of the first
lecture, including (presumably, from various titles and labels) an introduction of Heinz by Werner
Erhard. To some extent Heinz made up for this with an extended “recapitulation” that began Session
2, that covered all topics from Session 1 and gives indication of the scope of his first session. Other
than that missing segment, all remaining segments of the first session, and all parts of the other
sessions are present in the digitized files.
In addition to the von Foerster lectures, one of the VHS tapes (Tape 1 of Set 2) carries Francisco
Varela’s presentation at the 1984 ASC conference, a talk titled “Cybernetics of Autonomy.” This has
been digitized, but is not being distributed with the von Foerster lectures. Plans are to distribute it
separately via the ASC.
Video quality is poor, as it was poor in the original VHS tapes. During the digitization process the
video files were saved at smallest scale and resolution. Nevertheless, except for certain segments
already flawed in their original format, the videos are viewable, and provide wonderful context for
Heinz’s presentations. The audio quality is generally good – except the file 2B has reduced audio
volume. It was derived from Set 2 of the VHS tapes, and for some reason the audio on that segment
was not as good as in others. It could be that in future rounds of edits this can be improved.
These tapes came to me in my role as an intermediary between ASC membership (and officers) and
the ASC archives. Now, 10 years after receiving these tapes, I have been able to make a first pass at
digitization. Again, the status of the ASC archives is being discussed actively within the Society. Also,
there are renewed efforts in other institutions, including the Univ. of Illinois, to devote resources to
the preservation of materials related to the history of cybernetics. We now expect that these original
VHS tapes will join other Heinz von Foerster materials at Illinois, and where their archivists will
provide for archival digitization of the originals and for public and scholarly access to them, while
making other derivative digital products available online.

Videos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14cakPk5IIeSrAYb-aQ-MYWnZl6iOBWTC

(Links to the book arising from the lectures: https://stream.syscoi.com/2022/01/13/understanding-understanding-essays-on-cybernetics-and-cognition-heinz-von-foerster-2003/ )