[Today’s SCiO open event – https://stream.syscoi.com/2025/01/29/cybernetics-and-music-links-and-scio-uk-virtual-open-meeting-july-2025-online-free/ – let me to get these Eno and cybernetics links – and previous SysCoI links at base]
• Four Conversations with Brian Eno – Frank Rose
Eno describes cybernetics as his “secret career” and discusses his 1997 article “Generating and Organizing Variety in the Arts,” which draws directly from adaptive-systems thinking programmablemutter.com+15Frank Rose+15Henry Jenkins+15.
• Brian Eno, Peter Schmidt, and Cybernetics – Rhizome
Shows how Eno—from art school onward—applied cybernetic ideas to group dynamics in the studio and tape-loop processes, drawing inspiration from Stafford Beer’s managerial systems researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk+5Rhizome+5Henry Jenkins+5.
• Interview with Geeta Dayal (via Henry Jenkins)
Eno reflects on his 1960s art-school education (Roy Ascott’s “Groundcourse”) and how theorists like Ashby, Pask, and Beer shaped his thinking Rhizome+6Henry Jenkins+6moredarkthanshark.org+6.
• How Norbert Wiener Invented Cybernetics and Brian Eno – Dazed
Details how Wiener’s and Beer’s work influenced Eno’s creative processes, including ambient pieces that rely on feedback loops Frank Rose+2Dazed Digital+2Rhizome+2.
• More Dark Than Shark Interviews
- studint (Nov/Dec 1976): Eno explicitly defines “variety” from Ashby’s cybernetics and explores its musical implications The Crypto Syllabus+15moredarkthanshark.org+15Henry Jenkins+15.
- waves (Nov 2012): Relates his art-school exposure to feedback/control theory, especially Beer’s work moredarkthanshark.org.
📑 Supplementary Papers & Essays
- “Living World Dynamics – or What Brian Eno Can Teach Us…” (Nordes)
Explores Eno’s use of Stafford Beer’s phrase: “ride on the dynamics of the system in the direction you want to go”, demonstrating how cybernetics shaped his creative method The Crypto Syllabus+5archive.nordes.org+5WIRED+5. - ResearchSpace PDF on “Cybernetic systems of music creation”
Considers how Eno (and David Byrne) applied systems thinking—drawing on Wiener & Beer—to generative music researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk.
🎧 Bonus Resource
- YouTube video: THE INTERVIEW #30 – Brian Eno
Although not entirely cybernetics-focused, Eno discusses creative systems and structure. It’s a recent—though broader—conversation PULSE+15YouTube+15synthforbreakfast.nl+15Henry Jenkins+11music.hyperreal.org+11Coventry University+11.
🔗 Quick-Access Links
- Four Conversations with Brian Eno – Frank Rose
- Brian Eno, Peter Schmidt, and Cybernetics – Rhizome
- Interview with Geeta Dayal – Henry Jenkins
- How Norbert Wiener Invented Cybernetics and Brian Eno – Dazed
- More Dark Than Shark interviews (Archive site)
Previous links:
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2019/04/10/generative-music-brian-eno-in-motion-magazine/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2024/12/17/the-ai-we-deserve-evgeny-morozov-with-responses-from-brian-eno-audrey-tang-terry-winograd-bruce-schneier-nathan-sanders-sarah-myers-west-amba-kak-wendy-liu-edward-ongwe/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2023/09/03/project-cybersyn-stafford-beer-in-allendes-chile-1970s-brian-eno-may-2016/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2023/07/27/evgeny-morozov-interview-with-brian-eno/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2021/06/01/brian-eno-peter-schmidt-and-cybernetics-rhizome/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2021/02/14/changing-the-system-brian-eno-and-james-thornton-in-conversation-science-and-industry-museum/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2019/04/17/pace-layering-how-complex-systems-learn-and-keep-learning-stewart-brand/
- https://stream.syscoi.com/2019/04/10/generative-music-brian-eno-in-motion-magazine/
Systems Community of Inquiry 