From Newspeak to Cyberspeak： A History of Soviet Cybernetics
Acknowlegement
- Interviews to old Soviet Scientists done by the author (primary source)
Intro
Cybernetics came to believe in the possibility of universal method of problem solving if only problems could be formulated in the language of cybernetics as a language of objectivity and truth
- Cybernetics: misture of scientific discipline, philosphical doctorine, and engineering technique
- Language
- Newspeak: Irrational & ambiguous language based on ideology, used by the party (from 1984)
- vs
- Cyberspeak: Logical language of computer algorithms and calculations
In this book, I examine how newspeak and later cyberspeak became central to the “way of life” of Soviet scientists
- newspeak in Stalin era, cyberspeak in Khruschev era
- Explains how cyberspeak (cybernetics) affected Science in USSR (not only Computer Science!)
- Author claim:
I argue, in fact, that cyberspeak was as much an ideological language as it was a language of science
- Denies the conflct between newspeak and cyberspeak
- Also denies the simple structure of Politicians vs Scientists (p4)
- more complex
- History of Cybernetics in Soviet
- Stalin era: political opression
- post-Stalin era: “rehabiliated” from political oppresion
- Comparing with the US,
- Q. was democracy fundamental for scientific development?
- Explains how science worked in Totaritarian gov. (Novel prizes from USSR)
Chapter 1
- How newspeak(Marxism) affected Scientists in Soviet era
- Ideologization & deIdeologization, “Scientific newspeak”
- p12 1950あたりに数学系のがreviewersに叩かれた話
- それを避けるために、Newspeakがformした
- newspeakは強固なイデオロギーではなく、むしろflexibleなもの p13
- 科学者とpoliticianを繋いだ
struggled to “overtake and surpass” west science and to “criticize and destroy” west science p13
- p14以降に詳しく
- late stalinist periodの出来事
- 前者と後者のグループの戦い
- 前者グループのstrategy: de-ideologization （westernの非本質的な所をideologicalだと言って叩きながら、本質を守る）
- 前者ideologizerも後者de-ideologizerもnewspeakを使ってたp21
- p18 social constructivism of Science vs scientific realism !!!
- p20-26あたり Newspeakの話
- 言葉は大体言葉で判断された、Ideologemes
- Marx-Lenismはどんな文脈でも正義, idealismやmeta-physicsはどんな文脈でも悪 p22
- NewSpeakは曖昧なので、結局のところ良いようでどんなのを正義にも悪にもできる p26
- 言葉は大体言葉で判断された、Ideologemes
- p26- Newspeakがどうideologist, potilicians, scientsitsに使われていたか
- p31- Mathがどうイデオロギーと関わったか
- “Formalism"が叩かれて、音楽とか生物学とかの他分野にも飛び火
- de-ideologizationとかがされていった
- p37- 言語学がどうイデオロギーと関わったか
- formalism叩き
- スターリンが専門家気取りで首突っ込んできた話 p41あたり
- p42- physiologyがどうイデオロギーと関わったか
- 一人の権威ある学者の考えが絶対的に正しいみたいな雰囲気になっちゃった #権威主義
- それに反対した人は叩かれる
- ニュースピークの曖昧さによって「idealisticで悪い」&「mechanismで悪い」の両方で叩かれるという意味のわからない状況に
- これ初期の僕の混乱の答えだな
- p48 Computer MathematicsはOvertake&Surpass派とCriticize&Destroy派のどっちもdominatingではなかった
Chapter 2
- Cybernetics in the west and east
- 戦争中に生まれた技術を、もっと研究しようみたいな動きがいろんな分野で p53
Cyberneticは歴史的にとても特殊、conventional scientific disciplineとも、engineering approachとも、philosophical doctorineとも言える p54
- p55、cyberneticsと社会の関わりについてのhistorianの研究が列挙されてる
Cybernetics seems difficult to pin down to a single political or social trend p55
- p56- WeinerとKolmogorovが進んだbio+math的な道の話
- p61-64 wiener+数人が作ったCyberneticsのベースの話
- p65-p84あたり
- p84 どんどん繋がりが見つかっていき、プリンストンの会議でみんなでいろいろつながるねと合意した（サイバネティクス全史でも読んだ）
- どんな風に繋がったかがp85-で書かれている
- 共通言語が生まれたが、“drew heavy criticism” p85
- p89 “common language"としてのcyberspeak, newspeakににてる
- 繋がり生まれてテンション上がってた、“overwhelmingly enthusiastic”
- Shannonが情報理論を過度に一般化する様子 p91
- サイバネティクスは、各分野がサイバネティクス的な発見をして、cyberneticianが繋がりを「発見」することによって双方向で認め合う p94
- Chapter 1にあった、ソ連（科学的社会主義）と科学がお互いに認め合うcircular processと似ている （技術決定論?）（違うか）
- universalization、どんどん広まっていく様子 p96-
- さすがに関係ないところまで一般化されすぎと慌てるが、コントロールがもう効かない様子 p98
- ShannonとCommunicationの例
- p99 Wienerが、Cyberneticsが社会に与えると考えていた影響と
- p100-101 WIenerの目的と、実際に与えた影響が異なっていた話
- （ここにCyberneticsのsocial forceが列挙されているので大事）
Chapter 3
- cyberspeak won newspeak in the Soviet, deIdeologized science
negative ideological image of cybernetics in the late Stalinist period did seriously narrow down the range of first Soviet computer applications p7
- Soviet computing shaped by the tension between
- Building modern weapons & Ideological urge to combat alien influences
- To avoid western influence, Computer was interpreted in Cybernetic/Biological way, not as “Computer Science” in west
Main interest?
- 内容をよく読まれないまま、雰囲気とお気持ちでCyberneticsが叩かれていく様子
- idealisticであることとmechanicであることを同時に叩かれるp125
- そもそも図書館に原典ないから当たれない中、取材記事とかで雰囲気で叩く p126
- 都合よく解釈して叩く p128
- aggresiveなmilitary applicationを叩くp129
- 実際はcyberneticsはもっとsocialなところで活躍していてmilitaryはWiener’s earlier mathematical workから利益を得ていたにもかかわらずp130
Cybernetics coulkd be seen, therefore, as a product, not as a driving force of American military research p130
- computer作る頑張り p131-150
- お気持ちで叩かれている間、まともな人たちはコンピュータで遅れてるやべぇとなっていた p131
- cyberneticsが軍事に与えた影響がここらへん p134
- むしろこれを曖昧に解釈されやすい"cybernetics"が邪魔したとも考えられるか
- 国の厚い支援を受けていた様子p136
- リソースの取り合いの結果、重要なnuclear bomb部門とspace部門がほとんど全てのリソースを使った p141
Soviet view of computer as a strategic technology, rather than a general-purpose information processor
- アメリカでは自由に民間で開発が進んでいたのに対して、ソ連ではイデオロギー的にはアウトなので表に出せずこっそりmilitary useのためだけに使われていた
- これ、cyberneticsが社会に与えた影響といえそう
- ただ、cyberneticsはだめでもcomputerはありだよねとなってい
- westから持ってくる参考資料は、イデオロギー味を排除してcyberspeakはnon-cyberspeakに変えて翻訳していた p144
- AcademyとMinistryの間に壁があった、情報交換なされず
- p150/151に米ソの比較がまとまっている
- フルシチョフeraになって、cyberneticsもokだよねとなった
Chapter 4
- Transition from newspeak to cyberspeak
- with de-stalinization
Chapter 5
- Since cybernetics is wide and could be connected with many other science, it became “umbrella” to do many Science
- Biological Cybernetics(genetics), Cybernetic linguistics(structual linguistics)
- Scientists of various field tried to use same concept of cybernetics, became “trading zone”
Chapter 6
- How cyberspeak became more ideological, and resembled to newspeak
- “CyberNewSpeak”
もうoutline（EE本文のやつ）に直接書きこんでいくほうがよさそう
- social forceはoutlineに書いて、directionalのためのメモはこの下に書いていく
- 似ているなーと思ったらメモ
negative ideological image of cybernetics in the late Stalinist period did seriously narrow down the range of first Soviet computer applications p7
Former cyberneticians even stopped calling themselves cybernetitians p9
- これアメリカの例と似ている！！
- イデオロギーだけいろんなところと繋がっていって、本来の人たちは消える的な
Evaluations
http://web.mit.edu/slava/homepage/newspeak.htm
In November 2003, From Newspeak to Cyberspeak received an honorable mention from the Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies for an outstanding monograph in Russian, Eurasian, or East European studies. Gerovitch’s book “offers a scientifically-informed, sociologically-acute and politically-savvy account of cybernetics in the Soviet Union in the post war era, but also moves beyond to an impressive comparison with developments in the United States,” wrote the Prize committee in its citation.
In conclusion, Gerovitch asks a very interesting question. He asks if the story of Soviet cybernetics is unique. He suggests that the discussions of cybernetics on both sides of the Iron Curtain served similar purposes.
Soviets shifted the boundaries between knowledge and ideology back and forth while the Americans manipulated the definitions of “basic” and “applied” science in much the same way. In the Soviet Union competition was fierce to beat Western science but in the West the slogan became “Catch up with the Russians.”
- これ興味深い、一段階上の視点から共通点を捉えている感じがする
https://books.google.co.jp/books/about/From_Newspeak_to_Cyberspeak.html?id=QirR7QYPFZQC&redir_esc=y
- Popular Pages、読中に参考になりそう
書評
http://web.mit.edu/slava/homepage/reviews/review-math-intelligencer.pdf
Gerovitch, a research associate at the Dibner Institute, has studied the history of Soviet computing and cyberuetics for some time, and beyond “From Newspeak to Cyberspeak”, is now focusing on human-machine interaction in the Soviet space program.
Cyberspeak he defines as a universal language of man-machine metaphors described in such terms as information and feedback and control, e.g., the organism as an entropy-reducing machine, the computer as a brain, the brain as a computer.
Gerovitch only touches on reasons why the USSR failed to embrace the computer revolution,
He does not consider the decision to build computers based on reverse engineering after so many decades of success in building indigenous machines.
- 他のSourceとの良いcounterclaimになる
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40060613?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents
他にもjstorで検索するとたくさん出てくる
- （欲しかったのは書評じゃなくて本編だけど..w）