positive-feedback

This chapter discusses Norbert Wiener's views on cybernetics, emphasizing his skepticism about positive feedback as solely disruptive, contrasting with later findings by the Prigogine group that show natural mechanisms generating order. It highlights Wiener's intellectual independence, his ethical concerns about the misuse of technology, and the evolution of his book 'The Human Use of Human Beings' through its editions, reflecting shifts from political critique to philosophical framing. The chapter also situates cybernetics within broader interdisciplinary research and warns against dehumanizing interpretations of humans as machines.

The chapter addresses the urgent and complex challenges posed by abrupt climate change, emphasizing the need for a pragmatic, science-based approach free from ideological constraints. It highlights the role of positive feedback loops and threshold effects in accelerating climate disruptions that threaten human carrying capacity and global stability, while advocating for intentional, large-scale ecosystem engineering and government-led interventions, including urbanization, nuclear power, and biotechnology, to manage and mitigate these risks. The text also reframes ecosystem services as critical infrastructure requiring maintenance and responsibility, underscoring humanity's unprecedented role as intentional stewards of Earth's future.