Second-Order Cybernetics

AKA

Cybernetics of Cybernetics
New Cybernetics
Second Cybernetics

Focus

Recursively elaborative dynamics among entangled dynamic systems

Principal Metaphors

  • Knowledge is … current range of functional possibilities
  • Knowing is … acting/responding appropriately
  • Learner is … adaptive system
  • Learning is … adapting, changing
  • Teaching is … triggering

Originated

1960s

Synopsis

Three popularly cited characterizations of Second-Order Cybernetics are:
  • the Cybernetics of Cybernetics (i.e., the recursive application of Cybernetics to itself)
  • the study of Cybernetics by people who recognize themselves to be part of the system they’re studying (or, the realization that there are no observerless observations)
  • the study of organism-plus-environment as a single system
Second-Order Cybernetics is, then, an elaboration of Cybernetics’ core interest in circular causal relationships (feedback) between systems. The interest is extended to include phenomena that can involve feedback to feedback – that is, that have some level of responsive awareness. Second-Order Cybernetics thus simultaneously sparks and addresses issues of autonomy, self-referentiality, knowing, mind, and ethics. Associated constructs include:
  • Recursive Intelligence – the capacity of an intelligent system to direct its cognitive activity toward its own processes, iteratively modifying how it learns, reasons, or adapts. Recursive Intelligence is distinguished from ordinary feedback by its potential to transform the mechanisms generating subsequent cognition.
  • Self-Reference – any instance of a system, rule, or discourse referring to itself. The concept is also invoked in mathematics, philosophy, systems thinking, computer programming, linguistics, and consciousness studies. Within Second-Order Cybernetics, Self-Reference is understood as recursive and as a necessary criterion for learning systems.
Aligned and emergent discourses include:
  • Artificial Life (Christopher Langdon, 1980s) – the study of life processes and the attempt to recreate aspects of biological phenomena through computer, robotic, and biochemical simulations – which, among other things, has demonstrated that “living” and “learning” are not dissociated processes
  • Generativity (Technological Generativity; Theory of Generativity; Theory of Technological Generativity) (Jonathan Zittrain, 2000s) ­– extending the notion of “generativity” from Psychosocial Development Theory, a perspective on how technology systems create (or might be enabled to create) behaviors, outputs, or structures that were not anticipated or intended by the system’s designers
  • Sociocybernetics (Felix Geyer, 1990s) – a blend of Sociology and Complex Systems Research that embraces the insights of Second-Order Cybernetics. Sociocybernetics focuses on cooperative behavior.
  • Xenobots (Biobots) (Douglas Blackiston, 2020s) – synthetic, programmable lifeforms that are composed of biological tissues and designed to perform specific functions. Some are self-replicating. The technology is evolving quickly. Subtypes include:
    • Anthrobots (2020s) – a type of Xenobot derived from human cells

Commentary

Almost entirely, criticisms of Second-Order Cybernetics are based on either shallow readings or troublesome descriptions/applications.

Authors and/or Prominent Influences

Margaret Mead; Gregory Bateson; Heinz von Foerster; Gordon Pask

Status as a Theory of Learning

As with Cybernetics, it is more correct to say that Second-Order Cybernetics offers a theory of learning than Second-Order Cybernetics is a theory of learning. The domain is too broad to constrain it to one focus – even when that focus is as expansive as “learning.”

Status as a Theory of Teaching

Second-Order Cybernetics is not a theory of teaching.

Status as a Scientific Theory

Second-Order Cybernetics easily meets our criteria for a scientific theory.

Subdiscourses:

  • Anthrobots
  • Artificial Life
  • Recursive Intelligence
  • Self-Reference
  • Sociocybernetics
  • Xenobots (Biobots)

Map Location



Please cite this article as:
Davis, B., & Francis, K. (2026). “Second-Order Cybernetics” in Discourses on Learning in Education. https://learningdiscourses.com.


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