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A web site bringing
together resources related to the University of Illinois
Biological Computer Laboratory, 1958-1976
News
BCL alumnus Stuart
A. Umpleby delivered the 2013 Heinz von Foerster Lecture at the University of Vienna. Entitled
�Second Order Cybernetics Then and Now,� the lecture is available online. (Also: PDF abstract
and PPT slides.)
Heinz
von Foerster�s The Beginning of Heaven
and Earth Has No Name: Seven Days with Second-Order Cybernetics is now
published in English by Fordham
University Press. (Amazon.com link.)
��Feedback,� a new blog from
Open Humanities Press, includes a Science/Technology
desk whose inaugural posts (here
and here)
recall BCL.
BCL
alumnus Alfred Inselberg�s Parallel
Coordinates: Visual Multidimensional Geometry and Its Applications,
dedicated to (among others) �Heinz von Foerster � Mischiefologist, Magician,
Cybernetician, and Teacher.�
Now published: The American edition of Heinz von Foerster and Monika Silvia Broecker's moving, dramatic, and insightful dialogue/memoir, Part of the World: Fractals of Ethics�A Drama in Three Acts, translated by Barabara Anger-D�az, PhD. Order from Lulu.com as hardcover or e-book.
BCL/IGB a new, permanent
art exhibit by Kevin
Hamilton commemorating BCL is now open to the public in the third floor
atrium of the Institute for Genomic
Biology, University of Illinois. Also: Hamilton's blog posts "Cybernetics on the Prairie."
2011 Heinz von Foerster Congress
Bruce Clarke spoke on "Heinz von Foerster and the Systems
Counterculture," 16 December 2010 at the University of
Vienna.
Alfred Inselberg delivered the 2010 Heinz von Foerster Lecture.
A
new German translation of Ricardo
Uribe's "Tractatus
Paradoxico-Philosophicus" by
Thomas Fischer.
BCL
at 50
The
American Society for Cybernetics commemorated the 50th anniversary of the
founding of the Biological Computer Laboratory at the ASC Annual Conference,
11�15 May 2008, at the University of Illinois at Urbana�Champaign. The
conference took place in close coordination with the annual Understanding
Complex Systems Symposium (UCS2008) sponsored by the UIUC Center for Complex
Systems Research. Read a news summary.
See UCS
highlights including BCL speakers.
A. M�ller and K. M�ller,
"An Unfinished Revolution?"
�A new collection about Heinz von Foerster and BCL, now available in the U.S.!
Resources
R. Uribe, "Tractatus Paradoxico-Philosophicus"
�The new "Red Edition" is now posted in German as well as Spanish, French, and
English.
A. M�ller, "A
brief history of the BCL: Heinz von Foerster and the
Biological Computer Laboratory"
�English translation commissioned by the UIUC Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
J. Hutchinson,
"'Nerve center' of the cybernetic world: Heinz von Foerster
and the Biological Computer Laboratory"
�Historical article with photos and graphics, compiled from primary sources and
interviews with BCL alumni
K.
Wilson and J. Day, BCL Publications Author Index
�Alphabetical list created to accompany the 1976 BCL Publications Microfiche
J. Hutchinson, "A
web site before its time: Navigating cyberspace, then and now" (PDF)
�The story behind the landmark BCL publication, Cybernetics of Cybernetics
Photos
of the Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory
�Home to BCL and other pioneering Illinois research
A
day in the life of BCL: Photos by Ken Wilson
�A glimpse into the lab, 1974
Heinz von Foerster
Papers, University of Illinois Archives
Biological
Computer Laboratory Publications, University of Illinois Archives
Biological Computer
Laboratory Contract and Conference File, University of Illinois Archives
�Guides to BCL-related holdings of the UIUC Library Archives
Who
was Heinz von Foerster? Some biographical links
External Links
Heinz von Foerster
Society, University of Vienna
Heinz von Foerster
Page, University of Vienna
M. Broecker
and A. Riegler, eds., "Human becoming�becoming
human," Heinz von Foerster Festschrift
S. Umpleby,
"The Alternative Futures Project at the University of Illinois"
A. Pickering, "Cybernetics and
the mangle: Ashby, Beer and Pask" (PDF)
Kybernetes issues dedicated to Heinz von Foerster: 34,
1/2 (A. Riegler, ed.) and
34,
3/4 (M. Broecker, ed.)
H.
von Foerster and M. Broecker,
Teil der Welt: Fraktale
einer Ethik - ein Drama in drei Akten (Carl-Auer, 2002)
Cybernetics & Human
Knowing vol. 10, nos. 3-4,
special double issue dedicated to von Foerster
Arun Chandra's readings for
Inventing Systems, Spring 2006, Evergreen State
Spineless Books: read, write, perform,
listen
The Learning Project at Tenger Research
The W. Ross Ashby Digital Archive
Contact
Built, maintained, and updated for many years by Jamie Hutchinson, whose dedication helped preserve the spirit and memory of BCL and Heinz von Foerster. If you'd like to reach out to him, you can email him here.
This site is now maintained by Juan David Campolargo. If you have comments or suggestions for additional content or links, please contact me here.