Pask was born in
Derby, England, on June 28, 1928, to his parents Percy and Mary Pask.[3] His father was "a partner in Pask, Cornish and Smart, a wholesale fruit business in Covent Garden".[4] He had two older siblings: Alfred, who trained as an engineer before becoming a Methodist minister, and Edgar, a professor of anesthetics.[5][Footnote 2] His family moved to the
Isle of Wight shortly after his birth.[3] He was educated at
Rydal Penrhos. According to
Andrew Pickering and G. M. Furtado Cardoso Lopes, school taught Pask to "be a gangster" and he was noted for having designed bombs during his time at Rydal Penrhos which was delivered to a government ministry in relation to the war effort during the second world war.[6][7] He later went on to complete two diplomas in Geology and Mining Engineering from
Liverpool Polytechnic and
Bangor University respectively.[3]
Pask later attended
Cambridge University around 1949 to study for a bachelor's degree,[Footnote 3] where he met his future associate and business partner Robin McKinnon-Wood who was studying his undergraduate in Maths and Physics at the time.[8][9] At the time, Pask was living in Jordan's Yard, Cambridge under the supervision of the scientist and engineer John Brickell. During this time, Pask was more known for his work in the arts and musical theatre rather than his later pursuits in science and education.[8] He became interested in cybernetics and information theory in the early 1950s when
Norbert Wiener was asked to give a presentation on the subject for the university.[10][9][Footnote 4]
He eventually obtained an MA in natural sciences from the university in 1952,[3] and met his future wife Elizabeth Pask (née Poole) around this time at the birthday party of a mutual friend when she was studying at
Liverpool University and he was visiting his father in
Wallasey, Mersey.[11] They married in 1956 and later had two daughters together.[3]
In 1953, Pask formally founded alongside his wife Elizabeth and Robin McKinnon-Wood the research organization System Research Ltd., in
Richmond, Surrey.[3][12] According to McKinnon-Wood, his and Pask's early forays in musical comedy production at Cambridge through their earlier company Sirelelle lay the groundwork for his later company which they viewed as being "wholly consistent with the development of self-adaptive systems, self-organizing systems, man-machine interactions[,] etc".[8][Footnote 5] After rebranding the company to System Research Ltd., the company became non-profit in 1961 with significant funding being derived from the
United States Army and
Airforce.[3][13]
Throughout its existence, the company conducted a variety of research and development initiatives on behalf of civil service organizations and research councils in both the United States and the United Kingdom.[3][14] During the active period of System Research Ltd., he and his associates worked on a number of projects including SAKI (self-adaptive keyboard machine), MusiColour (a light show where the colored lights would reduce their responsiveness to a given keyboard input over time so as to induce the keyboard player to play a different range of notes),[15] and finally educational technologies such as CASTE (Couse Assembly System Tutorial Environment) and Thoughtsticker (both of which were developed in the context of what became
conversation theory).[3][16]
During this period, Pask and McKinnon-Wood were asked to demonstrate their proof of concept for MusiColour on behalf of
Billy Butlin.[17][18] While the machine initially worked when the duo sought to demonstrate the technology to Butlin's deputy, after his arrival "it exploded in a cloud of white smoke",[17] due to McKinnon-Wood "buying junk electronic capacitors".[17] The duo managed to restart the machine; after which McKinnon-Wood purports Butlin to have remarked if such a machine could withstand an explosion like that, it must be reliable.[17]
Stafford Beer also claims to have met Pask sometime during this period at a dinner party in
Sheffield,[19][Footnote 6] and notes of both his genius, the difficulty in following his thought, and getting hold of; remarking both that "[Pask's] conception of things is not anyone else's perception of things",[20] and that "The man can be quite infuriating".[21] Between the early to mid-1950s, Pask began to develop
electrochemical devices designed to find their own "relevance criteria".[22][23] Pask performed experiments utilizing "electrochemical assemblages, passing current through various aqueous solutions of metallic salts (e.g. ferrous sulfate) in order to construct an
analog control system".[22] During the late 1950s, Pask managed to get a prototype device working.[24]Oliver Selfridge noted that it was the second such mechanism, whereby "a machine build a machine electronically without any physical motion", actually worked.[25]
In September 1958 in
Namur, Belgium, he attended the second International Congress of Cybernetics. Pask was first introduced to
Heinz von Foerster during this time, who were both informed by the attendees of the conference of having submitted similar papers.[26][27] After searching for Pask through the streets of Namur, von Foerster described his first observation of Pask as that of a "leprechaun in a black double-breasted jacket over a white shirt with a black bow tie, puffing a cigarette through a long cigarette holder, and fielding questions, always with a polite smile, that were tossed at him from all directions".[28] von Foerster later asked Pask to join him at the
Biological Computer Laboratory at the
University of Illinois;[29][27] subsequently describing him after his death as both being difficult and yet a genius.[30] He also this year produced SAKI (self-adaptive keyboard machine) for the instruction and development of keyboard skills aimed at the commercial marketplace.[1]
His former research assistant Bernard Scott argues that "The Mechanisation of Thought Processes" conference at the
National Physics Laboratory in
Teddington,[Footnote 7] London represented a critical point in the development of Pask's thinking:[Footnote 8] It was here Pask first published his paper "Physical Analogues to the Growth of a Concept" (1959) which contained a theoretical discussion on how the "growth of crystals [through the use of]
electrodes suspended in an electronic solution", could be used to represent in purely physical phenomenon the growth of a concept.[27]Warren McCulloch wrote in relation to the presentation that: "[Pask's] gadget does work; it does "take habbits" by a mechanism that
Charles Peirce proposed".[31][Footnote 9] During the later years of this period, Pask had begun to describe himself as a mechanic philosopher to emphasize both the theoretical and experimental aspects of his role.[1][Footnote 10]
During the 1960s, Pask worked significantly with psychologist B. N. Lewis and computer scientist G. L. Mallen.[13] In 1961, Pask published An Approach to Cybernetics.[32] According to
Ranulph Glanville, the work argued in favor of the notion that cybernetics was at its heart the art of creating defensible metaphors; this being in reference to the cross-disciplinary nature of the early cybernetics movement, which specifically stressed how analogous forms of control and communication could be found operating between disciplines.[33]
Sometime during this period, Pask met
George Spencer-Brown who became a
lodger at the Pask family's home while working at Stafford Beer and
Roger Eddison's operational research consultancy SIGMA (Science in General Management) via strong recommendation from
Bertrand Russell.[34] It was here where Spencer-Brown is said to have written his
Laws of Form for long hours whilst inebriated in the Pask family's bathtub.[15][34] According to Vanilla Beer, Stafford's daughter, Pask is purported to have claimed while reminiscing about Spencer-Brown's time at his and his wife's household, that "When [Spencer-Brown] bathed, it wasn't often. He used my gin, to wash in".[34] His wife Elizabeth is also purported to have said, in reference to Spencer-Brown having forgot her name after he ceased to be a lodger, "I wouldn't mind, but I cooked for him for six months".[34]
Pask later earned a PhD in psychology from the
University of London in 1964,[3] and later joined
Brunel University in 1968 as one of the founding Professors of the Cybernetics Department at Brunel.[35] The department was originally intended to be a
research institute that was originally spearheaded by the media proprietor
Cecil Harmsworth King, who was influenced by Stafford Beer's work in management consulting. King died however shortly before its opening, meaning that the Brunel enterprise mostly became a post-graduate teaching department rather than a research institute.[35] Since Pask could not find a viable solution for intersecting his work at System Research Ltd., with the department's permission decided to become a part-time Professor there while
Frank George became full-time head of the Cybernetics Department.[35] It was here he recruited Bernard Scott who he was introduced to by David Stuart, a newly appointed lecturer at Brunel in the Department of Psychology.[36] Scott later went on a sixth-month internship as a research assistant at System Research Ltd., who himself would later be a major contributor to the development of conversation theory.[37][38]
Pask later discontinued his work on
chemical computers.[39] This may have happened during the early 1960s, or during the mid-1960s.[40] According to
Peter Cariani, funding for alternative approaches to
artificial intelligence had dried up. This turn in direction was triggered by a greater emphasis on research utilizing
symbolic artificial intelligence. Previous approaches to artificial intelligence, which included the use of
neural nets,
evolutionary programming,
cybernetics,
bionics, and
bio-inspired computing, were side-lined by various funding bodies and interest groups. This placed greater pressure on System Research Ltd., to use more orthodox
digital computer approaches to technology-based issues.[41] Peter Cariani has expressed the view, that if we were to build physical devices a la Pask, we would replicated a kind of electrochemical assemblages, which would "have properties radically different from contemporary neural networks".[42]
In 1969 System Research Ltd. designed Ecogame, a
system dynamics model of a hypothetical national economy,[43] which encouraged participants to reflect on their own behavior in the system. The
pedagogical function was influenced by Pask's research and activity in cybernetics and
media-art.[44] According to Claudia Costa Pederson, Pask understood and put emphasis on the view that learning was a self-organized, mutual and participatory process. Ecogame was therefore a pedagogical
simulation, that was supposed to engage the viewer with an intuitive interface.[44] It was successfully demonstrated in September 1970 at the Computer '70
trade show at the Olympia conference centre in London. Ecogame was subsequently incorporated into the program of the First European Management Forum during February 1971, which later emerged as the forerunner to the
World Economic Forum in Davos.[44] A version of Ecogame was sold to
IBM for management education in the
Blaricum IBM center. The slide projection technology of Ecogame was incorporated by
Stafford Beer into
Project Cybersyn, implemented by
Salvador Allende in
Chile.[44]
During the early 1970s, Pask became heavily involved in joint initiatives between his company and the
Centre for the Study of Human Learning (CSHL) alongside Laurie Thomas and Shelia Harri-Augstein at Brunel on behalf of the
Ministry of Defence to examine conversational approaches to anger, where he exhibited alongside his associates at his company his CASTE and BOSS technologies.[45] By 1972, Pask began the process of compiling his work into the form of "a formal theory of conversational processes".[46] Due to the academic environment, Pask was working in, he decided early on from 1972 to 1973 to report on the experimental contents of his research due to the
emphasis on empirical studies and general distrust of
grand theory.[47] Whilst visiting professor of educational technology, he obtained a
DSc in cybernetics from the
Open University in 1974.[3]
The collective work on Pask's
interest in conversation at this time culminated in three major publications with the aid of Bernard Scott, Dionysius Kallikourdis, and others. At the same time Pask, with the assistance of the computer scientist Nick Green and others, had begun to work on military contracts on behalf of the
United States Army and the
United States Army Air Forces respectively.[48] In 1975, Pask's team at System Research Ltd. had written and published The Cybernetics of Human Learning & Performance and Conversation, Cognition and Learning: A Cybernetic Theory and Methodology.[49][50] In the subsequent year 1976, they published Conversation Theory: Applications in Education and Epistemology.[51] It has been claimed that due to the prevailing orthodox attitudes of psychological research at the time, his work did not gain widespread acceptance in the area but found more success in
educational research.[52][53] Pask also sometime between 1975 and 1978, received funding from the
Science and Engineering Research Council to develop the "Spy Ring" test in relation to his theory of learning styles.[48]
Around 1978, Pask became more heavily involved in Ministry of Defence projects; yet was struggling to keep his own company viable.[54] The company later disbanded in the early 1980s, whereby he moved on to teach for a time at
Concordia University and then the
University of Amsterdam (in the Centre for Innovation and Co-operative Technology), and the
Architectural Association in London,[55][56] where he acted as a doctoral supervisor for Ranulph Glanville.[57] During the early 1980s, Pask co-authored Calculator Saturnalia (1980) with the help of Ranulph Glanville and Mike Robinson, which consisted of a collection of games to play on a calculator; he also co-authored Microman Living and Growing with Computers (1982) with Susan Curran Macmillan.[56] Edward Barnes asserts that during this period, his work on
conversation theory "was further refined during the 1980s and until Pask's death in 1996 by his research group in Amsterdam. This latter refinement is called
interaction of actors (IA) theory".[58][Footnote 11]
According to Glanville, Pask semi-retired on June 28, 1993.[57] During the last few years of his life, Pask set up the company Pask Associates, a management consultancy firm, whose clients included the
Club of Rome,
Hydro Aluminium, and the Architecture Association.[48][59] He also provided some preliminary work for a project on behalf of the
London Underground and received initial support from
Greenpeace International at the
Imperial College London's Department of Electronics for a project in quantitative
chemical analysis.[48] He obtained a
ScD from his college,
Downing Cambridge in 1995,[3] and later died on March the 29th 1996 at the London Clinic.[60]
Legacy and impact
Pask's primary contributions to
cybernetics,
educational psychology,
learning theory, and
systems theory, as well as to numerous other fields, was his emphasis on the personal nature of reality, and on the process of learning as stemming from the consensual agreement of interacting actors in a given environment ("conversation").
In later life Pask benefited less often from the critical feedback of research peers, reviewers of proposals, or reports to government bodies in the US and UK. Nevertheless, his publications were considered a storehouse of
ideas that are not fully theorized.[61]
Andrew Pickering argues that Pask was a "character" in the traditional British sense of the term, as he likens both
Stafford Beer and
Grey Walter. His dress sense was eccentric and flamboyant for his time, adopting the dress of an Edwardian
dandy with his signature bow tie, double-breasted jacket, and cape.[62] His sleep pattern, later in life, was described as "nocturnal" and would often begin his work at night and sleep during the day.[63] Furtado Cardoso Lopes notes that even from an early age, it was "Pask's curiosity, interdisciplinarity and interest in the complex nature of things that fuelled his incursion into cybernetics".[7]
Pask's "power to inspire [others] was evident throughout his working life".[64] He was noted by his former colleagues as being capable of great kindness and generosity,[Footnote 12] yet also sometimes the utter disregard for the individuals he associated himself with.[64][4] Part of this was due to his view that "conflict is a source of cognitive energy and thereby a means for moving a system forward more rapidly".[4] According to Luis Rocha, "Conflict was in fact one of his preferred tools to achieve consensual understanding between participants in a conversation".[65]
This generation of conflict, however, is noted to have sometimes driven those around him further away than he would have preferred.[4] This is evidenced in his own technological pursuits, where "His touch-typing tutor pushed the learner harder and harder, to the point where the rate of learning is greatest but also closest to the brink of system collapse".[4] While his friends and colleagues often recognized his genius, they would also acknowledge him as being at times difficult to get along with,[21][30] as well as "some need[ing] time to recover".[4]
He mellowed in later years and, inspired by his wife Elizabeth, converted to
Roman Catholicism,[66] which according to Scott, "deeply satisfied his need for understandings that address the great mysteries of life".[64] Even with this mellowing, however, his innate intensity of character and interests was nonetheless always there.[15]
Personal views
Artificial Intelligence
According to
Paul Pangaro, a former collaborator and PhD student of his, Pask was critical of certain interpretations of
artificial intelligence which were common during the eras he was active in.[4] Alex Andrew has argued that Pask's interest in what is now labelled as "artificial intelligence", came from his general interest "in constructing artifacts with brain-like properties".[67] Pangaro claims that Pask had managed to simulate intelligence-like behaviors with electro-mechanical machines in the 1950s, with Pangaro further arguing "By realising that intelligence resides in interaction, not inside a head or box, his path was clear. To those who didn't understand his philosophical stance, the value of his work was invisible [to them]".[4] The emphasis for Pask, according to Pangaro, was that human intellectual activity existed as part of a kind of resonance that looped from a human individual through an environment or apparatus, back through to the individual.[4][15][Footnote 13]
Cybernetics
Pask took a broad understanding of what
cybernetics entailed. Unlike
physics, cybernetics had in Pask's mind no necessary commitment to a particular image as to what constitutes the environment. Instead, the focus is on the observations one makes via
observation.[68] Pask saw it as mistaken to view cybernetics reductively. For him, cybernetics was not merely a derivative of other disciplines or
applied science.[12] Instead, Pask held true to
Norbert Wiener's original vision by acknowledging that cybernetics attempts to provide a unifying framework for various disciplines by establishing "a common language and set of shared
principles for understanding the organization of complex systems".[64][12]
Work
Colloquy of mobiles
Pask participated in the seminal exhibition "
Cybernetic Serendipity" (ICA London, 1968) with the interactive installation "Colloquy of Mobiles", continuing his ongoing dialogue with the visual and performing arts. (cf Rosen 2008, and Dreher's History of Computer Art)
Fun Palace
Pask collaborated with architect
Cedric Price and theatre director
Joan Littlewood on the radical Fun Palace project during the 1960s, setting up the project's 'Cybernetics Subcommittee'.
Musicolour
Musicolour was an interactive light installation developed by Pask in 1953.[69] It responded to musicians' variations and, if they did not vary their playing, it would become 'bored' and stop responding, prompting the musicians to respond.
Musicolour was influential on
Cedric Price's Generator project, via the work of consultants Julia and John Frazer.[70][71]
SAKI
SAKI (self-adaptive keyboard machine) was an adaptable keyboard machine created by Pask which fostered interactivity between user and machine.
Thoughtsticker
Thoughtsticker (written as THOUGHTSTICKER) was described by Pask and his fellow collaborators in the 1970s as a special type of educational
operating system.[Footnote 14][72] In the operating system, a user makes a
concrete model or collection of concrete models in the concrete modeling facility of that operating system.[73] The user then sets out to describe why and how the model or collection of models relates to satisfying some overarching
goal or thesis via describing their cognitive model or
personal construct of that relation in the cognitive modeling facility of that operating system.[73] In explaining why and how the model or collection of models satisfies the goal or thesis, the user may add to their original concrete model, or provide new descriptions of topics for their cognitive model that had not been sufficiently elaborated upon.[73] Compared to Pask's EXTEND unit, thoughtsticker was said to exteriorize the innovation of ideas in learning, whereas EXTEND merely permitted and recording the product of such a process.[74]
Selected publications and projects
Pask wrote extensively and contributed to a variety of institutions, journals, and publishing houses. Many items in the following list of publications have been identified at the Pask archive at the
University of Vienna.[Footnote 1]
Books
Pask, Gordon (1961a). An Approach to Cybernetics. London:
Methuen.
——— (1975a). The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance. London:
Hutchinson.
——— (1975b). Conversation, cognition and learning. Netherlands:
Elsevier.
——— (1976a). Conversation Theory, Applications in Education and Epistemology. Netherlands:
Elsevier.
———;
Glanville, Ranulph; Robinson, Mike (1981). Calculator Saturnalia, Or, Travels with a Calculator : A Compendium of Diversions & Improving Exercises for Ladies and Gentlemen. London:
Wildwood House.
———; Curran, Susan (1982). Microman Living and growing with computers. London:
MacMillan.
Book chapters and sections
Pask, Gordon (1960). "The Natural History of Networks". In Yovits, M.C; Cameron, S (eds.). Self Organising Systems. London:
Pergamon Press. pp. 232–261.
——— (1960). "The Teaching Machine as a Control Mechanism". In Glaser, R; Lumsdaine, A (eds.). Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning. Vol. 1. Washington:
Nat. Ed. Assoc. pp. 349–366.
——— (1960). "Adaptive Teaching with Adaptive Machines". In Glaser, R; Lumsdaine, A (eds.). Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning. Vol. 1. Washington:
Nat. Ed. Assoc.
——— (1961). "A Proposed Evolutionary Model". In
von Foerster, H; Zopf, G (eds.). Principles of Self Organisation. London:
Pergamon Press. pp. 229–254.
——— (1962). "The Simulation of Learning and Decision Making Behaviour". In Muses, C (ed.). Aspects of the Artificial Intelligence. New York:
Plenum Press. pp. 165–210.
——— (1963). "Discussion of the Cybernetics of Learning Behaviour". In
Weiner, N; Schadé, J.P. (eds.). Nerve, Brain and Memory Models. Amsterdam:
Elsevier Publishing Co. pp. 75–214.
——— (1964). "A Proposed Experimental Method for the Behavioural Sciences". In
Weiner, N; Schadé, J.P. (eds.). Progress in Biocybernetics. Vol. 1. Amsterdam:
Elsevier Publishing Co. pp. 171–180.
——— (1962). "Interaction Between a Group of Subjects and An Adaptive Automaton to Produce a Self-organising System for Decision-Making". In Yovits, M.C.; Jacobi, G.T.; Goldstein, G.D. (eds.). Self Organising Systems. Washington: Spartan Books. pp. 283–312.
——— (1962). "Musicolour". In Good, I.J. (ed.). The Scientist Speculates. London:
Heinemann. pp. 135–136.
——— (1962). "Self-organising Pumps and Barges". In Good, I.J. (ed.). The Scientist Speculates. London:
Heinemann. pp. 140–142.
——— (1962). "Can Thinking Make It So?". In Good, I.J. (ed.). The Scientist Speculates. London:
Heinemann. p. 173.
——— (1962). "My Prediction for 1984". In Bannister, R (ed.). Prospect. London:
Hutchinson. pp. 207–220.
——— (1963). "The Conception of a Shape and the Evolution of a Design". In Jones, J.C.; Thornley, D.G. (eds.). Conference on Design Methods. London:
Pergamon Press. pp. 153–168.
——— (1964). "Adaptive Teaching Machines". In Austwick, K (ed.). Teaching Machines. London:
Pergamon Press. pp. 79–112.
——— (1964). "A Discussion of Artificial Intelligence and Self-organisation". In Rubinoff, M (ed.). Advances in Computers. Vol. 5. New York:
Academic Press. pp. 110–226.
——— (1968). "Man as a System that Needs to Learn, Stewart". In Stewart, D (ed.). Automation Theory and Learning Systems. London:
Academic Press. pp. 137–208.
——— (1964). "Ampassungfähige Lehrmaschinen zur Gruppenschulung". In Frank, H (ed.). Kybernetische Machinen. Frankfurt:
S. Fischer-Verlag.
——— (1966). "Comments on the Cybernetics of Ethical, Psychological and Sociological Systems". In Schadé, J.P. (ed.). Progress in Biocybernetics. Vol. 3.
Amsterdam:
Elsevier.
———; Lewis, B.N. (1965). "The Theory and Practice of Adaptive Teaching Systems". In Glaser, R (ed.). Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning. Data and Directions. Vol. 2.
Washington:
National Educational Association. pp. 213–266.
——— (1965). "Comments on the Organisation of Man, Machines and Concepts". In Heilprin; Markussen; Goodman (eds.). Education for Information Science. Spartan Press and Macmillan. pp. 133–154.
——— (1967). "A Look into the Future". In Goldsmith, M (ed.). Mechanisation in the Classroom.
Souvenir Press. pp. 185–267.
——— (1972). "Adaptive Machines". In Davies, I.K.; Hartley, J (eds.). Contributions to an Educational Technology. London:
Butterworths. pp. 57–69.
——— (1969). "A Method for Studying the Fluctuations and Divisions of Attention when the Level of Goal Achievement is held at a Constant Value". In Shumilina, V. (ed.). Systems of Study of The Brain Functional Organisation. Russia.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link) A volume dedicated to Professor P. Anohkin.
——— (1970). "Cognitive Systems". In Garvin, P.I. (ed.). Cognition, a Multiple View. New York: Spartan. pp. 394–405.
——— (1970). "The Meaning of Cybernetics in the Behavioural Sciences". In Rose, J (ed.). Progress in Cybernetics. Vol. 1.
Gordon and Breach. pp. 15–45. Reprinted in Cybernetica No 3 1970, 140–159, and in No 4 1970, 240–250. Reprinted in Artorga Communications, 140-148
——— (September 1970). "Teaching Machines". In Rose, B (ed.). Modern Trends in Education.
Macmillan. pp. 216–259.
——— (September 1969). "Des Machines Qui Apprennant". In Schellars, A; Godwin, F (eds.). Les Dossier de la Cybernetique, Schellars.
Marabout Universite, 150 Fresses Gerard,
Verviers, Belgium. pp. 147–157.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (
link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
——— (1970). "A Comment, A Case History and A Plan". In Reichardt, J (ed.). Cybernetic Serendipity. Rapp. And Carroll.Reprinted in Cybernetics, Art and Ideas, Reichardt, J., (Ed.) Studio Vista, London, 1971, 76-99
——— (1969). "Learning and Teaching Systems". In Rose, J (ed.). Survey of Cybernetics. Iliffe Books. pp. 163–186.
——— (1973). "Die Automatisierung des Unterrichts unde die Natur des Lernens". In Rollet, H.B.; Weltner, K. (eds.). Fortschrift unde Ergebnisse des Bildungsterchnologie. Vol. 5. Ehrenwirth Verlag. pp. 86–111.
——— (1973). "Principous de Aprendizagem e de control". Cybernetica e Comunicado. University of Sao Paulo: Editôra Cultrix.
——— (1973). "Artificial Intelligence – a Preface and a Theory". In
Negroponte, N. (ed.). Machine Intelligence in Design. MIT Press.
——— (1975). "Regulation of General Evolving Systems: Symbols, Needs and Hunger in a Formal Ecology". In Booth, D.A. (ed.). Hunger Models: Quantitative Theory of Feeding Control. London and New York:
Academic Press. pp. 434–449.
——— (1976). "Cybernetics in Psychology and Education". In Trappl, R (ed.). Cybernetics, A Source Book. Washington:
Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
Conference Proceedings
Pask, Gordon (1958). Teaching Machines. Proc.2nd Congress Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier Villars (published 1960). pp. 961–968.
——— (1958). The Growth Process in the Cybernetic Machine. Proc. 2nd Congress, Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier Villars (published 1960). pp. 765–794.
——— (1958). Uttley, A (ed.). Physical Analogues to the Growth of a Concept. Mechanisation of Thought Processes. Vol. 2.
National Physics Laboratory, London:
H.M.S.O (published 1959). pp. 877–922.
——— (1961). Adaptive Systems and their Possible Applications in Medicine. Proc. 1st Congress Medical Cybernetics. Naples.
——— (1961). The Cybernetics of Evolutionary Processes and of Self Organising Systems. Proc. 3rd Congress Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier Villars (published 1965). pp. 27–74.
——— (1961). Self-organising System of a Decision Making Group. Proc. 3rd Congress Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1965). pp. 814–827.
——— (1961). A Cybernetic Model of Concept Learning. Proc. 3rd Congress Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1965).
——— (1961). Interaction between Man and an Adaptive Machine. Proc. 3rd Congress, Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1965). pp. 951–964.
——— (1962). Popplewell, C.N. (ed.). The Logical Type of Illogical Evolution. Proc. IFIP Congress 62. Amsterdam:
North Holland Pub. Co. (published 1963). pp. 482–483.
——— (1962). The Logic and Behaviour of Self-organising Systems, as Illustrated by the Interaction of Man and Adaptive Machine. Intl Symposium Information Theory. Brussels.
——— (1963). Bellinger, L.E.; Truxal, J.G.; Minnar, E.J. (eds.). Physical and Linguistic Evolution in Self-organising Systems. Proc. 1st IFAC Symposium on Optimising and Adaptive Control. Pittsburgh:
Instrument Society of America. pp. 199–225.
——— (1962). "A Cybernetic Model of Human Data Processing". In Gerard, R.W. (ed.). Information Processing in the Nervous System. Intnl Congress Series No 40. Vol. 3. Leiden: Excerpta Medica. pp. 218–233.
——— (1963). Self-organising Systems Involved in Human Learning and Performance. Proc. 3rd Bionics Symposium. Dayton, Ohio:
USAF (published 1964). pp. 247–335 – via
ASTIA.
——— (1963). Steinbuch, K; Wagner, S.W. (eds.). Statistical Computation and Statistical Automata. Neuere Erketnisse der Kybernetick. Oldenburg. pp. 69–81.
——— (1963). A Model for Concept Learning. 10th Intnl Congress on Electronics. Rome. pp. 73–105 – via
Fondazione Ugo Bordoni.
——— (1964). Tests for Some Features of a Cybernetic Model of Learning. Symposium on Cybernetic Problems in Psychology.
Humboldt University, DDR, Berlin.
———; Lewis, B.N.; Watts, D. (December 1964). A Typical Adaptively-controlled Experiment in Perceptual Discrimination. London Conference of British Psychological Society. London:
Butterworth (published 1965).
——— (1964). Cybernetic Approach to the Experimental Psychology of Learning. 3rd Congress Intnl Assoc Medical Cybernetics. Naples.
——— (1964). Report on Cybernetic Experimental Method. 4th Congress Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Naples: Gauthier-Villars (published 1967). pp. 645–650.
———; Mallen, G.L. (1965). "The Method of Adaptively Controlled Psychological Learning Experiments". Theory of Self Adaptive Control Systems.
IFAC Symposium.
Teddington:
Plenum Press (published 1966). pp. 70–86 – via
Amer. Instru.
——— (1964). Results from Experiments on Adaptively Controlled Teaching Systems. Proc 4th Con Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics. Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1967). pp. 129–138.
——— (1966). Adaptively Controlled Experiments in Learning and Concept Acquisition. Proc 18th Intnl Con of Psychology. Moscow:
Akademi Verlag (published 1967).
———; Breach (1966). "A Cybernetic Model for Some Types of Learning and Mentation". In Oestreicher, H.C.; Moore, D.R. (eds.). Cybernetic Problems in Bionics. Bionics Symposium. Dayton, Ohio (published 1968). pp. 531–585.
——— (August 1968). "Some Mechanical Concepts of Goals, Individuals, Consciousness and Symbolic Evolution". In Bateson, C (ed.). Extracts in Our Own Metaphor. Wenner-Gren Conf on the Effects of Conscious Purpose on Human Adaptation. Knopf (published 1972).
——— (1967). Comments on Men, Machines and Communication Between Them. Vision 67 Conference. New York.
——— (1968). "Adaptive Machines". Programmed Learning Research. Proc.
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Nice: Dunod (published 1969). pp. 251–261.
——— (1967). "A Learning Model Capable of "Attention" and Hampered by "Boredom" and "Fatigue"". The Simulation of Human Behaviour. Proc.
NATO Symposium on the Simulation of Human Behaviour. Paris: Dunod (published 1969). pp. 53–54.
——— (1969). Interaction between a Teaching Machine and the Student's Attention Directing System. Proc 16th Intnl Conf of Applied Psychology. Amsterdam: Swets and Zeitlinger. pp. 209–280.
——— (1967). Some Advances in Adaptively Controlled Teaching Systems. Proc 5th Conf Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics.
Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1969). pp. 256–260.
——— (1967). Adaptive Metasystems. Proc. 5th Intnl Con on Cybernetics.
Namur: Gauthier-Villars (published 1969).
——— (1970). Annett, J; Duke, J (eds.). Computer Assisted Learning and Teaching. Proceedings of the Leeds Seminar on Computer Based Learning.
NCET. pp. 50–63.
——— (1970). Sheepmaker, R (ed.). Fundamental Aspects of Educational Technology, illustrated by the Principles of Conversational Systems. Proceeding
IFIP World Conference on Computer Education. Vol. 1. Amsterdam.
——— (July 1966). Lectures on the Philosophy of Cybernetics. Summer School Adaptive and Lernende Systems in Biologie and Technick at the University of Berlin.
University of Berlin.
——— (July 1970). Essay on the Ethics and Aesthetics of Control. Wenner-Gren Symposium on the Moral and Aesthetic Structure of Human Adaptation. Burg Wartenstein.
——— (1966). von Foerster, H (ed.). Models for Social Systems and Their Languages. Wenner-Gren Symposium. Vol. 1. Instructional Science (published 1973). pp. 39–50.
——— (May 1968). "Education 2000". In Lewis, B.N.; Pyne, R.W. (eds.). New Directions in Educational Technology. East Burnham Conference on Educational Technology.
——— (1973). Tobinson, H.W.; Knight, D.E. (eds.). Learning Strategies, Memory and Mind, in Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium of the American Society of Cybernetics. New York: Spartan Books.
——— (August 1973). How People Learn and What People Know. Proceedings
NATO Conference on Cybernetic Modelling of Adaptive Organisations.
Porto, Portugal.
——— (September 1973). Richmond, K (ed.). The Nature and Nurture of Learning in a Social Educational System. Proceedings Agnelli Foundation International Symposium on Lifelong Learning in an Age of Technology: Prospects and Problems.
Turin.
——— (1972). Hanika, F. de P.; Trappl, R. (eds.). A Cybernetic Theory of Cognition and Learning. Symposium in 1st European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research. Vol. 5.
Vienna:
Journal of Cybernetics (published 1975). pp. 1–80.
——— (1975). Scandura; Duram; Wolfech (eds.). An Outline of Conversational Domains and their Structure. Proceedings from 5th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference. MERGE ONR. pp. 231–251.
——— (January 1975). Learning to Live in the Future, Presidential Address to the Society for General Systems Research. New York: Society for General Systems Research. Reprinted in Policy Analysis and System Science, 1977.
——— (1977). Trappl, R (ed.). Minds and Media in Education and Entertainment: Some Theoretical Comments Illustrated by the Design and Operation of a System for Exteriorising and Manipulating Individual Theses. Proceedings of the 3rd European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research.
Vienna.
——— (1977). Revisions in the Foundation of Cybernetics and General System Theory as a Result of Research in Education, Epistemology and Innovation (Mostly in Man Machine Systems). Proceedings 8th Intl Con in Cybernetics.
Namur, Belgium.
——— (1976). Learning Systems – Student Management. Proceedings Learning Management Based on Formal Models of Behaviour and Aptitudes in CAI. UCODI Summer School,
Louvain, Belgium.
——— (1977). Knowledge, Innovation and "Learning to Learn". Proceedings of NATO-ASI Structural/Process Theories of Complex Human Behaviour.
Banff Springs,
Canada:
Noordhoff. pp. 259–350.
——— (1977). Organisational Closure of Potentially Conscious Systems, and Notes. Proceedings NATO Congress on Applied General Systems Research. Prestentations took place at Recent Developments and Trends conference in Binghampton, New York and the Realities Conference via the
EST Foundation at San Francisco. Reprinted in Autopoiesis (1981), Zelany, M., (Ed.) New York, North Holland Elsevier, 1981, 265-307.
——— (1976). "Various contributions". In Pask, Gordon; Trappl, R (eds.). Cognition and Learning. Proceedings 6th European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research.
Hemisphere.
———, ed. (1975–1977). Decision Making in Complex Systems. ARI conference, Richmond. Vol. 1–2.
Washington: ARI.
Encyclopaedia entries
Pask, Gordon (1962). "Teaching Machines". USSR Encyclopaedia on Automata Production and Industrial Electronics. Moscow.{{
cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
——— (1968). "Cybernetics". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 6. p. 963b.
——— (1969). "Psychology, Use of Models (Learning)". Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, Information and Control. Pergamon Press. pp. 101–127.
——— (1963). "The Use of Analogy and Parable in Cybernetics, with Emphasis upon Analogies for Learning and Creativity". Dialectica. 2–3 (2–3).
Neuchatel, Suisse: 167–202.
doi:
10.1111/j.1746-8361.1963.tb01562.x.
———; B.N., Lewis (1964). "The Development of Communication Skills under Adaptively Controlled Conditions". Programmed Learning. 1 (2): 59–88.
——— (1965). "Tests for Some Features of a Cybernetic Model of Learning". Zeitschrift für Psychologie. 171.
———; Feldman, R (1966). "Tests for a Simple Learning and Perceiving Artefact". Cybernetica. 2: 75–90.
——— (1965). "Man/machine interaction in Adaptively Controlled Experimental Conditions". The Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics. 27 (Suppl): 261–73.
doi:
10.1007/BF02477282.
PMID5884136.
——— (1966). "A Brief Account of Work on Adaptively Controlled Teaching Systems". Kybernetika. 4. Academia Praha: 287–299.
——— (June 1966). "Le Intelligenze Artificiali". Sapere. 17 (678): 346–348.
———; Lewis, B.N. (April 1967). "The Adaptively Controlled Instruction of a Transformation Skill". Programmed Learning. 4 (2): 74–86.
doi:
10.1080/1355800670040202.
——— (June 1967). "The Control of Learning in Small Subsystems of a Programmed Educational System". IEEE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics. 8 (2): 88–93.
doi:
10.1109/THFE.1967.233625.
——— (November 1966). "Men/machines and Control of Learning". Educational Technology. 6 (22).
———; Lewis, B.N. (May 1968). "The Use of Null Point Method to Study the Acquisition of Simple and Complex Transformation Skills". British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. 21: 61–84.
doi:
10.1111/j.2044-8317.1968.tb00398.x.
——— (1969). "The Computer-Simulated Development of Populations of Automata". Mathematical Biosciences. 4 (1–2). Elsevier Press: 101–127.
doi:
10.1016/0025-5564(69)90008-X.
——— (October 1969). "Strategy, Competence and Conversation as Determinants of Learning". Programmed Learning. 6 (4): 250–267.
doi:
10.1080/1355800690060404.
——— (September 1969). Landau, R (ed.). "The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics". Architectural Design: 494–496.
——— (January 1972). "A Cybernetic Experimental Method and its Underlying Philosophy". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies: 279–337.
——— (April 1971). "A Review of Research on Learning under this and previous contracts. Its Application to the Teaching, Training and Evaluation of Problem Solving Skills". System Research.
——— (1972). "A Fresh Look at Cognition and the Individual". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies. 4 (3): 211–216.
doi:
10.1016/S0020-7373(72)80002-6.
——— (September 1972). "Anti-Hodmanship: A Report on the State and Prospect of CAI". Programmed Learning and Educational Technology. 9 (5): 211–216.
doi:
10.1080/1355800720090502.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (1972). "Learning Strategies and Individual Competence". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies. 4 (3): 217–253.
doi:
10.1016/S0020-7373(72)80004-X.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (1973). "CASTE: A System for Exhibiting Learning Strategies and Regulating Uncertainty". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies. 5: 17–52.
doi:
10.1016/S0020-7373(73)80008-2.
———; Scott, B.C.E.; Kallikourdis, D (1973). "A Theory of Conversations and Individuals (Exemplified by the Learning Process on CASTE)". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies. 5 (4): 443–566.
doi:
10.1016/S0020-7373(73)80002-1.
——— (1972). Landau, R (ed.). "Complexity and Limits". Architectural Design. 10: 622–624.
———; Kallikourdis, D; Scott, B.C.E. (1975). "The Representation of Knowables". International Journal of Man-Machine Studies. 17: 15–134.
doi:
10.1016/S0020-7373(75)80003-4.
USA Expired US2984017A, Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask, "Apparatus for assisting an operator in performing a skill", published 1961-05-16, issued 1961-05-16
Periodicals
Pask, Gordon; Wiseman, D (November 1959). "Teaching Machines". The Overseas Engineer.
———; Wiseman, D (November 1959). "Electronic Teaching Machines". Control Engineering.
——— (June 1961). "Machines that Teach". New Scientist.
——— (November 1961). "Cybernetics Becomes a Well Defined Science". Control.
——— (1962). "Machines à Enseigner". Cegos. Paris.
——— (1963). "Comments on Semantic Machines". Artorga. No. 49.
——— (March 1964). "Viewpoint". Control.
——— (February 1964). "Thresholds of Learning and Control". Data and Control.
——— (February 1965). "Advertising as a Symbolic Game". Advertising Quarterly.
——— (April 1965). "Teaching as a Control-Engineering Process". Control.
——— (1976). F. Kopstein (ed.). "Teaching Machines Revisited in the Light of Conversation Theory". Educational Technology Magazine. pp. 30–44.
——— (1976).
N. Negroponte (ed.). "Comments and Suggestions". Architecture Machinations. Vol. II, no. 33. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. pp. 2–12.
——— (November 1976). "Ongoing Research at System Research Ltd". International Cybernetics Newsletter. No. 7–9.
Reports and Technical Reports
Pask, Gordon (December 1959). "The Self Organising Teacher". Automated Teaching Bulletin (Report). Vol. 1–2.
The Rheem-Califone Corp.
——— (1959–1960). Technical Reports (Miscellaneous) on Self Organising Systems (Technical report). University of Illinois.
——— (1962). "Comments on an Indeterminacy that Characterises a Self-organising System". In Caianello, E.R. (ed.). Cybernetics of Neural Processes: Course Held at the International School of Physics (Technical report).
Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche (published 1965). pp. 1–30 – via
NATO at the Istituto Di Fisica Teorica,
Università Di Napoli.
——— (1962). A Model for Learning Applicable within Systems Stabilised by an Adaptive Teaching Machine (Report).
USAF.
——— (1964). Proposals for a Cybernetic Theatre (Report). System Research Ltd.
———; Lewis, B.N. (1961–1965). "Research on the Design of Adaptive Teaching Systems with a Capability for Selecting and Altering Criteria for Adaptation". Miscellaneous Reports under
USAF Contract No AF61(052)-402 (Report).
ASTIA.
———; Lewis, B.N. (1962–1965). "Research on Cybernetic Investigation of Learning and Perception". Miscellaneous Reports under
USAF Contract No AF61(052)-640 (Report).
ASTIA.
———; Lewis, B.N. (1963–1965). "A Study of Group Decision Making and Communication Patterns under Conditions of Stress and Overload when the Participants are Permitted to Function as Self-Organising Systems". Miscellaneous Reports on
US Army Contracts DA-91-591-EUC-2753 and DA-91-591-3607 (Report).
ASTIA.
——— (June 1967). Allebe, A (ed.). Some Difficulties Encountered in Psychological Experiments on Learning. BP Review (Report).
——— (1970). Cybernetics and Education (Report). Paper at Academic Session, delivered to H.M.
King Baudoin of
Belgium: Intnl Assoc of Cybernetics.
——— (October 1970). SCRIPTS – Organisation and Instruction of Office Skills Involving Communication Data Retrieval and Data Recognition (Technical report). Department of Employment.
——— (June 1971). Domestic Consumer Response Prediction. Report on Phase B of the Project for the North Thames Gas Board (Report). System Research Ltd.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (December 1970). Learning Strategies and Individual Competence (Technical report).
National Library, Harrogate, UK:
SSRC.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (December 1970). CASTE Manual (Technical report). Vol. I–V.
National Library, Harrogate, UK: System Research Ltd.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (January 1972). Uncertainty Regulation in Learning Applied to Procedures for Teaching Concepts of Probability (Technical report).
National Library, Harrogate, UK: System Research Ltd. – via Final Scientific Report SSRC Research Grant HR 12031.
——— (June 1970). Driving Strategies for Learner Drivers (Technical report).
Road Research Laboratory – via Final Scientific Report SSRC Research Grant HR 12031.
———; Brieske, G (March 1971). Description of the Driver Communication Training Module (Technical report).
Road Research Laboratory.
———; Scott, B.C.E. (June 1973). Educational Methods using Information about Individual Styles and Strategies of Learning (Technical report). System Research Ltd. Final Scientific Report
SSRC Grant No HR 1424/1.
———; Scott, B.C.E.; Kallikourdis, D (1974). Entailment and Task Structures for Educational Subject Matter (Technical report). System Research Ltd. Final Scientific Report
SSRC Grant No HR 1876/1.
——— (September 1973). Joint Report on SSRC Projects HR 1876/1 and HR 1424/1 (Report). System Research Ltd.
——— (May 1973). An Invention Relying upon the Value of "Invention", Intnl Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Technology (Technical report). Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Circle. In School of Information Science Reports, Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 1973.
——— (1973). Partial Analysis of A Course in Education (Technical report). Open University Monograph.
———, ed. (1975). Summary Report of Conference on Scientific Approaches to Decision Making in Complex Systems (Technical report). Washington: ARI (published 1976). Convened by the European Research Office, London and the US Army Research Institute for the Behavioural and Social Sciences.
——— (1975). Applications and Developments of a Theory of Teaching and Learning, Final Report (Technical report). Vol. 1–2.
SSRC (published 1976). Contract number: SSRC HR 2371/1
———; Malik, R (1976). Course Assembly Manual (Technical report).
SSRC.
——— (November 1976). T O’Shea (ed.). Summary of Work at System Research Ltd (Technical report). AISB Newsletter (published 1976).
Hawkridge, D; Lewis, B. N.; MacDonald-Ross, M.; Pask, G.; Scott, B.C.E. (1976). System Analysis of an Open University Course for New Methods for Evaluation and Curriculum Design (Technical report). Vol. II. IET and
Ford Foundation.
Pask, G; Bailey, R; Ensor, E; Malik, R; Newton, R; Scott, B.C.E.; Watts, D (1976). Course Assembly (Thoughtsticker) Manual (Technical report). System Research Ltd.
Ensor, D; Malik, R; Pask, G; Scott, B.C.E. (1976). "Forms III, V, VI". "Cartoons" Tests for learning "style" (Technical report). System Research Ltd.
——— (1974–1978). "Learning Styles, Educational Strategies and Representation of Knowledge, Methods and Applications". Progress Report SSRC Research Programme HR 2708/2 (Technical report). Vol. 1–4.
SSRC.
——— (1975–1977). "The Influence of Learning Strategy and Performance Strategy upon Engineering Design". Progress Report (Technical report). Vol. 1–8. ARI. Includes Scientific notes (1-5). Grant USAF F 44620.
——— (1976–1978). "Cognitive Mechanisms and Behaviours Involved in other than Institutional Learning and Using Principles of Decision". Progress Report (Technical report). Vol. 1–2. ARI. Grant ARI DAERO 76-G-069.
Theses
Pask, Gordon (1964). An Investigation of Learning under Normal and Adaptively Controlled Conditions (PhD). London University.
Unpublished and other monographs
Pask, Gordon (n.d.). Saturnalia, book and pictures and lyrics.
——— (1976). Miscellaneous contributions to Microfiche BCL publications (Report). Champaign/Urbana:
Biological Computer Laboratory. Includes Cybernetics of Cybernetics, available in reduced paperback form from Intersciences Publications, Seaside, California.
——— (1993b). Interactions of Actors, Theory and Some Applications.
^Pickering (2009) notes that his brother Edgar was described by Pask as his hero and role model. Edgar was noted to have fought in World War II, and "carried out a series of life threatening experiments on himself aimed at increasing the survival rate of piolets" (p. 310). Edgar was thrown into pools unconscious to examine the properties of life jackets, thrown into the icy waters of Shetland, and so on. Pickering notes that this presented a hard act to follow for Pask, but "he did, in his own unusual way" (p. 311).
^McKinnon-Wood (1993) claims Pask to have been studying Psychology at the time; whereas
Scott (2007) claims Pask to have been studying Physiology.
^Furtado Cardoso Lopes (2009, p. 27) notes that Pask's entrance into cybernetics dates to around this time. He had begun to accumulate early additions of the works of
Wiener and
Shannon.
^Pickering (2009) notes that Pask had fallen in love with the world of the arts through a school friend who ran a traveling cinema company in Wales (p. 313).
^Beer (1993) claims this would have been 40 years prior to the publication of his article, implying the date of their meeting would have been 1953 (p. 13). However, no exact confirmation of their first meeting is given to Beer. He also notes his "abysmal memory" (p. 14), such that the correctness of specific details in Beer's account cannot be confirmed.
^Cariani (1993) argues that the "Mechanization of Thought Processes" conference was likely the last large interdisciplinary meeting on general problems relating to artificial intelligence during the 20th century (p. 22). It contained people from direct programming (
McCarthy,
Minsky, Backus, Hopper, Bar-Hillel), neural nets (
Selfridge, Uttley), cybernetics (
Ashby, Pask), and neurophysiology (Barlow,
McCulloch, Whitfield).
^Scott (2007) states the event occurred in 1959 (p. 33), while
Cariani (1993) states the event took place in November 1958 (p. 22).
^McCulloch (2016) expresses issue with the view that the organic evolution occurs through a brute force trial-and-error style process. He suggests other parameters must be at play which leads to the emergence of viable organisms: “I believe they are sought in the nature of her building blocks, [subatomic] particles, atoms, and molecules, proceeding discretely through well-regulated autocatalytic reactions to produce cells and cell aggregates, or, as in Pask's example, crystals" (p. 251).
^Scott (2007) is of the opinion that Pask's primary emphasis in his activity was not system building or inventing. Instead, he was a thinker or theoretician who wanted to embed his theory in tangible artefacts (p. 32).
^Pask's
interaction of actors theory is noted here as being mostly incomplete, with its contents being dispersed across his later articles of this period, and an unpublished manuscript co-authored with
Gerard de Zeeuw.
^Barnes (2001), who studied under
Gregory Bateson, notes of having received an informal certificate by Pask after having requested Pask to teach him cybernetics. They saw each other for private lessons for the last two years of Pask's life, and he even received an informal certificate from Pask (p.545)
^This looping-throughness as
Pangaro (2001) puts it, is a key characteristic of Pask's theory of intelligence.
Glanville, Ranulph (2007). "An Approach to Cybernetics (Gordon Pask, 1961)". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
———; Scott, Bernard (2007). "About Gordon Pask". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl. H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
Furtado Cardoso Lopes, Gonçalo M. (2009). Pask's Encounters: From a Childhood Curiosity to the Envisioning of an Evolving Environment. Wien: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941184.
McCulloch, Warren S. (2016). "Where is Fancy Bread?". Embodiments Of Mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
ISBN9780262529617.
Müller, Karl. H. (2007). "The Gordon Pask Archive in Vienna". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl. H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
Pangaro, Paul (2007). "Brief History of the Northen American Gordon Pask Archive". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl. H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
Pederson, Claudia Costa (2021). Gaming Utopia: Ludic Worlds in Art, Design, and Media. Indiana University Press.
ISBN9780253054500.
Scott, Bernard (2007). "The Cybernetics of Gordon Pask". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl. H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
———; Glanville, Ranulph (2007). "Gordon Pask Publications". In Glanville, Ranulph; Müller, Karl. H. (eds.). Gordon Pask, Philosopher Mechanic: An Introduction to the Cybernetician's Cybernetician. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Vienna: edition echoraum.
ISBN9783901941153.
Barnes, Graham (2001). "Voices of sanity in the conversation of psychotherapy". Kybernetes. 30 (5/6): 526–550.
doi:
10.1108/03684920110391760.
Beer, Stafford (1993). "Easter". Systems Research. 10 (3).
Cariani, Peter (1993). "To Evolve an Ear". Systems Research. 10 (3).
Furtado Cardoso Lopes, G. M. (2008). "Cedric Price's Generator and the Frazers' systems research". Technoetic Arts. 6 (1): 55–72.
doi:
10.1386/tear.6.1.55_1.
IFSR (1994).
"Gordon Pask, 1994". IFSR.org. International Federation for Systems Research. Archived from
the original on 28 October 2017. See also.
PDF
Bird, J., and Di Paolo, E. A., (2008) Gordon Pask and his maverick machines. In P. Husbands, M. Wheeler, O. Holland (eds), The Mechanical Mind in History, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 185 – 211.
ISBN9780262083775
Barnes, G. (1994) "Justice, Love and Wisdom" Medicinska Naklada, Zagreb
ISBN953-176-017-9.
Glanville, R. and Scott, B. (2001). "About Gordon Pask", Special double issue of Kybernetes, Gordon Pask, Remembered and Celebrated, Part I, 30, 5/6, pp. 507–508.
Green, N. (2004). "Axioms from Interactions of Actors Theory", Kybernetes, 33, 9/10, pp. 1433–1462.
Download
Glanville, R. (ed.) (1993). Gordon Pask—A Festschrift Systems Research, 10, 3.
Pangaro, P. (1987). An Examination and Confirmation of a Macro Theory of Conversations through a Realization of the Protologic Lp by Microscopic SimulationPhD Thesis Links
Margit Rosen: "The control of control" – Gordon Pasks kybernetische Ästhetik. In: Ranulph Glanville, Albert Müller (eds.): Pask Present. Cat. of exhib. Atelier Färbergasse, Vienna, 2008, pp. 130–191.
Scott, B. and Glanville G. (eds.) (2001). Special double issue of Kybernetes, Gordon Pask, Remembered and Celebrated, Part I, 30, 5/6.
Scott, B. and Glanville G. (eds.) (2001). Special double issue of Kybernetes, Gordon Pask, Remembered and Celebrated, Part II, 30, 7/8.
Scott, B. (ed. and commentary) (2011). "Gordon Pask: The Cybernetics of Self-Organisation, Learning and Evolution Papers 1960–1972" pp 648
Edition Echoraum (2011).