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Goal-directed behaviour
Weir M., Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Inc., Newark, NJ, 1984. Type: Book (9780677065700)
Date Reviewed: Aug 1 1985

Weir has an appropriately eclectic background for a cyberneticist; he is a psychologist and a computer scientist, a philosopher and a mathematician. In this book, he expands his doctoral thesis with the intent of providing a multidisciplined, theoretical foundation to the role of goals in the construction of cybernetic systems. He weaves his arguments in a subtle pattern, using threads of mathematics, teleologic philosophy, and behavioral psychology. He often uses common, understandable examples to illustrate major points.

In the end, Weir demonstrates that, contrary to the beliefs of some cyberneticists, modern servomechanisms are in fact self-directed, not necessarily goal-directed; that is, the actual (de facto) ends are less important than the behavior that arises from the attempt to reach a specific goal. I infer from this, in pedestrian terms, that means are more important than ends, that process is more important than product.

Weir develops his thesis in three parts. Part 1 is a set of definitions, a logical framework into which later discussion can be placed. Weir differentiates “states” (a “snapshot” of the system in space and time) from “paths” (series of states over space and time) and “fields,” which are three-dimensional representations of the possible paths of a system. Causes and effects are differentiated in both mathematical and philosophical terms, and a teleological model is developed in terms of control and path spaces.

In Part 2, Weir expands his framework to include theoretical/philosophical considerations. He discusses the history of teleologic philosophy (the study of causes and effects) and the differences between the viewpoints of Aristotle, Liebniz, and Kant. In the end, Weir seems to relate best to the Aristotelian view that systems have purposes at any current moment which are largely independent of basic teleologic determinants; that is, the state of a system at any moment is independent of the fundamental goals of the system.

Part 2 also contains an introduction to the sophisticated concept of feedback, the way a system can “know” how far it is deviating from goal-directed behavior. Through feedback, goals influence behavior, whether or not those specific goals are ever realized.

Parts 1 and 2 require rigorous reading, but they are interesting and challenging. I found, however, that Part 3 was too difficult to follow. For over 100 pages Weir compares his views, page by page, with those written by Sommerhoff in [1]. Part 3 is completed with several readable chapters demonstrating Weir’s view of self-directing systems, but the detailed comparison to Sommerhoff is academic at best and, at the worst, totally obscure.

This is not a book for the casual reader. It does, however, provide some interesting conceptual tools for those who wish to think about thinking, for those who think about machines that think, and for those who believe that, at some fundamental level, people are tightly linked to the machines that they build and use.

Reviewer:  J. L. Podolsky Review #: CR109297
1) Sommerhoff, G.The abstract characteristics of living systems, in Systems thinking, F. E. Emery (Ed.), Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, UK, 1976.
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