From Cybernetics to Cyberspace

Abstract

Cyberspace may seem new and exciting, but the Air Force has been advancing cyber concepts, technologies, and operations for more than 70 yearssince 1947, in fact, the same year the Air Force was established as a separate service. Cyber today has become shorthand for all things digital, but the term was actually coined just after World War II as cybernetics, the study of feedback, communication, and control. The term was derived from the Greek word for steersman, which refers to the fact that the steering engines of a ship are indeed one of the earliest and best developed forms of feed-back mechanism, according to Norbert Weiner, author of Cybernetics. Despite the nautical reference, modern cybernetics began with a wartime air-defense problem: How to better aim anti-aircraft guns at fast-moving targets flown by pilots keen to avoid getting hit.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1105095

Entities

People

  • Jason Healey

Organizations

  • Columbia University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Computer Networks
  • Computers
  • Cyber Warfare
  • Cyberspace
  • Cyberspace Operations
  • Defense Systems
  • Early Warning Systems
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Information Operations
  • Information Warfare
  • Military Education
  • Military Science
  • Strategic Defense Initiative
  • Warfare
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Cyber