W. Ross Ashby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
W. Ross Ashby
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W. Ross Ashby (1948)
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| Born | 6 September 1903 London, England
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| Died | 15 November 1972 (aged 69) |
| Known for | Cybernetics, Law of Requisite Variety, Principle of Self-organization |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychiatry, Cybernetics, Systems theory |
| Influences | Gerd Sommerhoff, Walter Cannon, Claude Shannon |
| Influenced | Norbert Wiener, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, George Klir, Herbert A. Simon, Klaus Krippendorff Stafford Beer, William T. Powers, Robert May and Stuart Kauffman |
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William Ross Ashby (born September 6, 1903 – died November 15, 1972) was an English doctor who studied the mind. He was a leader in a field called cybernetics. This is the study of how machines and living things communicate and control themselves automatically. Most people knew him as Ross Ashby.
His two famous books, Design for a Brain and An Introduction to Cybernetics, helped bring clear and logical thinking to the new field of cybernetics. These books were very important. They, along with his other work, made Ashby a key thinker in cybernetics, second only to Norbert Wiener.
Contents
Early Life and Education
William Ross Ashby was born in 1903 in London, England. His father worked for an advertising company there. Ross Ashby went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1921. He earned his first degree in 1924. He then studied medicine and became a doctor in 1928. From 1924 to 1928, he worked at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He later earned more degrees, including one in psychological medicine in 1931.
Ross Ashby's Career Journey
Ross Ashby started his career in 1930 as a psychiatrist for the London County Council. From 1936 to 1947, he worked as a researcher at St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton, England. During World War II, from 1945 to 1947, he served in India as a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
After returning to England, he became the Director of Research at the Barnwood House Hospital in Gloucester. He held this position from 1947 to 1959. For one year, he was also the Director of the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol. In 1960, he moved to the United States. He became a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, teaching about how living things work and electrical engineering. He retired from there in 1970.
After retiring, he became an honorary professor at the University of Wales in 1970. In 1971, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Sadly, in June 1972, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He passed away on November 15, 1972.
Ross Ashby's Important Work
Ross Ashby's ideas greatly influenced fields like cybernetics, systems theory, and complex systems. However, he is not as famous as some of the scientists he influenced. These include Herbert A. Simon, Norbert Wiener, and Stuart Kauffman.
His Personal Journal
For over 44 years, Ashby kept a detailed journal. In it, he wrote down his ideas for new theories. He started this journal in May 1928, while he was a medical student. Over the years, he filled 25 volumes, writing 7,189 pages. In 2003, these journals were given to The British Library in London. In 2008, they became available online as The W. Ross Ashby Digital Archive.
Ashby first thought of his theorizing as a private hobby. He found writing difficult and even took courses to improve his writing skills. He once wrote that he feared becoming "conspicuous" because his book was being published. He said he had "no liking" for that kind of success.
Understanding Adaptation
Ashby was very interested in how living things, especially the brain, adapt to changes. By 1941, he had a clear theory about this. He wrote a 197-page book called "The Origin of Adaptation." This handwritten book was made public in 2021. In it, he shared his belief that there is a science of organization itself. This means there are rules and discoveries to be made about how things are organized, no matter what they are.
In 1948, Ashby built a machine called the homeostat to show his theories. This machine used a simple process to return to a balanced state after being disturbed. Earlier, in 1946, Alan Turing had suggested Ashby use Turing's early computer, the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE), for his experiments. Norbert Wiener called the Homeostat's ability to find balance "one of the great philosophical contributions of the present day." Ashby's first book, Design for a Brain, published in 1952, explained this research.
Contributions to Cybernetics
Ashby was one of the first members of the Ratio Club. This was a small, informal group of young scientists. They met to talk about ideas in cybernetics. The club started in 1949 and met until 1958.
His book, An Introduction to Cybernetics, made the term 'cybernetics' popular for describing self-regulating systems. Norbert Wiener first used this term. Ashby's book explained how living things maintain balance (homeostasis), adapt, remember, and plan for the future. He described these processes in terms of machines and their rules.
Ashby's 1964 paper, Constraint Analysis of Many-Dimensional Relations, started the study of reconstructability analysis. This is a way to model complex systems using ideas from set theory and information theory. Other scientists like Klaus Krippendorff later developed this further.
In 1970, Ashby worked on computer simulations about how stable large connected systems are. This work inspired Robert May's studies on how stability and complexity work in natural environments.
The Law of Requisite Variety
In An Introduction to Cybernetics, Ashby used the idea of "variety" to measure information. Variety means the number of possible states or choices. With this, he created his famous Law of Requisite Variety. Simply put, this law says that to control something complex, the controller must be just as complex.
He explained it like a game between a controller (R) and something causing problems (D). Only enough variety in the controller (R) can reduce the problems caused by (D). He famously said: "only variety can destroy variety."
Later, another scientist, Conant, added to this with the "Good Regulator theorem." This theorem states that "every good regulator of a system must be a model of that system." This means a good controller needs to understand how the system it controls works. Stafford Beer used Ashby's law to help manage businesses. He created management cybernetics and the Viable System Model.
A common saying, "only complexity absorbs complexity," is often linked to Ashby. However, it seems he never actually said this exact phrase.
Ross Ashby's Legacy
Ross Ashby's writings and papers are kept at the British Library. You can find them in their catalog.
In 2004, a conference was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign to celebrate 100 years since his birth. Important scientists like Stuart Kauffman and Stephen Wolfram spoke there. In 2009, a special issue of the International Journal of General Systems was dedicated to Ashby and his work. It included papers from leading experts.
Ashby's work on the Law of Requisite Variety has also influenced how people study and practice management.
See also
In Spanish: William Ross Ashby para niños
- Controllability and observability
- Ethical regulator theorem
- Intelligence amplification
