Our conclusion
In these pages we have seen that feedback is a useful principle, which can be applied to a great variety of systems, technological, involving animals and the environment. It can also be applied to economic systems, but at Reading we don't pretend we can control the economy!
Feedback is one example of such a principle - Cybernetics demonstrates that you can take a concept developed in one application, and then use it in others. This is a very important ability, and being able to do so is very useful, and makes Cyberneticists very employable.
Cyberneticists also tend to take a 'systems approach': meaning they not only appreciate the area in which they work, but they also know how their work fits in well with the rest of the system - again a very employable skill.
These pages, of course, can only give a brief feel for the subject. In fact, they concentrate on so called first order Cybernetics, involving basic feedback loops. There also exists second order Cybernetics, in which systems have an observer which monitor and also influence what is happening in the system ... there have also been suggestions of the need for third order Cybernetics.
Research in Cybernetics at Reading includes work on intelligence, including the use of neural networks; advanced and intelligent control; robotics; interactive systems, including the use of technology to aid and augment humans; image processing; virtual reality; systems for measurement, including the use of infra-red and Terahertz - these all involve systems and feedback.