Design for a Brain

Summary

Ashby develops a model of adaptive behaviour centred on stability, essential variables, and ultrastability. The inspected copy is a corrected 1954 reprint of the 1952 edition.

Implications for practice

The model makes explicit what must be preserved while behaviour changes.

Key distinctions

• 1952 edition versus later editions

Historical development

[]

Ideas it depends on

[]

Further developments

[]

Connections to practice

[]

Common confusions

[]

Further checks

• Extend the evidence pass beyond the cited passages.

Recorded connections

Check the wording, direction, scope, sources, and status of a connection before relying on it.

• Design for a Brain is listed in Short bibliography, described as 1956 — Wiener

  Status: candidate · Relation: listed in bibliography

  Bibliographic selection only. No influence, endorsement, or full-text coverage is implied.

  Locator: Short bibliography, described as 1956; Ashby, W. Ross, Design for a Brain, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York (Chapman & Hall, Ltd., London), 1952.

  • Wiener’s selected readings on cybernetics, 1951, 1952, 1956 (bibliographic or source boundary checked)

• Design for a Brain credits W. Ross Ashby

  Status: candidate · Relation: authored by

  Bibliographic attribution as listed; a credit is not an influence claim.

  Locator: Ashby, W. Ross, Design for a Brain, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York (Chapman & Hall, Ltd., London), 1952.

  • Wiener’s selected readings on cybernetics, 1951, 1952, 1956 (bibliographic or source boundary checked)

• Design for a Brain presents an account of Ultrastability

  Status: candidate · Relation: presents account of

  Limited to the identified passage. A practice analogy needs its own assumptions and evidence.

  Locator: Chapter 8, sections 8/4–8/7

  • Design for a Brain — 1954 corrected reprint of the 1952 edition (passage checked)

• Design for a Brain presents an account of Essential variables

  Status: candidate · Relation: presents account of

  Limited to the identified passage. A practice analogy needs its own assumptions and evidence.

  Locator: Section 3/14

  • Design for a Brain — 1954 corrected reprint of the 1952 edition (passage checked)

• Design for a Brain presents an account of Adaptation

  Status: candidate · Relation: presents account of

  Limited to the identified passage. A practice analogy needs its own assumptions and evidence.

  Locator: Preface

  • Design for a Brain — 1954 corrected reprint of the 1952 edition (passage checked)

Sources and passage locators

• Wiener’s selected readings on cybernetics, 1951, 1952, 1956 (bibliographic or source boundary checked)
• Design for a Brain — 1954 corrected reprint of the 1952 edition (passage checked)

Cite this entry

Taylor, B. P. (2026). Design for a Brain. The Necessary Tangle, release 0.35. https://transduction.systems/entries/publication_early_ashby_brain/

Include the release and review status when you quote or reuse this account.