II Cybernetic Frontiers

by Stewart Brand and Gregory Bateson

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stewart Brand's first book is a juxtaposition of "Two cybernetic frontiers" - the first is a clever interview with Gregory Bateson that highlights some of the wondrous philosophical implications of cybernetics.
The second is Brand's famous 1974 Rolling Stone article on computer hackers, which helped frame personal computers as part of the counter culture.

I didn't really feel that the two articles compliment one another too well, but I suspect that is because the moment for that specific juxtaposition has passed, and all of the glorious future described in the Rolling Stone article has already come to pass. Thus, I found the Bateson interview to be the more rewarding.

The book in itself, by the way, is beautifully made and set. With very good photos and illustrations. Clearly, a lot of effort went into this.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to reread the book's first half sometime, a profile of cybernetician Gregory Batson, but my copy was disintegrating as I turned the pages and I just wanted to get to Brand's piece about hippie computer programmers playing Space War in the early '70s. And I wish that section was five or six times as long. I suppose that's what Steven Levy's "Hackers" is.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange hybrid of a book, about Gregory Bateson in the first section, "Both Sides of the Necessary Paradox (Conversations with Gregory Bateson)," followed by a study of the geek subculture around an early computer game called Spacewar. This book illuminates the ingenuity of the early programmers.

[TK Keanini · Rating 5 out of 5]

In it you will find one of the better interviews with Gregory Bateson.