* * *
* * *
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster division of GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright © 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Published by arrangement with Prentice-Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632
ISBN: 0-671-80628-9
First Pocket Books printing May, 1969
33rd printing
Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries.
Printed in the U.S.A.
* * *
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
Your Key to a Better Life
* * *
A squirrel does not have to be taught how to gather nuts. Nor does it need to learn that it should store them for winter. A squirrel born in the spring has never experienced winter. Yet in the fall of the year it can be observed busily storing nuts to be eaten during the winter months
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 17
when there will be no food to be gathered. A bird does not need to take lessons in nest-building. Nor does it need to take courses in navigation. Yet birds do navigate
thousands of miles, sometimes over open sea.
They have no newspapers or TV to give them weather reports, no books written by explorer or pioneer birds to map out for them the warm areas of the earth. Nonetheless the bird "knows" when cold weather is imminent and the exact
location of a warm climate even though it may be thousands of miles away.
In attempting to explain such things we usually say that animals have certain "instincts" which guide them. Analyze all such instincts and you will find they assist the animal to successfully cope with its environment. In short, animals have a "success instinct."
We often overlook the fact that man too has a success instinct, much more marvelous and much more complex than that of any animal.
Our Creator did not short-change
man.
On the other hand, man was exceptionally blessed in this regard.
Animals cannot select their goals.
Their goals (self-preservation and procreation) are pre-set, so to speak. And their success mechanism is limited to these built-in goalimages, which we call "instincts."
Man, on the other hand, has something animals haven't
—Creative Imagination.
Thus man of all creatures is more
than a creature, he is also a creator.
With his imagination he can formulate a variety of goals. Man alone can direct
his Success Mechanism by the use of imagination, or imaging ability.
We often think of "Creative Imagination" as applying only to poets, inventors, and the like.
But imagination is creative in everything we do. Although they did not understand why, or how imagination sets our creative mechanism into action, serious thinkers of all ages, as well as
hard-headed "practical" men, have recognized the fact and made use of it. "Imagination rules the world," said Napoleon.
"Imagination of all man's faculties is the most
18 PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
God-like," said Glenn Clark.
"The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement . . . Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes," said Dugold Stewart, the famous Scottish
philosopher.
"You can imagine your future," says Henry J. Kaiser, who attributes much of his success in business to the constructive, positive use of creative imagination.
HOW YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM WORKS
"You" are not a machine.
But new discoveries in the science of Cybernetics all point to the conclusion that your physical brain and nervous system make up a servo-mechanism which "You" use, and which operates very much like an electronic computer,
and a mechanical goal-seeking device.
Your brain and nervous system constitute a goal-striving mechanism which operates automatically to achieve a certain goal, very much as a self-aiming torpedo or missile seeks out its target and steers its way to it.
Your built-in servomechanism
functions both as a "guidance system" to automatically steer you in the right direction to achieve certain
goals, or make correct responses to environment, and also as an "electronic brain" which can function automatically to solve problems, give you needed answers, and provide new ideas or "inspirations.
" In his book The Computer and the Brain, Dr. John von Newmann says
that the human brain possesses the attributes of both the analogue and the digital computer.
The word "Cybernetics" comes from a Greek word which means literally, "the steersman."
Servo-mechanisms are so constructed that they automatically "steer" their way to a goal, target, or "answer."
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 19
"PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS"—A NEW CONCEPT
OF HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS
When we conceive of the human brain and nervous system as a form of servo - mechanism, operating in accordance with Cybernetic principles, we gain a new insight into the why and wherefore of human behavior.
I choose to call this new concept "Psycho-Cybernetics": the principles of Cybernetics as applied to the human brain.
I must repeat.
Psycho-Cybernetics does not say that man is a machine.
Rather, it says that man has a machine
which he uses.
Let us examine some of the similarities
between mechanical servo-mechanisms and the human brain:
THE TWO GENERAL TYPES OF
SERVO-MECHANISMS
Servo-mechanisms are divided into two general types:
(1) where the target, goal, or "answer" is known, and the objective is to reach it or accomplish it, and
(2) where the target or "answer" is not known and the objective is to discover or locate it.
The human brain and nervous
system operates in both ways.
An example of the first type is the self-guided torpedo, or the interceptor missile. The target or goal is known—an enemy ship or plane. The objective is to reach it. Such machines must "know" the target they are shooting for.
They must have some sort of propulsion system which propels them forward in the general direction of the target.
They must be equipped with "sense organs" (radar, sonar, heat perceptors, etc.) which bring information from
the target.
These "sense organs" keep the machine informed when it is on the correct course (positive feedback)
and when it commits an error and gets off course (negative feedback).
The machine does not react or re..20
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
* * *
* * *
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster division of GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright © 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Published by arrangement with Prentice-Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632
ISBN: 0-671-80628-9
First Pocket Books printing May, 1969
33rd printing
Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries.
Printed in the U.S.A.
* * *
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
Your Key to a Better Life
* * *
A squirrel does not have to be taught how to gather nuts. Nor does it need to learn that it should store them for winter. A squirrel born in the spring has never experienced winter. Yet in the fall of the year it can be observed busily storing nuts to be eaten during the winter months
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 17
when there will be no food to be gathered. A bird does not need to take lessons in nest-building. Nor does it need to take courses in navigation. Yet birds do navigate
thousands of miles, sometimes over open sea.
They have no newspapers or TV to give them weather reports, no books written by explorer or pioneer birds to map out for them the warm areas of the earth. Nonetheless the bird "knows" when cold weather is imminent and the exact
location of a warm climate even though it may be thousands of miles away.
In attempting to explain such things we usually say that animals have certain "instincts" which guide them. Analyze all such instincts and you will find they assist the animal to successfully cope with its environment. In short, animals have a "success instinct."
We often overlook the fact that man too has a success instinct, much more marvelous and much more complex than that of any animal.
Our Creator did not short-change
man.
On the other hand, man was exceptionally blessed in this regard.
Animals cannot select their goals.
Their goals (self-preservation and procreation) are pre-set, so to speak. And their success mechanism is limited to these built-in goalimages, which we call "instincts."
Man, on the other hand, has something animals haven't
—Creative Imagination.
Thus man of all creatures is more
than a creature, he is also a creator.
With his imagination he can formulate a variety of goals. Man alone can direct
his Success Mechanism by the use of imagination, or imaging ability.
We often think of "Creative Imagination" as applying only to poets, inventors, and the like.
But imagination is creative in everything we do. Although they did not understand why, or how imagination sets our creative mechanism into action, serious thinkers of all ages, as well as
hard-headed "practical" men, have recognized the fact and made use of it. "Imagination rules the world," said Napoleon.
"Imagination of all man's faculties is the most
18 PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
God-like," said Glenn Clark.
"The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement . . . Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes," said Dugold Stewart, the famous Scottish
philosopher.
"You can imagine your future," says Henry J. Kaiser, who attributes much of his success in business to the constructive, positive use of creative imagination.
HOW YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM WORKS
"You" are not a machine.
But new discoveries in the science of Cybernetics all point to the conclusion that your physical brain and nervous system make up a servo-mechanism which "You" use, and which operates very much like an electronic computer,
and a mechanical goal-seeking device.
Your brain and nervous system constitute a goal-striving mechanism which operates automatically to achieve a certain goal, very much as a self-aiming torpedo or missile seeks out its target and steers its way to it.
Your built-in servomechanism
functions both as a "guidance system" to automatically steer you in the right direction to achieve certain
goals, or make correct responses to environment, and also as an "electronic brain" which can function automatically to solve problems, give you needed answers, and provide new ideas or "inspirations.
" In his book The Computer and the Brain, Dr. John von Newmann says
that the human brain possesses the attributes of both the analogue and the digital computer.
The word "Cybernetics" comes from a Greek word which means literally, "the steersman."
Servo-mechanisms are so constructed that they automatically "steer" their way to a goal, target, or "answer."
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 19
"PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS"—A NEW CONCEPT
OF HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS
When we conceive of the human brain and nervous system as a form of servo - mechanism, operating in accordance with Cybernetic principles, we gain a new insight into the why and wherefore of human behavior.
I choose to call this new concept "Psycho-Cybernetics": the principles of Cybernetics as applied to the human brain.
I must repeat.
Psycho-Cybernetics does not say that man is a machine.
Rather, it says that man has a machine
which he uses.
Let us examine some of the similarities
between mechanical servo-mechanisms and the human brain:
THE TWO GENERAL TYPES OF
SERVO-MECHANISMS
Servo-mechanisms are divided into two general types:
(1) where the target, goal, or "answer" is known, and the objective is to reach it or accomplish it, and
(2) where the target or "answer" is not known and the objective is to discover or locate it.
The human brain and nervous
system operates in both ways.
An example of the first type is the self-guided torpedo, or the interceptor missile. The target or goal is known—an enemy ship or plane. The objective is to reach it. Such machines must "know" the target they are shooting for.
They must have some sort of propulsion system which propels them forward in the general direction of the target.
They must be equipped with "sense organs" (radar, sonar, heat perceptors, etc.) which bring information from
the target.
These "sense organs" keep the machine informed when it is on the correct course (positive feedback)
and when it commits an error and gets off course (negative feedback).
The machine does not react or re..20
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
* * *
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