This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2022
[SCIENCE]. WIENER, Norbert (1894–1964). Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine. [Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Technology Press for] New York: John Wiley & Sons; Paris: Hermann et Cie, 1948. 8vo. Original red cloth stamped in black (spine very gently darkened). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, printed offset from the typesetting of the French edition, of the first conventionally published book (rather than a technical report) to include a serious discussion of electronic computing. Wiener described a new theory of control, feedback and communication in biological and electromechanical systems. Wiener also touched on the question of whether it is possible to create a chess–playing machine “and whether this sort of ability represents an essential difference between the potentialities of the machine and the mind… it might very well be as good a player as the vast majority of the human race”. In 1996, the IBM computer Deep Thought defeated the reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov and in 2011 the IBM computer Watson defeated “Jeopardy” champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Origins of Cyberspace 992.