The Path of Cybernetics in the Soviet Union: from Rejection to Celebration in the Service of Communism

One of the many ways that scientists and philosophers have sought to define cybernetics has been as a “science of interactions” (Helvey, 1971). The multifacet- ed and versatile concept of interaction has at times been embraced as a key notion to understanding cybernetics rise and development as a transversal, systemic sci- ence across different disciplines and theoretical frameworks. This was particularly the case when in the 1960s Soviet Union, Axel I. Berg contributed to the birth of cybernetics in the service of communism. By discussing the work of the Soviet engineer who played a major role in the establishment of cybernetics as an interdisciplinary, overarching discipline, this article aims at outlining Soviet cybernetics path from a pseudoscience to a universal theory of the laws of nature.