Forgetting / Cybernetics

Abstract

This article aims to trace epistemological connections between cybernetics and German media theory by emphasizing the notion of forgetting. This notion is presented as a central condition for problematizing, first, the human-machine coupling pointed out by cybernetics and, second, the rise of the machines that has concerned German media theory for decades. To this end, the article draws a line connecting an early text by Friedrich Kittler and Heinz von Foerster’s work on memory—a connection that will also be discussed in the light of findings and statements by Moritz Hiller and Jan Müggenburg. Finally, this article will outline a (still hypothetical) way to problematize the techno-epistemological scope of Project Cybersyn through the lens of such a notion.