Readers of my blog might be aware that I appreciate the nuances of cybernetic constructivism. Cybernetic constructivism rejects the idea that we have access to an objective reality. It doesn’t deny that there’s an external reality independent of an observer. However, we don’t have direct access to it. Additionally, the external world is more complex than us. As part of staying viable, we construct a version of reality that’s unique to our interpretative framework. This takes place in a social realm, and error corrections happen because the construction occurs in that realm.

Heinz von Foerster, the Socrates of cybernetics, formulated two imperatives that provide insight into this framework. The first is the ethical imperative that states, “Act so as to increase the number of choices.” The second is the aesthetical imperative that states, “If you desire to see, learn how to act.”

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