From: "Michele Intorcia" mintorc@tin.it
Subject: Cybernetic and Radical Constructivism
Date sent: Sat, 22 May 1999

Dear professor von Glasersfeld,

I am very spellbound from his perspective of Radical Constructivism. I want to know which is the relation (if he there are) among Radical Constructivism and cybernetic. And I want to know if she believes that the cybernetic contains the potentiality of check the human beings (for example the Information Technology).
(Sorry for my bad inglish)

Syncerely,

Michele Intorcia

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Dear Mr. Intorcia,

Radical constructivism was developed as a model of "knowing" by Heinz  von Foerster, the father of "Second Order Cybernetics" and myself, who got into Cybernetics through Silvio Ceccato in the 1950s. The connection is very  simple. A main theme of cybernetics is self-organization. Constructivism is a model of how the cognitive subject may construct his or her knowledge without  reference to a pre-existing reality. Equally important: cybernetic models work, not by setting up cause/effect links, but by setting up constraints,  and this principle is basic in constructivism.

I am not sure what you mean be " the potentiality of check the human  beings". If check is to mean "control", I would say that no one can control  them but they themselves. They have so far not been very good at it - and  technology provides examples of the lack of effort in this direction.

Best wishes,

Ernst von Glasersfeld