Cybersyn

Cybersyn was a pioneering project in the early 1970s aimed at using cybernetics to manage the Chilean economy. The project was led by British theorist **Stafford Beer**, who was an expert in cybernetics and management theory. Cybersyn was commissioned by the government of Salvador Allende, Chile's democratically elected socialist president, who sought a novel way to control and manage the country's industries, which had been nationalised as part of his economic reforms.

Key Elements of Cybersyn:

1. Cybernetics: The project was based on cybernetics, the science of communication and control in systems (biological, mechanical, or social). Stafford Beer used these principles to design a system that could regulate the economy in real time.

2. Opsroom (Operations Room): The most famous part of Cybersyn was its futuristic control room, called the Opsroom. It was designed to display data from factories and other sectors of the economy on large screens. Operators in the room could use the data to make decisions in real time about the production levels and efficiency of various industries.

3. Real-Time Data Network: Cybersyn aimed to connect factories and economic centres throughout Chile in real time using a **telex** network, allowing data on production, resources, and potential issues to be relayed to the central control centre in Santiago.

4. Project Components: Cybersyn consisted of several components:

   - Cybernet: A communications network using telex machines to gather data from factories and state enterprises.

   - Cyberstride: A software tool for analysing economic data.

   - Opsroom: The physical control room where managers could visualise and make decisions based on incoming data.

5. Viable System Model (VSM): Beer's organisational theory, the **Viable System Model**, was a key aspect of the project. This model proposed that every viable organisation, whether biological or social, consists of five interacting subsystems that regulate its operations. Cybersyn was essentially designed around this model.

Cybersyn’s Significance:

Cybersyn was unique because it sought to use cutting-edge technology and cybernetics to achieve a form of **economic democracy**, allowing decision-making to happen in a decentralised but coordinated fashion. However, the project was short-lived. It was dismantled after the military coup led by **Augusto Pinochet** in 1973, which overthrew Allende’s government.

Although Cybersyn never reached full operational capability, it is considered a visionary experiment in combining technology and governance. It still fascinates scholars today as an early example of an attempt to use systems theory and computer technology to manage a national economy.