How do we make the most of the systems we find ourselves in, and what impact do we incur on ourselves, on others, and on our systems?

Cybernetics studies self-regulating systems from an external viewpoint. Cybernetics looks at how entities (typically people) navigate through and interact with the myriad systems and patterns around them. For more etymological exploration of the term “cybernetics”, check out Alec McHoul’s work “Cybernetymology and ~ethics”.

Cybernemics, then, examines self-regulating systems from an internal viewpoint. What is it to live inside a system, to experience ourselves and each other as part of the systems and patterns around us?

Think of the difference between phonetics vs. phonemics. “Phonetics studies the sounds we actually produce in speech. Phonemics studies the way we understand those sounds.” Likewise, cybernemics looks at system optimization from the inside out, starting with ourselves in seeking the common threads that link us all.