ABSTRACT

In the heated discussion going on in our country about the significance of similarities and differences between automatic electronic devices and living organisms, the cyberneticists have usually been reproached for their extreme universalism, and also, on occasion, for their inadequate knowledge of biology. The opposition has, on the other hand, often pointed to the indistinctiveness of organisms or to such distinctive qualities of theirs which have already or could become properties of cybernetic machines.