Metaphorum 2026 · Emerging Methods and Tools, and Contemporary Practice

Cybernetic Futures (workshop)

A hundred years after Stafford Beer's birth, this workshop asks what the next hundred years of organizational cybernetics could look like — and what we should do now to shape them. Rather than a retrospective, Cybernetic Futuresis a working session: participants explore plausible development trajectories and derive concrete options for intervention, with particular attention to strengthening democratic structures and the agency of individuals and groups to shape the future. We distinguish five horizons of 'future' relevant to cybernetics: the future of Beer's specific models (notably the Viable System Model), of cybernetic principles more broadly, of organizations, of AI and machine intelligence, and of society itself. The specific artifacts may change, while the underlying principles may become more relevant rather than less. From a set of scenarios — for example AI Revives Cybernetics, Cybernetics Merges with Complexity Science, The Rise of Collective Sensemaking Systems, and Planetary Cybernetics — we run a selection in parallel as starting points for structured discussion. The format is a syntegration-inspired discovery lab combining short provocations, structured small-group dialogue with rotating roles and timeboxing, and collective synthesis — not presentation-only. Each group documents its work as raw material for subsequent analysis. Senior figures take the role of respondents and witnesses; younger and practitioner voices contribute on equal footing. Outputs feed a continuing 'group for the future' and a publication trail beyond the conference. Participants leave with a shared set of questions worth pursuing and a concrete sense of where cybernetic practice can intervene. Speaker: Krishan Mathis

Schedule to be confirmed