From Dag Forssell (950328 2300)
I think I am finished with the new disk. The text content is four times
larger than the December edition.
Marc Abrams will appreciate the thread on Cybernetics, but may not
like it.
Stefan Balke, I will now mail your package by air.
I anticipate that the threads assembled here will be useful to newcomers,
and hope that the book information files will serve to entice people to buy
the books.
I will mail both disks to Gary Cziko tomorrow. He will announce when
he has put it all on WWW server. I will mail as before. Both disks: $10.
The text below is the read file for the PCTDOCS directory.
Best, Dag
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This file: PCTDOCS.RD
The files in this directory (PCTDOCS) are in a compressed, self-
extracting file called DISCUSS.EXE. This file, when executed, will
expand itself into many text files. A listing is provided below.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For your convenience, the INSTALL8.BAT file is provided which will give
the DOS commands to install this group of texts on the drive of your
choice. While in this directory, type INSTALL8 d: <ENTER>, where d is the
letter for the drive you want, and the INSTALL8.BAT file will create a
directory d:\PCTDEMOS\PCTDOCS\ on your drive, copy the file DISCUSS.EXE
there, execute it to expand it into 68 files with a total of 2,525 KB,
then delete DISCUSS.EXE (from the new drive, not the originating floppy
disk). You can now browse, read and print any and all of these texts.
In addition, INSTALL8.BAT will copy this file to the same directory, and
the READ_1ST.TXT file to the d:\PCTDEMOS directory, if not already there.
These essays and postings from CSGnet were collected over time by Dag
Forssell. They are not organized or systematic in any particular way, but
offer a sampling of the issues and insight that are pertinent to PCT and
discussed among members of the Control Systems Group on the E-mail
network CSGnet (or CSG-L). Some of the files hold individual posts, while
other files are collections of posts in sequence on a similar subject,
sometimes in (heated) debate. Posts are not edited, but simply copied
from the listserver archive.
INTROCSG.NET is a good place to start reading, followed by RESOURCE.PCT.
The text files available here are no substitute for reading:
Book title: Book Info:
BEHAVIOR: THE CONTROL OF PERCEPTION BCP .INF
INTRODUCTION TO MODERN PSYCHOLOGY MOD_PSY .INF
LIVING CONTROL SYSTEMS vol I LCS_I .INF
LIVING CONTROL SYSTEMS vol II LCS_II .INF
MIND READINGS: EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF PURPOSE MIND_RD .INF
FREEDOM FROM STRESS, and FFS .INF
MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP: INSIGHT FOR EFFECTIVE PRACTICE MGT_LEAD.INF
_Behavior: The Control of Perception_ is the basic book on PCT. The best
essays by Bill Powers are collected in Living Control Systems I & II.
The table of contents, foreword, preface or introduction for each book
is reproduced in the Book Information files shown.
The books listed above and more are described with ordering information
in the file RESOURCE.PCT. They are highly recommended. Reading the files
and threads listed below will give you much additional information and
perspective on PCT and its applications.
Here is the list: 68 Files using 2,525 KB
Filename KB Short description
AUTISM . 33 On Autism and Belief
AXIOMS .PCT 19 Basic tenets of PCT
BCP .INF 8 Content, Preface
BPR-L .THD 28 PCT intro to Business Process Reengineering list
CORRELAT.ION 13 Bad data illustrated
CROWD_LO.GIC 8 Logical and sub-logical analysis
CYBERNET.ICS 185 Posts on Cybernetics and Systems Theory
DEPRESS .ION 17 Explanation and clinical terminology
DESCARTE.ERR 11 Descartes' Error, An Anthropologist on Mars
DISPUTE .PCT 48 The Dispute over PCT
ECONOMIC.S 50 Economics: The interaction of Control systems
ENGINEER.PCT 52 Posts about engineering, terminology, and PCT
EPIPHANI.ES 26 Break out of Stimulus -> Response thinking
EQUAL_OP.POS 25 Action always equal and opposite disturbance
FABLE_RA.DIO 10 The Fable of the Radio. By Greg Williams
FFS .INF 14 Content, Foreword, Introduction
GLASSER . 41 Comments on Glasser, Book review, and Foreword
GOTTA .PEE 3 Half an hour in the life of an HPCT system
HIAWATHA. 5 Hiawathas poem on statistics
INTRO .PCT 7 Introduction to Control Theory
INTROCSG.NET ** 26***START HERE!!! Monthly introduction to CSGnet
KNOWING . 10 Objective modeling vs direct experience
LCS_I .INF 21 Content, Foreword, Preface
LCS_II .INF 6 Content, Preface, Notes on text
MGT_LEAD.INF 7 Content, Preface, Acknowledgements
MIND_RD .INF 26 Content, Foreword, Introduction
MODELING.PCT 8 On modeling behavior using control theory
MOD_PSY .INF 9 Content, Preface, Acknowledgements, About Authors
NEWCOMER.001 402 A psychologist joins CSGnet. Discussion
NEWCOMER.002 635 A skeptical engineer joins CSGnet. Albus
NON EXPL.AIN 7 Dormitive principles: Non-explanations
OLDIDEAS.PCT 9 PCT, behavioral theories, and experience
OPEN_MIN.D 16 Thread on the theme of an "open mind,"
OTHER NA.ME 7 By Any Other Name: the word Control
OTHER_TH.EOR 8 PCT and other theories
PERCEPT .LVL 92 Thread on levels of perception
PHYSICS .END 22 The end of physics and other comments
POLICE .PCT 10 Policing PCT purity and correctness
POWER_CU.RVE 13 Avoid making that committment to _any_ belief
PROPERT .IES 7 Event and property centered explanations
PURPOSIV.TRM 12 Terminology of purposive behavior
QUALITY .TME 5 A short comment on Ed Ford's therapy
QUESTION.PCT 27 A reasonable set of comments and questions
REALITY . 13 Experience, Reality, and HPCT
REAL_LIF.E 5 Rubber Band Demo to Real Life
RELIGION. 23 Thread on religion
REORGANI.ZAT 9 A Clinicians view of Reorganization
REPLICAT.ION 33 Posts on replication
RESOURCE.PCT 75 PCT Introduction and Resource Guide
RESPONSI.BLE 69 Thread on responsibility
ROTTEN .APP 9 Rotten apples: solipsism; learning
RUMOR .SCI 7 Scientific rumors
SCIENCE .PSY 16 Musings on science, American Psychology
SIMPLE_F.AST 17 Open loop faster and simpler
SKINNER .MIS 26 Skinners Mistake. Essay by Bill Powers
SOCIAL .CTL 6 Social control (systems)
SOCIAL .POW 12 On Kent McClelland's paper about social power
STAR_TRE.K 38 Discussion of Operant conditioning
STUDY_IV.DV 8 Independent Variable - Dependent Variable
TENDENCY.BIA 9 Tendencies and biases
TOUGH_SE.LL 60 The "tough sell" of PCT and social interactions
TUTORIAL.PCT 19 Controlled versus controlling; a tutorial
UP_2A_PO.INT 5 Behavior understandable - at least up to a point
VIOLENCE.PCT 7 Is PCT really about violence?
VIRTUAL .RLT 10 Virtual Reality conference
VOLTAGE-.DIG 14 Words, meanings, computations
WHAT_IS .SCI 9 What is science? - Theory, look for evidence?
WORD_MOD.EL 12 Words and models
I will appreciate comments and suggestions.
Enjoy! Dag Forssell Updated March 28, 1995