Wiener coined cybernetics from the Greek word for steersman

In his 1948 book “Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine,” Norbert Wiener introduced the word cybernetics, derived from the Greek term for steersman or governor, to name the entire field concerned with control and communication, whether in a living organism or a machine. The same Greek root also gives us the word governor.

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Last verified June 6, 2026