Une histoire de la cybernétique en France (1948–1975) by Ronan Le Roux (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by:

• Une histoire de la cybernétique en France (1948–1975) by Ronan Le Roux
• Dominique Trudel (bio)

Une histoire de la cybernétique en France (1948–1975) By Ronan Le Roux. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2018. Pp. 803.

Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews, Ronan Le Roux's Une histoire de la cybernétique en France (1948–1975) is the most definitive account of the history of French cybernetics. Impressive in its scope, the book offers a detailed cartography of the complex diffusion of cybernetic concepts in a variety of institutional contexts, including UNESCO and the Pasteur Institute, as well as overviews of the professional trajectories of some of the key figures of French cybernetics (Benoît Mandelbrot, Louis Couffignal, etc.). At over 800 pages, including various interesting appendixes (previously unpublished documents, interview transcripts, etc.) and an index, the book has both encyclopedic and synthetic ambitions. With regard to this last aspect, the central question remains the apparent paradox of French cybernetics: How could it arouse so much interest but lead to so few significant results? Le Roux's answer points to the pitfalls of vulgarization, dissemination, and confusion. While cybernetics became everything and its opposite, Le Roux's book aims to mark-out a well-defined field.

Le Roux construes cybernetics as an interdisciplinary scientific field dedicated to modelization practices. This focus differs radically from previous works focusing on the social and cultural history of French cybernetics, on the many contact points between cybernetics and French theory, or on the margins of cybernetics (Triclot, Le moment cybernétique, 2008; Lafontaine, L'empire cybernétique, 2004; Theophanidis et al., "At the Margins of Cybernetics," 2017). To put it differently, Le Roux approaches cybernetics primarily through the lens of the history of science and technology and aims to assess the scientific relevance of cybernetics. As Le Roux puts it, the book continues the tradition of history of sciences "à la française." If such an approach is needed and relevant, it also has it owns limits. While cybernetics aimed at reconfiguring what counts as science and was considered a "universal discipline whose practitioners recommend a reordering of the traditional hierarchies of science" (Bowker, "How to Be Universal," 1993), this book recounts a more traditional and comforting history that remains within the boundaries of official scientific circles.

Among the most interesting chapters is the chronicle of the short-lived Cercle d'études cybernétiques (1949–53). Mostly based on the private papers of its founder, Robert Vallée, Le Roux's account exposes the activities of the core group of mathematicians and engineers who first developed French cybernetics. While the organization of the group echoed that of the American Macy conferences, a striking difference is the place of journalists in the French context. Albert Ducrocq and Pierre de Latil introduced cybernetics to [End Page 426] a more general public and were partly responsible for the popular fascination with cybernetics. Le Roux's perspective is that the involvement of journalists happened at the edge of the scientific field, and he consequently stops his inquiry at this specific point, not looking at the reception of cybernetics outside of scientific circles. If such a perspective is coherent within Le Roux's framework, which tends to distinguish the history of science and cultural history, this aspect of French cybernetics remains shrouded in mystery and should be the subject of future works.

The chapter about the entanglement of structuralism, psychoanalysis, and cybernetics is also very interesting. Le Roux carefully situates the many points of contact (historical, institutional, personal, etc.) between the three most important intellectual movements of the last century. Such a perspective is a needed complement to previous works, which were often more concerned with conceptual and political convergences. Le Roux carefully and convincingly positions his own argument in relation to other studies, including those by François Dosse and Vincent Descombes. Le Roux's rendering of the influence of cybernetics on Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jacques Lacan is subtle and leads to a set of complex hypotheses rather than definitive arguments. Here too, the book opens up promising discussions.

Dominique Trudel

Dominique Trudel is associate professor in the Department of Communication, Culture...