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- Cybernetics is not the Banana! (Part 2)
Cybernetics is not the Banana! (Part 2)
Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast - Episode 24
Laksh Raghavan
October 12, 2025
This week’s newsletter brings episode 24 of the Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast, featuring Ben Taylor, Managing Partner of Red Quadrant and a long-time advocate of the insights from systems thinking, complexity and cybernetics.
In this episode, Ben begins by noting that "the map is not the territory," and that understanding a situation is always based on one's framing, context, and purpose. The discussion critiques over-reliance on technology and stresses that meaningful work requires judgment, discretion, and established, negotiable boundaries. Ben challenges many mainstream assumptions and ultimately advocates for a deeper philosophy of management that balances rigor and freedom.
Through reflections on public sector complexity and the drawbacks of tech-driven solutions, Ben offers profound insights into organizational behavior. This episode is rich with practical advice and conceptual frameworks aimed at enhancing leadership and personal effectiveness.
“…cybernetics is a way of looking at things, a way of understanding what’s going on. What is language? What are problems of that sort? And it is a little bit—if I may be a little bit naïve at that moment—for instance, if you have a chimpanzee and there is a banana, and he comes up with a stick and pulls the banana out: cybernetics is not the banana…”
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