The Wiener Gold Medal of the American Society for Cyberneticsis awarded posthumously to Francisco Varela
for his remarkable lifework in cybernetics, biology and the Buddhist-inspired study of embodied
consciousness. Francisco Varela’s early work formed a mathematical counterpoint to
his deep colloborations with Humberto Maturana. This mathematical work
brought the foundations of a calculus for self-reference to cybernetics
and advanced the mathematical work of Wiener, McCulloch and
Pitts of the early cybernetics to a new level. His biological work in
neurophysiology complemented these developments. The potential for further
mathematics for second order cybernetics at the level of Varela’s contribution
stands as a challenge for the future of cybernetics and its practicioners.
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