1)pp. 111-112 Why don’t the ancient Chinese inventions of the south pointing carriage and the moderation drinking straw count as truly automatic in a modern “self-steering” sense?

2)pp. 112-113 Describe the early feedback mechanisms of Ktesibios, Heron, and Drebbel.

3)pp. 114-115 What was James Watt’s innovation? What is its significance?

4)pp. 116 Why did it take so long for feedback to be used in electrical circuits? Where was it first applied?

5)pp. 117-118 What are servomechanisms? How are they used? Describe what Bill Powers means by the “false impression” of feedback loop description.

6)pp. 119-120 Who was Norbert Wiener, and what did he contribute to feedback?

7)pp. 121 Why wasn’t feedback regulation of metal thickness introduced much earlier? What is the relationship to the failure of communism in the soviet union?

8)pp. 122 What is the cost benefit of adding feedback to production? What drawbacks can occur?

9)pp. 122-123 How can “metacontrol” address the problems that arise in feedback networks? Why is this difficult for modernist logic?

10)pp. 124 Explain the symbolism of the Uroborus.

11)pp. 125-127 Contrast the modernist efforts to control matter and energy with the postmodernist efforts to control information.

12)pp.128-130 What did marine biologist Lloyd Gomez find critical to creating stable coral reef aquaria?

13)pp. 130-131, 62-63 Compare Gomez’s aquaria results to the work of Pimm and Drake on ecosystems in vivo, vitro, and silico.

14)pp. 131-132 How did Folsome extend the previous studies of closed ecosystems?

15)pp. 132-134 What are ecospheres, and what lessons can we learn from them?

16)pp. 135-138 Describe US and USSR space research on closed systems.

17)pp. 138-141 What was the biosphere 2 project, and why does Kelly describe it as having “the appropriate out-of-controlness?”

18)pp. 142-145 How did ecologists approach the problem of planning for biosphere 2?

19)146-147 What challenges did biosphere 2 find building their closed system?

20)147-149 What analogies might we see between biosphere 2 and the real world?