Project Cybersyn

Uncommon card · No. 97022

Project Cybersyn was a Chilean economic project developed from 1971 to 1973 during the presidency of Salvador Allende (1970–1973), with the purpose of constructing a distributed decision-support system to aid in the management of the national economy. The project consisted of four modules: an economic simulator, custom software to check factory performance, an operations room, and a national network of telex machines that linked to a single mainframe computer. Project Cybersyn, based on a viable system model (VSM) theory approach to organizational design, featured innovative technology at its time. It included a network of telex machines (Cybernet) in state-run enterprises that would transmit and receive information to and from the government in Santiago. Information from the field would feed into statistical-modeling software (Cyberstride) that would monitor production indicators, such as raw-material supplies or high rates of worker absenteeism. It alerted workers in near-real time. If...

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