In an applied sense, using automation and control systems; particularly in industrial automation, as production and production control systems. In a broader sense, cybernetics is the interdisciplinary science and comparative study of the automatic control systems formed by the nervous system and the brain, and by various mechanical-electrical systems, and in general, of those methods of communication and control which are common to living organisms and machines. As such, it incorporates and unifies the work of the servomechanisms and systems engineer, the communications engineer, and certain aspects of the work of the physiologist, neurologist, psychologist, sociologist, and economist.
Other definitions of cybernetics are: 1. The science of proper control within any assembly that is treated as an organic whole; 2. The science of effective organization or the art of relating things together so that what is desired occurs, namely the discipline of human action; 3. The science of constructing, manipulating, and applying cybernetic models which represent the organization of physical entities (such as animals, brains, societies, industrial plants, and machines) or symbolic entities (such as information systems, languages, and cognitive processes). Disagreement exists concerning the generality of the science, especially in relation to general system theory (separately described) which has objectives identical to those of the founders of cybernetics. For some the two disciplines are co-extensive, whilst for others each is regarded as a branch of the other.