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Ratio Club

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The Ratio Club was a small British informal dining club from 1949 to 1958 of young psychiatrists , psychologists , physiologists , mathematicians and engineers who met to discuss issues in cybernetics .

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29-647: The idea of the club arose from a symposium on animal behaviour held in July 1949 by the Society of Experimental Biology in Cambridge . The club was founded by the neurologist John Bates , with other notable members such as W. Ross Ashby . The name Ratio was suggested by Albert Uttley , it being the Latin root meaning "computation or the faculty of mind which calculates, plans and reasons". He pointed out that it

58-424: A Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women were not allowed to attend. The wine was drawn from a krater , a large jar designed to be carried by two men, and served from pitchers ( oenochoe ) . Determined by the symposiarch, the wine was diluted to a specific strength and was then mixed. Slave boys would manage the krater , and transfer the wine into pitchers. They then attended to each man in

87-658: A scientific conference. The equivalent of a Greek symposium in Roman society is the Latin convivium. The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for the progeny of respected families to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were frequently held to celebrate the introduction of youth into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests. Many archaic poetic sources were written by members of

116-538: Is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek triklinion ( τρικλίνιον )—from tri- ( τρι- ), "three", and klinē ( κλίνη ), a sort of couch , or rather chaise longue . Each couch was sized to accommodate a diner who reclined on their left side on cushions while some household slaves served multiple courses brought from the culina , or kitchen , and others entertained guests with music, song, or dance. The triclinium

145-517: Is also the root of rationarium , meaning a statistical account, and ratiocinatius , meaning argumentative. The use was probably inspired by an earlier suggestion by Donald Mackay of the 'MR club', from Machina ratiocinatrix , a term used by Norbert Wiener in the introduction to his then recently published book Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine . Wiener used

174-487: The dominus . As static, privileged space, dining rooms received extremely elaborate decoration, with complex perspective scenes and central paintings (or, here, mosaics). Dionysus , Venus , and still lifes of food were popular. Middle-class and elite Roman houses usually had at least two triclinia ; it is not unusual to find four or more. Here, the triclinium maius ("big dining room") would be used for larger dinner parties, which would typically include many clients of

203-612: The klinē to the male sex. The Romans may have seen the first dining klinai used by the Etruscans but may have refined the practice when they later came to closer contact with the Greek culture. Dining was the defining ritual in Roman domestic life, lasting from late afternoon through late at night. Typically, nine to twenty guests were invited, arranged in a prescribed seating order to emphasize divisions in status and relative closeness to

232-471: The 416 BC Dionysia . According to Plato's account, the celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the toast of the town, the young Alcibiades , dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium. The men at the symposium would discuss a multitude of topics—often philosophical or political. A symposium would be overseen by a "symposiarch" ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : συμπόσιάρχης  : symposiárchēs) who would decide how strong

261-647: The Greek symposia; however, one major difference is that women of status participated more fully in this as in other realms of Etruscan society . Women were allowed to drink wine and recline with men at feasts. Some Etruscan women were even considered "expert drinkers". Additionally, Etruscan women were often buried with drinking and feasting paraphernalia, suggesting that they partook in these activities. The most apparent distinctions between Greek and Etruscan drinking parties appear in Etruscan art. Etruscan paintings show men and women drinking wine together and reclining on

290-426: The Greek virtue of moderation, the symposiarch should have prevented festivities from getting out of hand, but Greek literature and art often indicate that the third- krater limit was not observed. Symposiums are often featured on Attic pottery and Richard Neer has argued that the chief function of Attic pottery was for use in the symposium. An amphora was used as a jug to hold the wine and usually one single cup

319-518: The Greeks in the early seventh century BC. From there, it spread to its colonies in southern Italy ( Magna Graecia ) and was eventually adopted by the Etruscans . In contrast to the Greek tradition of allowing only male guests into the formal dining room, called andrōn , while everyday meals were taken with the rest of the family in the oikos , the Etruscans seem not to have restricted the use of

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348-617: The dregs of their wine in a kylix , a platter-like stemmed drinking vessel, and flung them at a target. Another feature of the symposia were skolia , drinking songs of a patriotic or bawdy nature, performed competitively with one symposiast reciting the first part of a song and another expected to improvise the end of it. Symposiasts might also compete in rhetorical contests, for which reason the word "symposium" has come to refer in English to any event where multiple speeches are made. Etruscan art shows scenes of banqueting that recall aspects of

377-503: The drinking of assigned quantities of wine, and the oversight of a master of the ceremonies appointed for the occasion from among the guests. Another Roman version of the symposium was the convivium . Women's roles differed in Roman symposia as well. Roman women were legally prohibited from drinking wine as a matter of public morality. Men were expected to control their own wine consumption, but women were not given this authority. Triclinium A triclinium ( pl. : triclinia )

406-594: The entrance of the room. In Roman-era dwellings, particularly wealthy ones, triclinia were common and the hosts and guests would recline on pillows while feasting . The Museum of Archeology in Arezzo, Italy and the House of Cairo in Pompeii offer what are thought to be accurate reconstructions of triclinia . The custom of using klinai ("dining couches") while taking a meal rather than sitting became popular among

435-541: The first meeting with I. J. Good , Philip Woodward and William Rushton added soon after. Giles Brindley was also a member for a short period. The club was the most intellectually powerful and influential cybernetics grouping in the UK, and many of its members went on to become extremely prominent scientists. Symposium In Ancient Greece , the symposium ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : συμπόσιον , sympósion or symposio , from συμπίνειν, sympínein , 'to drink together')

464-422: The guests. Among the instruments women might play was the aulos , a Greek woodwind instrument sometimes compared to an oboe . When string instruments were played, the barbiton was the traditional instrument. Slaves and boys also provided service and entertainment. The guests also participated actively in competitive entertainments. A game sometimes played at symposia was kottabos , in which players swirled

493-527: The owner . Smaller triclinia would be used for smaller dinner parties, with a more exclusive set of guests. Hence, their decoration was often at least as elaborate as that found in larger triclinia . As in the larger triclinia , wine, food, and love were always popular themes. However, because of their association with patronage and because dining entertainment often included recitation of highbrow literature like epics , dining rooms could also feature more "serious" themes. As in many houses in Pompeii , here

522-513: The same cushions. The Sarcophagus of the Spouses , found in the Etruscan region dating to 520–530 BC, depicts a man and women lounging together in the context of a banquet, which is a stark contrast with gendered Greek drinking parties. As with many other Greek customs, the aesthetic framework of the symposium was adopted by the Romans under the name of comissatio . These revels also involved

551-408: The second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. In keeping with

580-423: The smaller dining room ( triclinium minus ) forms a suite with the adjoining cubiculum and bath. In later republican times, after the introduction of round tables of citrus wood , the three couches were replaced by one of crescent shape (called sigma from the form of the Greek letter), which as a rule was only intended to hold five persons. The two corner seats ( cornua ) were the places of honor that, on

609-418: The social elite communities, and so may not be completely representative of the whole local society. Symposia were usually held in the andrōn (ἀνδρών), the citizen quarters of the household. The participants, or "symposiasts", would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations, the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting

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638-465: The symposium with the pitchers and filled their cups with wine. Certain formalities were observed, most important among which were libations , the pouring of a small amount of wine in honour of various deities or the mourned dead. In a fragment from his c. 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus , Eubulus has the god of wine Dionysos describe proper and improper drinking: For sensible men I prepare only three kraters : one for health (which they drink first),

667-427: The term in reference to calculus ratiocinator , a calculating machine constructed by Leibniz . The initial membership was W. Ross Ashby , Horace Barlow , John Bates , George Dawson, Thomas Gold , W. E. Hick , Victor Little, Donald MacKay , Turner McLardy, P. A. Merton, John Pringle, Harold Shipton, Donald Sholl, Eliot Slater , Albert Uttley , W. Grey Walter and John Hugh Westcott . Alan Turing joined after

696-565: The total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven (Oswyn Murray gives a figure of between seven and fifteen couches and reckons fourteen to thirty participants a "standard size for a drinking group"). If any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up. However, in Macedonian symposia, the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar. Food and wine were served. Entertainment

725-449: The wine for the evening would be, depending on whether serious discussions or sensual indulgence were in the offing. The Greeks and Romans customarily served their wine mixed with water, as the drinking of pure wine was considered a habit of uncivilized peoples . However, there were major differences between the Roman and Greek symposia. A Roman symposium ( convivium ) served wine before, with and after food, and women were allowed to join. In

754-404: Was characterized by three lecti (singular lectus : bed or couch), called triclinares ("of the triclinium "), on three sides of a low square table, whose surfaces sloped away from the table at about 10 degrees. Diners would recline on these surfaces in a semi-recumbent position. The fourth side of the table was left free, presumably to allow service to the table. Usually, the open side faced

783-478: Was passed amongst the men. Cups used at symposiums were not as nearly intricate as amphoras. Pottery used at symposiums often featured painted scenes of the god Dionysus, satyrs, and other mythical scenes related to drinking and celebration. Poetry and music were central to the pleasures of the symposium. Although free women of status did not attend symposia, high-class female prostitutes ( hetairai ) and entertainers were hired to perform, consort, and converse with

812-522: Was provided, and depending on the occasion could include games, songs, flute-girls or boys, slaves performing various acts, and hired entertainment. Symposia often were held for specific occasions. The most famous symposium of all, described in Plato's dialogue of that name (and rather differently in Xenophon's ) was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theater contest of

841-545: Was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, or conversation. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues , Plato 's Symposium and Xenophon 's Symposium , as well as a number of Greek poems , such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara . Symposia are depicted in Greek and Etruscan art , that shows similar scenes. In modern usage, it has come to mean an academic conference or meeting, such as

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