The term cybernetics was first introduced as the title of a book in 1948 by American mathematician Norbert Wiener. Wiener derived the word from the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek word kybernetes, meaning “steerman”, combined with the suffix -ics. This new interpretation was likely influenced by the French term cybernetique, which refers to “the practice of governing”, with the idea of a control mechanism resembling a computer governor. The root word kybernetes is derived from the verb kybernan, meaning “to pilot”, with an unknown origin. The prefix cyber-, commonly used in reference to computer-related topics, emerged in the 1980s as a misinterpretation of the original term. The use of the noun cyber to denote “virtual sex” was initially documented in 1995.
