what language was cybersyn/cyberstride implemented in?

Question

I am aware that it was implemented on the IBM 360 mainframe architecture but does anyone know what language(s) were used in particular? Supposedly the bulk of it was programmed and deployed in 3-4 months - that is a pretty rapid turn-around for any project let alone one which had the capability to monitor an entire economy. I am partially thinking it may have been implemented in APL because of the IBM 360 connection and because it seems like it would lend itself well to the sort of abstractions required to rapidly develop such a system. Does anyone know anything more factual?

Pisarik

Answer 1

Interesting question! I'm not sure what the main body of code was implemented in, but at least the simulation portion was implemented using Jay Forrester's DYNAMO compiler (see page 6). Page 22 of "Designing Freedom, Regulating a Nation: Socialist Cybernetics in Allende's Chile", by Eden Medina is the reference:

The simulation program used Jay Forrester's DYNAMO compiler, one of Anderton's areas of expertise.

Resile

That's really an interesting article. – Nathanielnathanil

Seriously, thanks for the link I am not sure how I have not stumbled across that one yet!! I like how brutal he is in regards to not holding back about allendes economic mistakes etc. instead of just glorifying his short lived presidency like a lot of historians do. I would still like some more concrete knowledge about the source code/architecture. – Pisarik

The biggest "economic mistake" of Allende was to nationalize American-owned mining companies. In a hypothetical alternative course of history, perhaps the CIA would not have been so zealous in helping Pinochet to "cure" the Chilean economy. For the CIA-Pinochet connection see gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/chile.htm – Saxtuba

Answer 2

Not a direct answer to the question, but the John Moores University in Liverpool has a large number of documents in their Stafford Beer archive. The section with material from Chile can be found here: LJMU Stafford Beer Archive - Chile

(Unfortunately, the PDFs are hard to download, not OCRed, without embedded metadata or sensible file names. But meh.)

Inheritor