ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cybernetics in the Soviet Union

Okay kiddo, let's talk about something called cybernetics in the Soviet Union! So, cybernetics is all about using computers and machines to help control and communicate with things like robots and factories. In the Soviet Union, they really liked the idea of using cybernetics to make things run more smoothly and efficiently.

But here's the thing - the Soviet Union was a communist country, which means that the government controlled everything. And some people in the government were worried that cybernetics could be used to make things TOO efficient - so efficient that people might not be needed anymore! And that wouldn't be good for the millions of workers who depended on their jobs to survive.

So in the 1960s, the Soviet government decided to clamp down on cybernetics. They didn't want it to be too widespread or powerful. They even said that it was a "bourgeois pseudoscience" - basically, they were saying that it was something that rich capitalists would use to make themselves even richer.

But even though the government tried to suppress it, some people in the Soviet Union still believed in the power of cybernetics. They kept studying it and experimenting with it, even if they had to do it secretly. And after the Soviet Union fell apart in the 1990s, cybernetics started to become more accepted and widespread again.

So in the end, cybernetics in the Soviet Union was a big idea that was both exciting and scary. Some people thought it could change the world for the better, but other people thought it could change the world for the worse. And even though the government tried to stop it, people still believed in it and kept working on it in their own way.