cybernetics (noun) - the science of communication as it relates to living things and machines BREAKDOWN: CYBER- (computers) + NET- (networks) + -ICS (science or discipline) The word cybernetics was coined by American mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener to define his concept of the study of control and communication in the animal and the machine. Wiener was among the first to theorize that all intelligent behavior was the result of feedback mechanisms, which could themselves possibly be simulated by machines.