It has been one of my aims, when setting-up Prognostikon, to be able to do micro-research pieces and to expose and explore ideas for generating discussion and wider interest. But this micro-research, when added-up, also leads to larger research efforts that might result in publications too. So, I am very happy to share a new publication, jointly with my colleague, co-author and Prognostikon author and supporter, Professor Panos Xidonas which draws on some of our past posts here in the blog and extensive research after them too.

Our paper “The Origins of Forward-Looking Decision Making: Cybernetics, Operations Research and the Foundations of Forecasting”, is now published at the Decision Analytics Journal and is available online , and also below as a pdf.

It presents a story worth your reading time! Using a variety of interdisciplinary-sourced material, that spans the period from about 1880’s to the end of the 2nd World War in 1945, we go over the works and contributions of many pioneers in the fields of forecasting, OR and cybernetics (the forefather of AI) and explore how these contributions shaped the evolution of business and predictive analytics, modern OR and modern ML and AI.

Why, you might ask, would someone be wanting to read such a history-filled piece? Well, this is not the place to answer such a question, so grab your copy and get down to reading it while enjoying the summer – and we do look forward to your comments (no math in this paper, so no excuses for not reading it!).