Project CyberSin

When, thirty years ago, Pinochet’s armed forces overthrew the Chilean government, they discovered a communication system - the “socialist Internet” that enmeshed the whole country.


In Santiago, the capital of Chile, the government of El Salvador Allende hired Stafford Beer to conduct an experiment known as the Project Cybersyn. What Stafford Beer did, in his own words, was the “introduction” of the electronic “nervous system” into Chilean society. For two years he worked in Chile, returning every few months to England, where his British team also worked on the Project Cybersin. The result of this cooperation was a new communication system that stretched over the entire length of Chile, transmitting daily information about the products of factories and plants, about the flow of important raw materials, the number of defects and other economic problems. The control program was written by Chilean engineers in collaboration with the British. The system was connected to 500 enterprises of the Cybernet network, information from which in real time entered the control room, which was located in the capital of Chile. It was a kind of "Internet", invented in the 70s, regardless of its American counterpart.

The full text of the article "Dreams in Santiago"

Cybersin on Wikipedia