In this special 100th episode of Brainland sometime co-host Andy Platman and Ken talk with Phil Husbands about the 'Ratio Club', a dining club of medics, mathematicians, engineers and physiologists that met regularly between 1949 and 1955 to talk cybernetics. Phil's definitive history of the group is in its final edit. The most well known member was, at the time, Grey Walter, who we talked about in an earlier episode (https://shows.acast.com/brainland/episodes/grey-walter). After introducing 'Ratio' and its members (and why that name), Phil talks about the different disciplines of members (medic/psychiatrists, physiologists, mathematician/statisticians, engineers and other scientists), their 'no professors' rule and we discuss several in some detail (Shipton, Gold, Ashby, Turing, Good, McKay and Barlow) playing brief extracts from Phil's interviews with two (Shipton and Barlow). We also talk about psychologist Kenneth Craik whose conversations with Walter and Bates influenced their decision to meet with like-minded individuals in '49, some of the topics the club discussed and why meeting ceased in 1955. Along the way there are some great stories about these diverse characters. In an 'after-hours' section Phil asks Ken and Andy about Ratio, their musical take on the Ratio club story, currently a set of songs, broadly in folk genres, created with musical collaborators (Josh Platman, Ben Moss and Tina Cox) and the plan to build a radio play around them. Extracts from some songs are included during the main conversation with full versions in the after hours section. In short, a classic 'Brainland' melange. For the full list of club members, and to read more about the club, see Phil and Owen Holland's original paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265258561_The_Ratio_Club_A_Hub_of_British_Cybernetics/link/5406f00c0cf2c48563b28164/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19
Participants:
Phil Husbands, Emeritus Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sussex ( https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p1334-phil-husbands/about)
Andy Platman, writer, dramatist and former GP.
Ken Barrett, artist, writer, podcaster and former neuropsychiatrist. http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/
Voice extracts with the permission of Phil Husbands.
Music: Opening theme composed and played by Ben Moss (https://www.benmossfolk.co.uk/), the intro to his song 'Turing', music, vocals and instrumentals by Ben, lyrics by Ken.
Other songs extracts :'Gold' and 'Good' music, vocals and instrumentals by Josh Platman (https://www.joshplatman.com/about), lyric by Andy.
'Shippy', sung by Tina Cox, lyric by Ken, traditional Shropshire folk tune.
'Ashby', music composed and played by by Josh Platman, words and vocals by Andy.
'Bates', improvised drumming by Bob Barrett, voice and words and sound design by Ken.
Riso print by KB, based on sketched portraits of nine members of the Ratio Club.
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