in cybernetics, a full treatment was given by ross ashby in 1956. a black box was described by norbert wiener in 1961 as an unknown system that was to be identified using the techniques of system identification. he saw the first step in self-organization as being to be able to copy the output behavior of a black box. many other engineers, scientists and epistemologists, such as mario bunge, used and perfected the black box theory in the 1960s.