Sõna "küberneetika" tuleb kreekakeelsest sõnast, mis tähendas laevajuhtimiskunsti. Juhtimisteooriate tähenduses tõi termini laiemasse kasutusse Norbert Wiener.
Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, (Hermann Editions in Paris; Cambridge: MIT Press, Wiley & Sons in NY 1948).
W. R. Ashby, (1956) Introduction to Cybernetics. Methuen, London. (electronically republished at [1]).
F. Heylighen & C. Joslyn, (2001): "Cybernetics and Second Order Cybernetics", in: R. A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology (3rd ed.), Vol. 4, (Academic Press, New York).
Manfred E. Clynes & Nathan S. Kline, (1960) "Cyborgs and Space", Astronautics, September; reprinted in Gray, Mentor, and Figueroa-Sarriera, eds., The Cyborg Handbook, New York: Routledge, 1995.