Project Cybersyn was a Chilean initiative from 1971-1973, designed by British cybernetics expert Stafford Beer for Salvador Allende's government. It aimed to create a distributed decision-support system for the national economy. The system used a network of telex machines (Cybernet) to send production data from factories to a central mainframe in Santiago.

The project featured four key modules: an economic simulator (CHECO), factory performance software (Cyberstride), a statistics program, and a futuristic operations room. This room, designed with Gestalt principles, allowed managers to view real-time data and formulate responses. The goal was to devolve decision-making power to factory workers and enable self-regulation.

Information from factories was quantified using "flowcharting" to identify production bottlenecks. Data on raw materials, output, and absenteeism was transmitted daily. Bayesian filtering was used in Cyberstride to monitor indicators and alert the government to anomalies. This created a near-real-time feedback loop for economic management.

The system was abruptly terminated after the 1973 coup that removed Allende. The operations room was destroyed, and the project was abandoned. Cybersyn remains a historical curiosity—a pre-internet attempt at networked, decentralized economic planning that was cut short by political upheaval.