Allende's cybernetic economy project
Wow -- teletype machines and cybernetics to run an economy!
Before ’73 Coup, Chile Tried to Find the Right Software for Socialism - New York Times
(note they mean this version of the word "cybernetics")
And here's a better Guardian article on it.
The control room:
I suspect this happens anyway today -- using computers to help decisionmakers run the economy -- but without the cool Star Trek chairs and display screens. Economists at central banks get data and use computers to analyze it, then eventually the data is used to inform decisions.
Though this vision involves more fine-grained data collection and automated analysis. (And other more Internet-y things like two-way communication between workers and management/government.). I suspect it would be way easier to do today, with better computational infrastructure (CPU, memory, data transmission, and software are better these days).
