[2] Through his father, an executive for Time who used systems analysis in his work, Kelly developed an early interest in cybernetics.

[2] Among Kelly's personal involvements is a campaign to make a full inventory of all living species on earth, an effort also known as the Linnaean enterprise.

Around this time, he was also editing his own start-up magazine called Walking Journal, and working in an epidemiology laboratory to support himself.

He brought to the magazine the cybernetic social vision of the Whole Earth publications and their networked style of editorial work, while also recruiting writers and editors from the WELL.

[citation needed] As well as serving as editor on many publications, Kelly has written many novels surrounding his interest in cybernetics and all things tech.

Kelly's book-length publication, Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World (1992), presents a view on the mechanisms of complex organization.