Steve(orino) I find it interesting that we are having this conversation while comfortably seated about 16 minutes from each other<http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=3+Bundy+Rd,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87506&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=168+State+Road+503,+Santa+Fe,+NM+87506&f=d&hl=en&sll=35.874446,-106.134109&sspn=0.01151,0.016522&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=12>, and all the rest of FRIAM remains thuddingly silent. Do you suppose we said something to offend them?
--Doug On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 8:44 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > Doug - > > > On the other hand, top (top, top, top) level views which result in such > profound observations such as > > - Order matters, or > - Complexity is, or > - Taxonomies exist > > rarely hold much interest for me, unless they make the job of designing > functional complex systems easier. > > Which is why I give you high marks for pragmatism! > > I have my own pragmatic side, which is why anybody ever pays me to do > anything, but it is tempered (or sullied) by a certain sense of seeking and > appreciating structure where I find (imagine?) it. > > Following Jack Horner's (Hi Jack! Welcome to the Fun-House.) Rubles-worth > on Cladistics, I appreciate the simple adoption of classification schemes > for their pragmatic value and agree that this may lead to "many" which are > "equal" or at least whose value is entirely contextually dependent. I also > appreciate the distinction between methods which (try to) reflect descent > and modification and those who don't. > > Mendeleev's development of the Periodic Table (preceded by Dobriener's > Triads and Newland's Octaves) was a "simple" taxonomy which has paid of > richly, predicting function from structure long before the underlying > "causes" were understood. I can pretend to know their various motives in > conjuring these "patterns" in the first place, but in the final analysis, > they turned out to be quite useful. > > I share Doug's frustration with abstracting the abstractions ad absurdium, > though perhaps not as acutely... > > I suspect that there is a evolutionary/survival value in the almost > obsessive-compulsive need some of us have to try to find structure in > (impose on?) everything! I don't know if it has been discussed here, but > a theory was recently put forward that Ausperger-Autistic Spectrum Disorders > might have origins in a similar manner... a "latent" or "vestigal" survival > trait that is near the surface, ready to be expressed at the drop of a > significant change in circumstances. I'm not sure exactly where OCD or > Autism is a hands-down survival quality for the individual, but it might > very well be an important feature in the ensemble of characteristics in a > group. Idiot-Savants and all that. > > - Steverino > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
