Re: [FRIAM] Who wrote the essay?

[Robert Holmes]

Here's what I got when I asked ChatGPT "Please draft a PhD research
proposal on The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright". Frankly, if Steve's
was from a prospective PhD student, they need to start using ChatGPT :)

—Robert


Title: The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright: A Philosophical Analysis

Research Questions:

   - What are the metaphysical foundations of copyright law? How does the
   concept of "intellectual property" fit into traditional metaphysical
   categories such as substance, cause, and essence?
   - How do different ethical theories, such as deontology,
   consequentialism, and virtue ethics, approach the issue of copyright? What
   are the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective?
   - How do the metaphysical and ethical issues surrounding copyright
   intersect with contemporary debates over digital technology, artificial
   intelligence, and the "commons"?

Research Methodology:

   - This research will be primarily philosophical in nature, using
   conceptual analysis and argumentative synthesis to examine the underlying
   assumptions and implications of copyright law.
   - The research will draw on a variety of sources, including legal
   scholarship, philosophy of law, and moral philosophy, as well as case
   studies and empirical data as appropriate.
   - The research will engage with contemporary debates and controversies,
   such as the ongoing conflict between technology companies and content
   creators, and the role of copyright in global economic development.

Expected Contributions:

   - This research aims to provide a more nuanced and comprehensive
   understanding of the metaphysics and ethics of copyright, moving beyond
   simplistic assumptions and polemics.
   - The research will offer a philosophical perspective on the complex and
   multifaceted issues surrounding intellectual property, and will provide a
   framework for further dialogue and reflection on these issues.
   - The research will contribute to the broader fields of philosophy and
   law, and will have practical implications for policy and legal reform.


On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 10:47 AM Tom Johnson  wrote:

> I can't tell.  While what little I know about the deep dive on Copyright,
> it is a very murky and often contradictory aspect of law.  Sorta like the
> 2nd Amendment: something written by the founders in a time when the context
> it was addressing was quite different from what we have now.
> And I have no idea how well ChatGPT can or does write in the first person.
> And the answer is?
> TJ
>
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 12:42 AM Stephen Guerin <
> stephen.gue...@simtable.com> wrote:
>
>> Tom,
>>
>> What do you think? Was this PhD proposal written by a person or ChatGPT?
>>
>> The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright
>>>
>>> Abstract
>>>
>>> My project is motivated by a host of problems that arise in the
>>> literature of U.S. copyright law, including legal decisions and established
>>> doctrines that are alternatively arbitrary, counterintuitive, and
>>> contradictory. The central argument of my dissertation is that these
>>> problems arise from a failure in copyright law to recognize the nature of
>>> its objects, authored works, and that a coherent and stable approach to
>>> copyright must be built upon such an understanding. To this end, I outline
>>> a multidimensional ontology of authored works suitable for grounding the
>>> central principles and practical application of copyright.
>>>
>>> Centrally, I contend, a reasonable understanding of copyright depends on
>>> grasping four dimensions of the nature of authored works:
>>>
>>>1. their atomic dimension, including the parts of which they are
>>>composed, and the selection and arrangement of these parts;
>>>2. their causal dimension, including their contexts of creation and
>>>instantiation, and the weak and strong historical links that connect a
>>>given work to others (building here on the work of Jerrold Levinson);
>>>3. their abstract dimension, in particular, pace Nelson Goodman,
>>>Jerrold Levinson, and Mark Sagoff, that all such works are best 
>>> understood
>>>as type/token entities capable of multiple instantiation; and
>>>4. their categorial dimension, drawing on the work of Kendall
>>>Walton, such that multiple works belonging to mutually-exclusive 
>>> categories
>>>can be embodied in the same physical object.
>>>
>>> On an understanding of these factors, I establish conditions for the
>>> copyrightability of authored works, for the infringement of these
>>> copyrights, and for the creation of derivative works.
>>>
>>> Finally, I consider the right of copyright. First showing how the
>>> strongest contenders for grounding this right—the Lockean and
>>> Constitutional approaches—fail to align with our understanding of authored
>>> works, I proceed to sketch an alternative approach to grounding the right
>>> of copyright—a right based on the author's creativity as realized in the

[FRIAM] COVID-19 ICU and hospitalization data no longer available

[Robert Holmes]

State-level ICU & hospitalization data is no longer available to the public
as of last Wednesday. It's a big deal.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/17/1005391/covid-coronavirus-hospitalizations-data-access-cdc/
-  . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-.  . .-. .
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Re: [FRIAM] Results of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum - Wikipedia

[Robert Holmes]

I think that Sir Humphrey has the right idea

.

On Sun, Jan 27, 2019 at 11:24 AM Owen Densmore  wrote:

> I find it amazing that, with all the discussion of the Irish border and
> the "backstop", the Northern Irish vote was overwhelmingly for Remain, not
> Exit!
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Northern_Ireland
>
> And the backstop thus far has resulted in either:
> - NI staying in the EU trade area, thus leaving the Irish border open, but
> creating a NI-UK border in the Irish sea
> - NI being exactly like the rest of UI, resulting in a hard Irish border.
>
> The link above was also surprising in the huge diversity of votes in *all*
> the various regions. And NI *and* Scotland voted Remain!
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum#Results_by_United_Kingdom_constituent_countries
>
> This is nuts!
>
>-- Owen
>
> 
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>

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Re: [FRIAM] Experts explaining stuff at multiple levels of difficulty

[Robert Holmes]

Yeah, that's the one that got me grinding my teeth too…

On Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 9:40 PM Nick Thompson 
wrote:

> Robert,
>
>
>
> These are great.  Let’s have a huge effing fight on Friday about this one:
>
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opqIa5Jiwuw=0s=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N=2
>
> Bruce is going to love it and I think it’s a crock.  In fact, I think it
> gets crockier the more “expert” it becomes.
>
>
>
> But I still love it.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
>
> Clark University
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Robert
> Holmes
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 23, 2019 8:12 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Subject:* [FRIAM] Experts explaining stuff at multiple levels of
> difficulty
>
>
>
> Following on from a conversation I had with Nick last week. Here are some
> videos from WIRED in which experts explain their field at (widely) varying
> levels of difficulty.
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N
>
>
>
> —R
> 
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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>

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[FRIAM] Experts explaining stuff at multiple levels of difficulty

[Robert Holmes]

Following on from a conversation I had with Nick last week. Here are some
videos from WIRED in which experts explain their field at (widely) varying
levels of difficulty.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] Motives - Was Abduction

[Robert Holmes]

Nick,

This seems to be an issue of Wittgenstein's Lion


—R

On Tue, Jan 8, 2019 at 11:04 AM Nick Thompson 
wrote:

> Once again, I am lost in my own thread.
>
>
>
> I will say this:  often it seems, with both Marcus, and Glen, and even
> Owen and Steve, and to a lesser extent Dave West, that their (your)
> thinking is rooted in models from coding and because I have never been a
> coder those models are utterly unavailable to me.   I have always ... since
> childhood ...believed that if I worked hard enough at something I could
> understand it.  And so, almost 14 years ago, when I was cast loose in Santa
> Fe, and Steve and Owen and Carl and Frank took me into that jammed freezing
> cold office on Agua Fria.  They fed me when I was intellectually hungry and
> comforted me when I was intellectually lonely, *and in gratitude, I was
> determined to understand their mindset.*  But despite all that I have
> learned since that time, I have come to admit that there are probably
> chasms of thought too deep for people to reach across … or, at least,
> people like me, at this age.   I simply lack the models, the commonplace
> toys of thought, with which you guys so effortlessly play.
>
>
>
> I will keep trying, of course,  But I thought, perhaps, being the New Year
> and all, now was a moment to stop and thank FRIAM members for your
> patience, your indulgence, and your profound commitment to *teaching *that
> has kept me alert and engaged *and alive *these last 14 years.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
>
> Clark University
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of ? u???
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2019 8:48 AM
> To: FriAM 
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Motives - Was Abduction
>
>
>
> Excellent!  I like everything you've said below.  In fact, were we able to
> clearly talk about heterarchies as explicitly externalizing controls, where
> hierarchies leave the source(s) of control ambiguous, then we'd map nicely
> back to Marcus' example of "serializing" a recursive function into a tree
> walkable by a single control pointer.  And we'd also be able to discuss
> Rosen's conception of separating a closure of agency from (an openness to)
> the other types of cause (material, formal, and final).
>
>
>
> The concept of a heterarchy facilitates the discussion of systemic
> behaviors like motive as separable into sets of distinct causes and
> structures in a way the concept of hierarchy does not.
>
>
>
> On 1/7/19 6:12 PM, Eric Charles wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the clarification. I intentionally said  Nick was invoking
>
> > *something like "levels of analysis" talk, *because I thought I
>
> > recalled Nick telling me at some point that he didn't like that way of
>
> > thinking, and I'm surprised he hasn't disavowed me more completely on
>
> > it. All metaphors are imperfect, and, acknowledging that, I still like
>
> > that way of talking a lot.
>
> > While you are quite right that tissue isn't literally JUST an
>
> > arrangement of cells, it *is *pretty fair to say tissue is an bunch of
>
> > cells arranged-in-a-structured-fashion and interconnected by various
>
> > inter-cellular structures organs are a bunch of tissues
>
> > arranged-in-a-structured-fashion and interconnected by various
>
> > inter-tissue structures, etc.
>
> >
>
> > At any rate... trying to follow your lead, and translate your
>
> > preferred sentence structure to be more like what (I assert) Nick is
> thinking:
>
> >
>
> > Motives ARE a particular type of pattern in a behavior-by-environment
>
> > matrix.
>
> >
>
> > As a "point of view" based Realism, which Nick has been trying to
>
> > emphasize, it is true that there are many ways the
>
> > behavior-by-environment matrix can be constructed and arranged. Some
>
> > of those ways will reveal the relevant pattern in some instances,
>
> > others will not. The particular pattern is one in which the behavior
>
> > vary across circumstances so as to stay directed towards the
>
> > production of a particular outcome. This sounds very similar to "One
>
> > of the definitions of "heterarchy" is that the components can be
>
> > organized in multiple ways" but if I understood the prior discussion
>
> > of "heterarchy", I take it that concept is about a flexibility in
>
> > control/leadership, whereas no control is implied here (control being
>
> > a different pattern in a different matrix). The cause of the pattern
>
> > is a different matter entirely from the existence of the pattern -
>
> > which is expressly part of the point of Nick's way of approaching it,
> i.e.,that a "motive" must be identifiable independent of a particular cause.
>
>
>
> --
>
> ∄ uǝʃƃ
>
>
>
> 
>
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at 

Re: [FRIAM] Statistical poser (aka fact checking is hard)

[Robert Holmes]

"Dreamland" by Sam Quinones has a good description of the history of our
current epidemic. Highly recommended.

Estimates vary by source, but fraction of opioid deaths that are suicide is
around 20-30%

On Wed, Jan 2, 2019 at 11:01 AM Marcus Daniels  wrote:

>
> http://theconversation.com/suicide-nation-whats-behind-the-need-to-numb-and-to-seek-a-final-escape-98137
>
>
>
> “Americans stand out from people in other countries with respect to their
> focus on individualism. Americans believe that success is determined by our
> own control and that it is very important to work hard to get ahead in
> life. Perhaps it is this focus on our own achievements, successes and work
> culture that have created an environment that is no longer sustainable – it
> has become too stressful.”
>
>
>
> *Apoptosis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis>* is the word that
> comes to mind.
>
>
>
> *From: *Friam  on behalf of Marcus Daniels <
> mar...@snoutfarm.com>
> *Reply-To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Date: *Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 10:45 AM
> *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Subject: *Re: [FRIAM] Statistical poser (aka fact checking is hard)
>
>
>
> Dumb question:   Is there anything behind this besides an burst of legal
> prescriptions that created a self-reinforcing trend?
>
> Or are people actually going crazy?
>
>
>
> *From: *Friam  on behalf of Robert Holmes <
> rob...@robertholmes.org>
> *Reply-To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Date: *Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 10:16 AM
> *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Subject: *[FRIAM] Statistical poser (aka fact checking is hard)
>
>
>
> Early this week I came across a recent press release from NM Dept of
> Health: "Governor Martinez Announces Continued Improvement in Drug
> Overdose Death Rankings"
> <https://nmhealth.org/news/information/2018/12/?view=728>. I've been
> tinkering round with opioid statistics, so thought it might be worth fact
> checking the release. The results were… interesting. If nothing else
> they've shown me how difficult it must be to communicate public health
> statistics.
>
>
>
> So here are some of the key figures from the release:
>
>- New Mexico’s national ranking has improved from the second highest
>death drug overdose death rate in the United States in 2014 to 17th highest
>in 2017
>- New Mexico previously reported a 4 percent decline in death rates in
>2017 due to overdose of commonly prescribed opioids such as oxycodone
>compared to 2016. In addition, deaths due to heroin decreased by 9 percent
>and deaths due to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl decreased by 6 percent
>over the same time period.
>
> The first of these claims passed my sniff test: I know NM's ranking has
> been improving, even though individual counties rank the wort in the
> nation. And sure enough, if you pull the underlying CDC data
> <https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd.html> you can confirm these exact numbers
> (ignoring DC).
>
>
>
> The second claim is the one that gave me pause. Those reductions in
> individual opioids look kinda high. Yes, NM's ranking is improving but it's
> because our rate is essentially stable while other states rocket past. And
> when I check the above CDC data, yes the reduction in death rate appears to
> be about 2%
>
>
>
> So there's the poser: if NM's reduction in opioid deaths (2016-2017) is
> 2%, how can this be consistent with individual opioid reductions of 9%
> (heroin), 4% (natural & semi synthetic, inc. oxycodone), and 6% (synthetic,
> inc. fentanyl)?
>
>
>
> —Robert
>
>
>
> P.S. I'll post my best guess later. Oh, and it's not that they omitted
> methadone: deaths due to that are down 19% in the same period.
> 
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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>

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[FRIAM] Statistical poser (aka fact checking is hard)

[Robert Holmes]

Early this week I came across a recent press release from NM Dept of
Health: "Governor Martinez Announces Continued Improvement in Drug Overdose
Death Rankings" .
I've been tinkering round with opioid statistics, so thought it might be
worth fact checking the release. The results were… interesting. If nothing
else they've shown me how difficult it must be to communicate public health
statistics.

So here are some of the key figures from the release:

   - New Mexico’s national ranking has improved from the second highest
   death drug overdose death rate in the United States in 2014 to 17th highest
   in 2017
   - New Mexico previously reported a 4 percent decline in death rates in
   2017 due to overdose of commonly prescribed opioids such as oxycodone
   compared to 2016. In addition, deaths due to heroin decreased by 9 percent
   and deaths due to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl decreased by 6 percent
   over the same time period.

The first of these claims passed my sniff test: I know NM's ranking has
been improving, even though individual counties rank the wort in the
nation. And sure enough, if you pull the underlying CDC data
 you can confirm these exact numbers
(ignoring DC).

The second claim is the one that gave me pause. Those reductions in
individual opioids look kinda high. Yes, NM's ranking is improving but it's
because our rate is essentially stable while other states rocket past. And
when I check the above CDC data, yes the reduction in death rate appears to
be about 2%

So there's the poser: if NM's reduction in opioid deaths (2016-2017) is 2%,
how can this be consistent with individual opioid reductions of 9%
(heroin), 4% (natural & semi synthetic, inc. oxycodone), and 6% (synthetic,
inc. fentanyl)?

—Robert

P.S. I'll post my best guess later. Oh, and it's not that they omitted
methadone: deaths due to that are down 19% in the same period.

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Re: [FRIAM] the Analemma

[Robert Holmes]

As I mentioned, this is the phenomenon that an old colleague of mine would
(vainly) attempt to teach me at this time every year. Fortunately we've now
got wikipedia , which helps me feel
marginally less ignorant.

—R

On Sat, Dec 8, 2018 at 12:33 AM Nick Thompson 
wrote:

> This came up after the service at the mother church, today.
>
>
>
> http://www.analemma.com/pages/framespage.html
>
>
>
> Being a late riser, and a darkness hater, I regard December 7 (the day
> after St. Nicholas’s Day, by the way) as the first sign of spring, *because
> it is the day that the afternoons start getting longer.  *The shortest
> morning, by the way, appears to occur on January 7, One of 3 days in the
> year when the sun is at the Zenith at noon.  In other words, noon is moving
> away from sunset faster that the setting sun is moving toward the horizon
> so the sun starts arriving later on the clock.  Or something like that.
> The way I put it implies two standards of time measurement and I cannot
> think what the second one is.
>
>
>
> I would love to have this explained to me in Defrocked English Major
> Talk.  Also, we have at least one Friammer in the southern hemisphere.  Is
> the same true there, Russ?
>
>
>
> Nick
>

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[FRIAM] Links re the discussion at our end of the table

[Robert Holmes]

   - "The Fable of the Bees" (link
   ). Probably the first
   literary description (1705) of emergence; specifically, how private vice
   causes public virtue. BTW, I recommend the download rather than the stream:
   there's about 5 minutes of extra discussion at the end.

   - How Skinner taught the US military to kill the enemy (link
   ). First minute or so describes Gen.
   Marshall's study that measured the problem; skip to ~15:30 for Skinner's
   contribution.

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Re: [FRIAM] Shipping Forecast

[Robert Holmes]

Yup, four times a day since WW2. The wikipedia page
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_Forecast> has a list of the areas
and the broadcast format if you want to follow along.

—Robert

On Fri, Oct 26, 2018 at 9:08 PM Nick Thompson 
wrote:

> Robert,
>
>
>
> Luffly.  Can you still get them?  I never knew what the references were.
>
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
>
> Clark University
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Robert
> Holmes
> *Sent:* Friday, October 26, 2018 8:41 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <
> friam@redfish.com>
> *Subject:* [FRIAM] Shipping Forecast
>
>
>
> Today's conversation with Nick about weather circulation in the North
> Atlantic inevitably got me thinking about that great British tradition, the 
> Shipping
> Forecast <https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04l37bp>.
>
>
>
> I must admit, just hearing the opening notes of its theme gets me all
> misty eyed…
>
>
>
>
> 
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>

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[FRIAM] Shipping Forecast

[Robert Holmes]

Today's conversation with Nick about weather circulation in the North
Atlantic inevitably got me thinking about that great British
tradition, the Shipping
Forecast .

I must admit, just hearing the opening notes of its theme gets me all misty
eyed…

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Re: [FRIAM] Complexity Returns to the Mother Church (or v.v?).

[Robert Holmes]

Randall Munroe says this better than I ever could

PHYSICISTS 

By the way Nick, you mentioned a physicist who set ethology back 50 years.
Who was it?

On Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 5:10 PM uǝlƃ ☣  wrote:

> On 10/12/18 3:46 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> > 5. ... From the strength of the triangle one can infer something about
> the parts that make it up, but from the parts themselves, lacking
> information about their arrangement, one cannot determine that the triangle
> will be strong.
>
> UNLESS! The information about how such parts *can* be arranged is
> deducible from the parts, themselves.  E.g. regular vs. irregular tilings.
>
> --
> ☣ uǝlƃ
>
> 
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>

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Re: [FRIAM] looking for a word

[Robert Holmes]

I always call it the Zweigneiderlassung.

On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 4:14 PM Frank Wimberly  wrote:

> The explanatory power of all words is limited.  See Wittgenstein.  Wovon
> Mann nicht sprechen kann daruber muss Mann schweigen.
>
> ---
> Frank Wimberly
>
> My memoir:
> https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly
>
> My scientific publications:
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2
>
> Phone (505) 670-9918
>
> On Fri, Aug 17, 2018, 4:11 PM uǝlƃ ☣  wrote:
>
>> I *really* want to use some form of "plectic" like plexus or complex.
>> But its explanatory power is limited.  As I'll soon respond to Steve, I
>> need something that evokes the concept of merging/confluent flow but
>> without the overtones of generation (like Robert's growth/dynamism).  Even
>> the "filtration" concept derived from Marcus' suggestion of persistent
>> homology, implies a temporal component.
>>
>>
>> On 08/17/2018 01:03 PM, Frank Wimberly wrote:
>> > Complex junction?
>>
>> --
>> ☣ uǝlƃ
>>
>> 
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>>
> 
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>

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Re: [FRIAM] What is an object?

[Robert Holmes]

Hope this helps

https://xkcd.com/2021/

On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 9:53 AM Nick Thompson 
wrote:

> David, and all,
>
>
>
> I am overwhelmed (of course) by the diversity and complexity of the
> answers.  I had expected at most a few answers, highly similar to one
> another, of the form, “Nick you idiot….,” followed at most by a couple of
> sentences.  It seems that I am missing some context that would make the
> answers seem both more similar and straightforward.
>
>
>
> Allow me to illustrate my confusion with a story, bearing in mind that my
> confusion has absolutely no value except in so far as it might provide an
> occasion for Wizards of Your Dark Art to come to a consensus amongst
> yourselves about how to explain this stuff to us (as Owen so unforgettably
> puts it) *citizens*.  When I was teaching at Swarthmore in the Sixties
> there was a Shop Guy who could design and build ANYTHING.  I asked him to
> build two model “rats” to illustrate [what later became known as]
> Supervenience to bio students.  The “rats” were just plywood cutouts of
> rats, exactly the same on the surface with, two lights for eyes and three
> switches.  The job of the student was to use the behavior of the rats (how
> the lights related to the switches) to figure out the design of the two
> rats.  Only when they had committed themselves to a “model” of the rats
> “insides” were they allowed to look inside and see how they were actually
> put together.   They all concluded that the rats were the same, but of
> course my rat-maker had used different components and circuitry to arrive
> at the same behavior.  (I think one was straight logic and the other
> involved stepping switches, but don’t hold me to that.  )
>
> The rats were thus doubly modular; they were made of modules, but, more
> important to me at the time, they were modules themselves for the purposes
> of demonstrating “rat” behavior.
>
>
>
> OK.  So the rats’ behavior supervened upon their circuitry.  In other
> words, there’s more than one way to skin a … rat.   If I wanted to
> demonstrate “rat behavior”, it made no difference to me which of his two
> rats I took off the shelf.  This was intended to demonstrate to the student
> that brain models lived in the behavior of organisms and that just because
> somebody said something about neurons and synapses didn’t necessarily mean
> they knew anything about how the brain actually accomplished behavior.  But
> that issue is for another day.
>
>
>
> Here’s another story.  Years ago my 1970’s era Troy Bilt tiller began to
> fail and I took it to a Guy.  The Guy said, yes I can rebuild your engine,
> pretty much like new.  It will cost you around $400.  OR, he said, I can
> bolt a new Briggs and Stratton engine on there for 150 dollars.  So, of
> course, I went for the new engine.  When I got my tiller back, it worked
> beautifully, but it looked weird.  The engine was a funny shape, the color
> was all wrong, but it had all the connectors it needed, it responded to all
> the levers, and it did the job.  Evidently, tiller functioning supervenes
> upon engine construction.
>
>
>
> Now this is how I was starting to think about “objects” in programming.
> They were, in effect, black boxes, with stress laid on the
> intersubstitutability of different fulfillments of the box.  And like any
> modular system (DNA comes to mind), modularity is a great spur to
> creativity, leaving programmers free to work on better modules knowing that
> as long as the version of the “object“ they design (which, say, can work in
> a greater variety of heat conditions or uses less power, etc.) is the
> “same” box, then their work is a contribution to the whole.  This is how I
> understood DOS utililties and Matlab tools.   I guess, in short, I was
> thinking of objects as *functionally *defined.   This how I created and
> used macros in Word.
>
>
>
> Some of your responses seemed to confirm my intuition; others seemed to be
> totally different.  But there seemed to be a consensus among you, leaving
> me to believe that I still don’t understand the context in which the term,
> “object”, is used that carves it out from the rest of the world for you
> Wizards.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your intricate and patient replies.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
>
> Clark University
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
>
>
>
> *From:* Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Prof
> David West
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 18, 2018 2:01 AM
> *To:* friam@redfish.com
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] What is an object?
>
>
>
> Hi Nick,
>
>
>
> An object is a specific way to define and design a module and a module is
> a tool for segmenting, modularizing, the source code (what the programmer
> actually writes, not what the machine executes) for a program. To parse
> this assertion - and then to explain how and why object modularization is
> different - a quick aside to discuss a 

Re: [FRIAM] Science question...re: cold neck scarfs

[Robert Holmes]

If you really want to blow your mind, consider these mesh cooling towels:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y4RW17N/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8=1

When you've been wearing it for a while and it has warmed up, you take it
off, give it a sharp "snap", and it's immediately cold again.

I use one when the temperature is getting high in my (non-air-conditioned)
house and it works a treat.

—R

On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 9:30 PM Gillian Densmore 
wrote:

> AHA! googlefu skills worked better this time. Something to do with with
> the neck (for example) helps with body heat and the wraps let off cold
> water...
> I guess I just don't understand how something that small can help cool you
> down. So I just thought I'd ask what the science might be
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 9:00 PM, Gary Schiltz 
> wrote:
>
>> Are you getting overheated during class? I would assume that your teacher
>> is suggesting this as a way to help keep cool. Evaporative cooling is
>> especially effective in dry climates like Santa Fe. See
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler.
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 9:29 PM, Gillian Densmore > > wrote:
>>
>>> I has a science question. I trying out doing more excersize. In one of
>>> my zumba classes a teacher sugested I try a wet towel on my head (before
>>> class) and then a wet scare around my neck during class.
>>>
>>> I feel as my googlefu skills are failing because I can't find a reason
>>> why that helps. Anyone know what the science is?
>>> LifeHacker and a pretty dated StackScience blurb speculated it has to do
>>> with having just enough gold water (relative to the hot air neer your body)
>>> to somehow make  kind of cool air zone.
>>> Somehow how I am...skeptical
>>> Cooling of your head makes sense (hair  gets wet and you cold water on
>>> your head just feels really good in the summer)
>>>
>>> But I don't get  why cold towel or scarf around your neck can help.
>>>
>>> 
>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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>>>
>>>
>>
>> 
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>>
>>
> 
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Re: [FRIAM] How to Understand Your Computer - The New Yorker

[Robert Holmes]

The BBC Radio 4 had a short but fascinating documentary on Ada Lovelace
several years ago. It's still available in their archive:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0092j0x

On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 11:28 PM, Tom Johnson t...@jtjohnson.com wrote:

 Forgive me if the FRIAM gang has already seen this.  But if not, here's a
 lead for the next meeting of your neighborhood's Geek Book Club.  (Sorta
 sad to say that the author had never heard of Ada Lovelace, which might
 raise the question, What is the expected knowledge of an educated person
 today?

 -tj


 http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/understand-computer?utm_source=tnyutm_campaign=generalsocialutm_medium=facebookmbid=social_facebook

 How to Understand Your Computer
 By Mark O'Connell

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Crime in Europe and the United States: dissecting the ‘reversal of misfortunes’

[Robert Holmes]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 7:23 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Oh my. I'm delighted to bow to the EU for having more violence than
 ourselves.  They also have a lot more ISL members.  Odd.

 On the other hand, these stats are likely off, and besides, do they have
 Zozobra?

-- Owen


Yes, the stats are off. Here's a piece on (1) the source of the meme and
(2) the difficulty of international comparisons:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jun/24/blog-posting/social-media-post-says-uk-has-far-higher-violent-c/

The reason for the wonky stats is the definition of violent crime. In US
criminal stats, violent crime is defined *only* as one of four specific
offenses (murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault). In
Europe, the definition is more inclusive. For example in UK, it includes
simple assaults, all robberies, and all sexual offenses. So, yes, EU
stats are higher but it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

If you look at homicide rates (easier to measure), the story is what you
would expect:  5.0 reported/100k population in US, 1.1 reported/100
population in England  Wales (source:
http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf)

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Re: [FRIAM] Android Fragmentation Report August 2014 - OpenSignal

[Robert Holmes]

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:24 PM, Tom Johnson t...@jtjohnson.com wrote:

 Given your Italian travel, be sure to check out the deals at T-mobile.


I can talk to that. I got a Note 3 on T-mobile precisely because of the
international data for when I travel to the UK. I learned the hard way that
you really have to read the fine print. The unlimited service is limited
internationally to 128k (OK for email, no good for Google maps) and you
can't use your phone to tether. If you want 3G speeds and you want to
tether you need to buy an international pass, which was $50 for 500MB.

Having said that, I'm still very happy with my Note 3. (Love the camera)

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] Password Change Requests

[Robert Holmes]

On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 8:34 PM, Barry MacKichan 
barry.mackic...@mackichan.com wrote:

 Since I use a password manager (1Password) there is very little cost in
 keeping a 20-character password (which I never type anyway) even for those
 sites with 2-factor authentication.


Doesn't this make those accounts highly insecure with respect to actual
physical theft of your laptop (which I'm guessing is more common than
identity theft)? If someone steals your computer do they then have access
to all the sites whose credentials you have stored in 1Password?

I must admit, this is the one issue that has kept me from adopting
1Password, LastPass etc. I'm lazy and I just know that at some point I
would hit the Save this password? button when prompted by my browser and
bang, there goes my security.

—Robert

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Re: [FRIAM] Password Change Requests

[Robert Holmes]

I'm not grokking something then... I thought Barry's setup was automatic,
which is why he never had to enter his 20 character password?
On Apr 19, 2014 4:26 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 3:15 AM, Robert Holmes rob...@robertholmes.orgwrote:


 ​snip
 I must admit, this is the one issue that has kept me from adopting
 1Password, LastPass etc. I'm lazy and I just know that at some point I
 would hit the Save this password? button when prompted by my browser and
 bang, there goes my security.


 ​It doesn't work that way: the pw managers are extensions, thus the
 browser does not ask to save the super password, the one for 1P, LastPass
 etc.  There's no way for it to be automatic.

-- Owen​

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Manifesto Project Database

[Robert Holmes]

Careful with that the, it's got political connotations. The BBC has a
good description of the issue: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18233844


On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 12:43 PM, glen g...@ropella.name wrote:

 On 12/12/2013 10:55 AM, glen wrote:
  ... in the Ukraine is ...

 I don't know where I picked that up... At first, I thought it was
 because we say the US.  But that can't be it, since I don't say the
 China or the Kansas.  I suspect it's going to be as difficult to
 train that out of me as it is to try to use data are.

 --
 == glen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] phonebloks teams with motorola

[Robert Holmes]

Wikipedia has an interesting summary of various species' contribution to
terrestrial biomass
(linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_(ecology)#Global_biomass).
The following species are each individually responsible for 30% of
terrestrial biomass:

   1. humans
   2. cattle
   3. sheep and goats
   4. chickens
   5. ants

Yes, that *is* 5 species, each of which contributes 30%…

—R


On Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 5:44 PM, Russell Standish li...@hpcoders.com.auwrote:

 On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 10:01:11AM -0600, Steve Smith wrote:
 
  FWIW, Daniel Dennett recently claimed that 10,000 years ago humans
  and their domesticated animals comprised less than 1% of the mass of
  animal (not including invertebrates or ocean dwellers) of the earth
  but today we, along with our livestock and pets comprise 98%...  I
  can't even image what the relative mass of automobiles (or just
  their tires?) or buildings might be (or smartphones or LEGO blocks).
 
 

 I'm highly sceptical of that claim. In the soils below our house, live
 city-sized populations of ant, earthworms, and probably even more
 nematodes. These all count as animal. And I live in one of the most
 densely (human) populated parts of Australia (and the world, for that
 matter, if you think of the vaste expanses of desert, savannah,
 farmland etc).

 Schultz (PNAS, vol 97, 14028--14029), for example, estimates that ants
 alone monopolise 15-25% of terrestrial biomass, far more than the
 vertebrates.

 Cheers


 --


 
 Prof Russell Standish  Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
 Principal, High Performance Coders
 Visiting Professor of Mathematics  hpco...@hpcoders.com.au
 University of New South Wales  http://www.hpcoders.com.au

 

 
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Re: [FRIAM] TMobile

[Robert Holmes]

This might be a reason to go to T-mobile:
http://boingboing.net/2013/10/10/t-mobile-pitches-unlimited-no.html


On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 8:05 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 My contract is up at Vzn .. where I went to get an iPhone, get a seniors
 plan and to have better coverage.

 But I'm thinking of going back to Tmo simply because they are doing some
 interesting stunts like being honest about the phone contract, and having
 digital roaming in europe.  And I prefer GSM if it works.

 So question: What has been our experiences with Tmo lately?  Is their
 coverage (mainly Santa Fe) still as poor as it was 2 years ago?  Any reason
 other than coverage to stick with Vzn?

 Thanks,

-- Owen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Landmark 2013 IPCC Report: 95% Chance Most of Global Warming is Human-Caused | Weather Underground

[Robert Holmes]

Here's an interesting take on the issue. What do insurance companies think
about climate change?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/business/insurers-stray-from-the-conservative-line-on-climate-change.html


On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 8:19 PM, Nick Thompson
nickthomp...@earthlink.netwrote:

 Owen, 

 ** **

 What do you think paleo guy would say after reading the new report?  

 ** **

 N

 ** **

 Nicholas S. Thompson

 Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

 Clark University

 http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 ** **

 *From:* Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Saul
 Caganoff
 *Sent:* Monday, September 30, 2013 7:08 PM
 *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
 *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Landmark 2013 IPCC
 Report: 95% Chance Most of Global Warming is Human-Caused | Weather
 Underground

 ** **

 Indeed. What if it's a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?*
 ***

 ** **

 http://blog.leyerle.com/2010/08/what-if-climate-change-is-big-hoax.html***
 *

 ** **

 Saul

 ** **

 On 1 October 2013 03:09, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 I met a paleoclimatologist at SFI years ago, and a couple of us discussed
 global warming with him.

 ** **

 He had a reasonable attitude: We are, paleologically speaking, at a cool
 period of climate, and the science of global warming is pretty difficult
 without experiments :)  He went on to say, however, that prudence is a good
 reason to stop polluting.

 ** **

 ** **

-- Owen

 ** **

 On Sun, Sep 29, 2013 at 9:40 PM, Nick Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net
 wrote:

 http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2535 **
 **

 I would love it if we could discuss this in some sort of rational way this
 Friday.  

  

 N


 
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 ** **


 
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 ** **

 --
 Saul Caganoff
 Enterprise IT Architect
 Mobile: +61 410 430 809
 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/scaganoff 

 
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[FRIAM] Security flaw in Chrome…

[Robert Holmes]

… and Google say they have no intention of fixing it.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/07/google-chrome-password-security-flaw

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Re: [FRIAM] [EXTERNAL] Re: PRISM/AP kerfluffle, etc

[Robert Holmes]

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 4:27 PM, Parks, Raymond rcpa...@sandia.gov wrote:

 ObComplexity: How does the dynamics of network connection breaking and
 making affect the analysis of networks?


SPILIOPOULOU, M (2011) Evolution in social networks: a survey *in* AGGARWAL,
C Social Network Data Analytics, Springer, New York.

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Re: [FRIAM] [EXTERNAL] Re: PRISM/AP kerfluffle, etc

[Robert Holmes]

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:25 PM, Parks, Raymond rcpa...@sandia.gov wrote:

 Before I spend $120 of your tax dollars, does that particular article
 cover the kind of massive breaking of connections that were attributed
 (incorrectly as it turns out) to Zuckerberg?  Even though the story was
 false, it seems possible that social networks might fragment in that manner
 over a subject controversial enough.


Well, it's a review paper so it doesn't really go into much depth on any
one aspect but it does have pointers to other papers that do. Turns out
that this has been studied since about 2003: Toyoda  Kitsuregawa (14 ACM
conference on hypertext and hypermedia) built a taxonomy of the transitions
that a community/cluster in a social network can undergo: grow, shrink,
emerge, dissolve, split.

BTW, thanks for not spending $120 of my money. Do Sandia have access to
Inter-Library Loan services? Or is that too low cost a solution for big
government? ;)

—Robert

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Re: [FRIAM] [EXTERNAL] Re: PRISM/AP kerfluffle, etc

[Robert Holmes]

On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:51 PM, Parks, Raymond rcpa...@sandia.gov wrote:

   I have also been infected with the young folks' need for immediate
 gratification,


Of course, you could always see if it's available on
http://gen.lib.rus.ecand if it proves useful then get it through
ILL/Amazon so that the authors
get their credit.

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Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: Go Read: Open-Source Google Reader Clone - Matt Jibson's Blog

[Robert Holmes]

Feedly is doing an excellent job of fulfilling all my Reader-related
needs. Strongly recommended.


On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 9:53 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 So google reader is going away Monday.  When announced a while back,
 several blogs posted alternatives, mainly Feedly but several others, one
 even a review each week.  If you do use reader, go immediately to the
 export function and save your feeds file!

 B
 ut here's an interesting new twist: someone decided to build an
 all-javascript solution:



 http://mattjibson.com/blog/2013/06/26/go-read-open-source-google-reader-clone/

 This is quite a tribute to JS's maturity!  The article discusses use of
 Angular and the pain that data formats pose, and apparently it is deployed
 on google's app-engine.  Ironic!  I had assumed AE had died.  But great
 that a clever programmer just stuffed reader back onto google's cloud!

-- Owen

 
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[FRIAM] I think this is relevant to our discussion on MOOCs

[Robert Holmes]

Gary Busey gives to all those who attend online universities and never get
a chance for a real commencement speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_EPdU8m7uI

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Re: [FRIAM] Using Metadata to find Paul Revere - Kieran Healy

[Robert Holmes]

Hmm… isn't this kinda self-selecting? Is it any surprise that the central
node in the network derived from the metadata in Paul Revere's Ride is Paul
Revere? (Hint: the clue is in the title.)


On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 3:27 PM, Tom Johnson t...@jtjohnson.com wrote:

  Sniffing out Paul Revere with basic social network 
 analysishttp://flowingdata.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bcid=56f67c9387e=b8cf2c76dd
 Jun 13, 2013 03:07 am

 [image: Paul Revere Network]

 It's *just* metadata. What can you do with that? Kieran Healy, a
 sociology professor at Duke University, shows what you can do, with just
 some basic social network 
 analysishttp://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bcid=aac7fd19f9e=b8cf2c76dd.
 Using metadata from Paul Revere's 
 Ridehttp://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bcid=12a5ff9097e=b8cf2c76ddon
  the groups that people belonged to, Healy sniffs out Paul Revere as a
 main target. Bonus points for writing the summary from the point of a view
 of an 18th century analyst.

 What a nice picture! The analytical engine has arranged everyone neatly,
 picking out clusters of individuals and also showing both peripheral
 individuals and—more intriguingly—people who seem to bridge various groups
 in ways that might perhaps be relevant to national security. Look at that
 person right in the middle there. Zoom in if you 
 wishhttp://flowingdata.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bcid=bc68914a2be=b8cf2c76dd.
 He seems to bridge several groups in an unusual (though perhaps not unique)
 way. His name is Paul Revere.

 You can grab the R code and dataset on 
 githubhttp://flowingdata.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bcid=6f884b558ae=b8cf2c76dd,
 too, if you want to follow along.

 http://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metadata-to-find-paul-revere/

 -tj


 
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Re: [FRIAM] Meta-discussion

[Robert Holmes]

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?


On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 8:05 AM, glen ropella g...@ropella.name wrote:


 Yeah, but at least FOAR allows top-posting!  Nothing on the internet is
 more irrational than the bias against top-posting.  And I mean it.  The
 bias against top-posting is the lower bound of rationality.  Hm.  Would
 it be oxymoronic to claim the existence of an upper bound on
 irrationality?  Is there an ordering relation on irrational reasoning?

 On 04/24/2013 10:01 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
  Nothing I love better than being thrown out of a bar.   Exchanging a few
  blows with the bouncers, maybe landing a rabbit punch or two on the way
  through the door and coming back the next night for another round!
 
  Rules for the anti-FOAR list:
 
   # Use of profanity, insults or excessive ad-hominem is discouraged.
 Please keep this civil.
   # Keep things on-topic. If your posting can't be related to something
 in the books mentioned above, please take it offline.
 
   # Don't feed the trolls. If someone posts something obviously
 outrageous in order to stir up trouble, simply don't respond to it.
 Keep responses to more subtle points that you disagree with.
 
  If FRIAM had these standards, half of us would be banned within the
  week, and the remaining lurkers would never post... the sound of *no*
  hands clapping!


 --
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Re: [FRIAM] bursting the placebo bubble

[Robert Holmes]

Steve's post made me think of the Roger McGough poem Let me die a
youngman's death:

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

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Re: [FRIAM] Presented for FRIAMic Consideration

[Robert Holmes]

On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:19 PM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 I've never heard of inflation being attributed to the Higg's boson.



Not looking something up in Wikipedia is almost as big a sin as not
googling something…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)#Theoretical_status

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Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice

[Robert Holmes]

Google Voice is living on borrowed time. If the Guardian's analysis is
correct 
(linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/22/google-keep-services-closed?INTCMP=SRCH),
we could have expected Google to kill it off about two weeks ago on
3/9/2013.

But until they do, I'll carry on using it for my 2¢ per minute calls to the
UK.

—R

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[FRIAM] Google Glass and privacy

[Robert Holmes]

tl;dr: Google has empowered you to ignore the privacy of other people.
Bravo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9939933/Google-Glass-Orwellian-surveillance-with-fluffier-branding.html

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Re: [FRIAM] Google Glass and privacy

[Robert Holmes]

How very Brave New World. Keep taking the soma, Doug :)


On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 8:07 AM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 Privacy is an illusion.

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Re: [FRIAM] Wow. 6 whole days without a Nexus 4 post.

[Robert Holmes]

Massive use in US = normal use in the rest of civilization.

Verizon just tried to sign a friend up to a wireless plan as her main
internet access. Monthly cap? 5Gb. That's about a movie and a half at HD.

—R


On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 12:13 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 snip



Currently they are expensive for massive use (movies etc).



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Re: [FRIAM] WAS:: Cliques, public, private. IS: Preserving email correspondence

[Robert Holmes]

Or pay an editor to do it. Is the dollar value of Nick's desire to see this
properly recorded and archived greater or less than an editor's fee?

Let's watch the free market in action.

—R


On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 I doubt if it could be automated without one of
 1 - Serious obeying of an agreed upon structure of the emails
 2 - Serious machine learning algorithms

 Instead, there are lots of tools that make it easier for you to do it by
 hand. An example is the class of productivity tools called outliners.
  Here's a discussion of a set of them.
  http://goo.gl/q27LJ
 Don't worry about their being mac oriented, there are web versions and
 versions for every computer.

 Another approach would be for us all to stop using mail and instead use
 something that lends itself to different views .. like outliners do.
  Using social media like Google+ etc help because they are designed to be
 mashed up.

 Tom may have a handle of several such tools.

-- Owen

 On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 10:35 AM, Nicholas Thompson 
 nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote:

 EVERYBODY,

 This material is way too good to be packed down into the midden of old
 email.  SO! Once again, I am going to ask this group a question I have
 asked
 before: how can we develop conventions (or write a software program) that
 will turn email correspondence into readable text.  The three main
 problems
 are (1) headers (2) redundancy and (3) larding (which Steve Does here).
 Larding is the practice of distributing ones response in the text.

 I suspect some simple conventions and a word macro would do the trick, but
 believe me, if you try to rescue one of these interchanges, it is VERY
 hard
 work.

 Nick

 -Original Message-
 From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steve Smith
 Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2013 12:54 AM
 To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
 Subject: [FRIAM] Cliques, public, private.

 Glen wrote (in response to my recent massive missive) -
  I will briefly match your story with one of my own, then jump to a
  conclusion.  I used to do more tunneling than I do now.  All growing
  up I maintained (almost disjoint) sets of acquaintances.  In high
  school they had names: heads, jocks, brains, etc.  Somehow, I managed
  to float easily between them, controlling information flow so that any
  antipathy one group had for another didn't bleed into an antipathy
  toward me personally.  In elementary school and college, there were
  fewer names but sharper incisions.  In elementary school, they were very
 temporary.
  In college, they were very long-lasting.  E.g. if you collapsed into
  a Republican or perhaps a fan of Ayn Rand, you stayed there until long
  after college had ended.
 I parallel your experience here.  I grew up isolated from people in
 general
 and peers in particular.  I had one sister 2 years older, my parents with
 a
 father who worked long hours.  We mostly lived further
 from other people than I could walk easily alone.   When I arrived at
 public school (a 2 mile walk, uphill each way, often in the snow) at age
 6 I had very limited social experience with anyone much less children my
 age.  I became very good, very quickly at integrating with any group.
 There weren't many, it was a small school in a small town.  But I was so
 curious about other people and the dynamics of 3 or 5 or 9 boys running
 like
 a pack of wolves in the playground that I had to join in.  I did not
 distinguish gender and was happy to sit and make mudpies with the girls,
 and
 many of them were as at home roping my heels as I ran past (yes, the
 school toys included lariats as well as kickballs) as the boys.

 By high school I was in a large town, small city where I could know all of
 my classmates (eventually a graduating class of 300) but not well
 like I did with a class of roughly 20.   I knew how to kick shit with
 the stompers, I was clever enough to hang with the honor society kids, I
 was
 hip enough to hang with the drama kids, or the dopers if I wanted.  I
 was
 not a team-sport kindof guy but was physical enough to
 hang with the jocks.   But I was never really in.  I was invited in.
 But being fully in meant excluding members who were not in.  So the
 Stompers had to pick fights with the Jocks and the Stoners and tease the
 Drama and Band and Honor Roll kids.  Similarly the Jocks and Stoners would
 pick on the good kids and pick fights with the other bad kids.  When I
 would stand up for the good kid they were picking on or refuse to join the
 rising rumble amongst bad kids on any side, I was
 marked... I must be one of them.   It never really caused me much
 trouble except that it was clear that I wasn't one of them and would
 never be even though I shared many of their interests and attitudes.   I
 was as tough as most of the jocks or cowboys and the Stoners could be
 pretty
 mean but well, they were always stoned, so... whatever... 

Re: [FRIAM] Eileen Mendel wants to share new pictures with you

[Robert Holmes]

According to their website it's where you can create and share your
romantic journey. It seems that FRIAM has a suitor…


On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 9:10 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Zoosk??

 On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Eileen Mendel ermen...@gmail.com wrote:

 **
   [image: Zoosk]
  [image: Eileen]
 https://www.zoosk.com/signup/friend?invite-token=0c0c1d2d01874e0251ddc7e74cd29892t_ctr=IN_70_00_en_00_US_02_S_20121108_00_Efrom=find-friends-photo-IN_70_00_en_00_US_02_S_20121108_00_E

 Hi The, Eileen Mendel sent you an invite on Zoosk.

  View 
 Invitehttps://www.zoosk.com/signup/friend?invite-token=0c0c1d2d01874e0251ddc7e74cd29892t_ctr=IN_70_00_en_00_US_02_S_20121108_00_Efrom=find-friends-yes-IN_70_00_en_00_US_02_S_20121108_00_E

 This message was sent by a Zoosk user who entered your email address. If
 you'd prefer not to receive emails when other people send you emails
 through Zoosk, click 
 herehttps://www.zoosk.com/optout.php?with=friam%40redfish.comkey=c85f4604720d15578f821f54dbc8fd9bfrom=email_invite

 You have received this message at the email address: friam@redfish.com

 Copyright © 2007-2012 Zoosk, 989 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA.

 Privacy Policy http://www.zoosk.com/privacy

 
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Re: [FRIAM] The Presidential Election

[Robert Holmes]

Yeah, because that never backfires: Ralph Nader, Florida, 2000.


On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 2:46 PM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 snip



 Also, and primarily, that vote was a statement against the two party
 system.



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Re: [FRIAM] The Presidential Election

[Robert Holmes]

Oh, so you're a Romney supporter?

On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 1:04 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES e...@psu.edu wrote:

 snip
 P.S. I have a nice Gary Johnson sign outside my house.



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Re: [FRIAM] Seldon seen

[Robert Holmes]

Wow, I've not read those in three decades and that intro had me salivating.
Off to Amazon…

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 4:54 PM, Carl Tollander c...@plektyx.com wrote:

 New edition of Issac Asimov's Foundation series out, intro by  Paul
 Krugman.   Woo-hoo!
 https://webspace.princeton.**edu/users/pkrugman/FDT%**20intro.pdfhttps://webspace.princeton.edu/users/pkrugman/FDT%20intro.pdf


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Re: [FRIAM] dead fish wins igNobel

[Robert Holmes]

I don't get why this is an igNobel. The researchers are showing that the
standard statistical tests used in fMRI studies give nonsensical results
(namely, the dead salmon showed active voxel clusters in the salmon’s
brain cavity and spinal column). In contrast, when they use their proposed
correction, it didn't.

Showing that the statistical methodology of an entire field is
fundamentally flawed is a big deal. And given that this field is making its
appearance in courtrooms (
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100317/full/464340a.html) it is a *very*
big deal.

—R

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Roger Critchlow r...@elf.org wrote:

 Like a smell in your refrigerator that won't go away, the fMRI study of
 empathy in dead salmon, http://www.jsur.org/v1n1p1, has resurfaced again
 to claim the 2012 igNobel prize for neuroscience.

 -- rec --

 
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Re: [FRIAM] faith

[Robert Holmes]

It wouldn't hurt to review the entry on faith in the Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/faith/). In its second
paragraph, it distinguishes between a broad definition of faith as trust or
belief and the narrower notion of religious faith (think of the email
traffic we could have saved if we'd looked this up earlier…). It goes on to
explore different models of religious faith some of which the group has
discussed and some of which it hasn't:

   - *the ‘purely affective’ model*: faith as a feeling of existential
   confidence
   - *the ‘special knowledge’ model*: faith as knowledge of specific
   truths, revealed by God
   - *the ‘belief’ model*: faith as belief *that* God exists
   - *the ‘trust’ model*: faith as belief *in* (trust in) God
   - *the ‘doxastic venture’ model*: faith as practical commitment beyond
   the evidence to one's belief that God exists
   - *the ‘sub-doxastic venture’ model*: faith as practical commitment
   without belief
   - *the ‘hope’ model*: faith as hoping—or acting in the hope that—the God
   who saves exists.

In short, there's a reason baby Jesus invented Google. Every time you don't
use it to inform a discussion, an angel dies.

—R


On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 11:44 PM, Russ Abbott russ.abb...@gmail.com wrote:

 Steve,

 OK. Those seem like two distinct  meanings of faith. I was talking and
 thinking of your second one.

 *-- Russ *





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Re: [FRIAM] faith, zombies, and crazy people (was America and the Middle East: Murder in Libya | The Economist)

[Robert Holmes]

Here's some grounds for denying the non-zombie's account of his zombieness:
the non-zombie is mad or pig-headed or over-familiar with solipsism. Or a
combination of all three.

—R

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 9:40 AM, Nicholas Thompson 
nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote:

 Robert, 

 snipSo, there can be no grounds (that I can think off), for denying a
 non-zombie’s account that he is a zombie.


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Re: [FRIAM] faith, zombies, and crazy people (was America and the Middle East: Murder in Libya | The Economist)

[Robert Holmes]

You guys clearly know too much about philosophy and not enough about
zombies. Your notion that there is a single type of zombie has long been
discredited. Here's a handy chart that I hope can inform your discussion.

http://www.geekologie.com/image.php?path=/2010/10/05/zombie-chart-full.jpg

—R

On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 7:59 AM, Nicholas Thompson 
nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote:

 Glen,

 Wow!  This Zombie thing is WAY more complicated than I thought it was.
 Although I haven't read any Kant first hand, I hear him lurking in the
 background.  For me, a thermostat/furnace system is a telic system.  It
 acts
 in such a way as to maintain a set point.  So do I, sometimes.  Me and my
 furnace: we are telic systems.

 All the best,

 Nick



 -Original Message-
 From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On
 Behalf
 Of glen ropella
 Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2012 9:49 AM
 To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
 Subject: [FRIAM] faith, zombies, and crazy people (was America and the
 Middle East: Murder in Libya | The Economist)

 On 09/14/2012 06:56 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
  For me, consciousness is a point of view, and any telic system has a
  point of view.  Zombies are telic systems, no?

 That's a great question.  I would answer no.  Zombies cannot be telic (as I
 understand that word, of course) because they are enslaved by their
 context.
 They are not ends in and of themselves.  They are tools whose purpose has
 been installed in them by some non-zombie actor.

 FWIW, the Rosenites would disagree with me.  They'd claim that a zombie
 (were such possible) would be an organism closed to efficient cause
 (agency).  From this, they claim such closure allows anticipation, which,
 in
 turn, allows final cause (purpose) ... all without any requirement for
 _consciousness_ ... but with a requirement for reflective self-reference
 (aka closure).  Getting from reflection to consciousness might not be that
 hard.  And I support them in their quest. ;-)  But they haven't proven the
 closure to me.  I believe we organisms are only partially closed (to any of
 the causes).  Complete closure, in any of the causes, looks more like death
 to me.  So, there's something missing from their framework ... to the
 limited extent to which I understand it.

 Now, we might be able to reverse engineer a tool's purpose from its
 attributes.  And in that sense, a zombie might express a goal or purpose
 and
 be called telic ... but that purpose would not be its _own_.
 Perhaps a tool is telic, but it's not autotelic.

 And this is where faith and crazy enter.  When we can't reverse
 engineer
 a person's purpose ... or more accurately ... when we can't empathize ...
 we
 can't tell ourselves a story in which context their actions make sense,
 then
 they're acting on faith or they're crazy.  It is this ability to
 empathize
 ... for your neurons to be stimulated similarly to your referent's by
 observing their behavior ... that presents us with the zombie paradox.  On
 the one hand, telling a believable story turns you into a _machine_, a
 tool,
 without personal responsibility or accountability.  (My parents made me
 this way!)  But on the other hand, not telling a story makes you alien,
 crazy, a wart that has to be removed.

 Interesting people walk that fine line between adequately explaining
 themselves but leaving just enough craziness and mystery to preserve their
 identity, to avoid being a zombie.  I usually fail and am often accused of
 being a tool. 8^)

  Anyway, if you are curious, it's laid out in the conversation with the
  Devils Advocate on page 16 of the attached.
 
  Let me know what you think, if you have time to look at it.

 I will read it.  Thanks.  But in case it's not obvious, you must know that
 I
 don't take this stuff very seriously.  I only think/talk about this stuff
 to
 distract me from work.  ;-)  So, it's unlikely that I'll be able to give it
 the attention that it and you deserve.

 --
 glen  == Hail Eris!

 
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Re: [FRIAM] PRES12_WTA Prospectus - The University of Iowa

[Robert Holmes]

from...?

On Aug 19, 2012 3:56 PM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net wrote:

 It's a gift.

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Re: [FRIAM] Something for physicists

[Robert Holmes]

This http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/, I'm guessing.

On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 9:05 PM, Russ Abbott russ.abb...@gmail.com wrote:

  What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the
 speed of light http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/? 

 *-- Russ *

 
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[FRIAM] Oh Apple…

[Robert Holmes]

I've never been a full-on Apple fanboi per se, but I have enjoyed my iMacs
and my MacBook Pros since I abandoned Windows half a decade ago. But now
Apple are starting to seriously piss me off.

   - They've completely lost the
plothttp://gizmodo.com/5849940/ugh-god-why-apple-is-making-everything-look-like-an-ugly-wild-weston
GUI design
   - They tried their
damnedesthttp://techcrunch.com/2012/05/30/sean-parker-apple-tried-to-keep-spotify-out-of-the-us/to
keep my favorite music service out of the US
   - And now they've got an
injunctionhttp://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-samsung-galaxy-nexus-20120629,0,5421074.storyagainst
my phone.

They're turning into the incompetents and corporate bullies that their old
think different ads railed against. Time for a boycott. So, Doug, can I
run Lightroom 4 on Linux?

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] [WedTech] Robots Go To War

[Robert Holmes]

Interesting, but I'm surprised that the article didn't mention the
signature drone strikes that are so popular with the Obama
administration, whereby you only need to do something that looks vaguely
terrorist-y (attend one of their funerals, live near them, go to the same
market) to become a legitimate target.
(Here'shttp://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/expanding-cia-drone-strikes-will-likely-mean-more-dead-innocents/256106/a
piece from The Atlantic about it.)

- R

On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 12:27 PM, Kim Sorvig
sor...@santafe-newmexico.comwrote:

 snip


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[FRIAM] Language death

[Robert Holmes]

Interesting piece on a mathematical model of what makes languages die out.
Contains a link to the original paper, freely available (hurrah!) at the
Royal Society.

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jun/31-how-math-can-help-save-a-dying-language

- Robert
attachment: Attachment001.png
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Re: [FRIAM] The Climate Fixers May 14 New Yorker

[Robert Holmes]

A partially remembered quote from an Atlantic article a year ago: Fighting
climate change with particle injection is like trying to fight obesity with
a girdle and doughnuts.

—R

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 1:32 PM, Paul Paryski ppary...@aol.com wrote:

 I submitted a letter (see below) to the editor of the New Yorker about
 Michael Specter's excellent May 14th article on technical solutions to
 global warming.

  Any comments?
 cheers, Paul


 -Original Message-
 From: Paul Paryski ppary...@aol.com
 To: themail them...@newyorker.com
 Sent: Tue, May 29, 2012 1:28 pm
 Subject: The Climate Fixers May 14

  Dear Sirs,

  Thank you for publishing Michael Specter’s excellent and informative
 article on technical solutions to global warming which is, I believe,
 probably the most important challenge to our species and, indeed, other
 species. As a former chief technical advisor on environmental governance
 for the United Nations Development Programme I have followed climate change
 and anthropogenic global warming issues very closely primarily through the
 IPCC.

  The Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering project is
 particularly (no pun intended) interesting and thought provoking even with
 its inherent, ecological, environmental and political risks. I wonder if
 another approach to particle injection might be adding certain reflective
 particles to aviation fuels.  Such a solution would be much less costly
 than a twelve-mile long pipe held aloft by a balloon and assure global
 dispersion at smaller densities.

  Of course, there are many who believe mistakenly that our government is
 already adding chemicals to jet fuel creating “chemtrails”.

  Paul Paryski
 Santa Fe, New Mexico

 
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[FRIAM] New open source journal from Springer

[Robert Holmes]

http://www.epjdatascience.com/

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[FRIAM] Please Don't Learn to Code

[Robert Holmes]

Jeff Atwood's blog posts are always good value. This one is no exception.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/please-dont-learn-to-code.html

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] Old Folks Only: Medicare Plan F

[Robert Holmes]

Move to Europe?

—R

On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 11:47 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Today I had my first experience of a doctor refusing my medicare insurance.

 This was particularly surprising because I have the Plan
 F supplement which purports to pay the difference between the Medicare
 schedule and the doctor's normal fee.  I even offered to pay for it all
 myself and was refused as it's being against the law to pay for treatment
 while having insurance of any kind!

 The best they could offer is referring me to a doctor in Los Alamos. (I
 think if I'm going to have to move my medical services, I'd more likely
 choose Abq, but I'm not sure if that indeed would be better.)

 This is spooky!

 Have any of us had similar experiences? I'm trying to figure out what my
 alternatives are.

 - Get off Medicare + supplement plan and pay a great deal for standard
 blue cross/shield?
 - Move from standard Medicare to the alternative Advantage plans?
 - Call the doctor every week to see if she's now accepting Medicare?
 - Suck it up and start looking outside of Santa Fe?
 - Go find a hip doctor and ask what the best approach is!


 Please let me/us know what your experiences are in this area!  Yikes!

-- Owen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Just as a bye-the-way

[Robert Holmes]

I like C D Broad's take on this: Induction is the glory of science and the
scandal of philosophy. (1926, The Philosophy of Francis Bacon).

I think there's a lot of truth in this... induction is simply not a problem
for science and scientists. Scientists have used induction to give the most
amazing, useful awe-inspiring descriptions of the universe and its
contents. Sure, philosophers can hop around shouting You can't do that!
It's not possible! but you know what? We just did.

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] Just as a bye-the-way

[Robert Holmes]

This reminds me of a comment in the Physics vs.
Chemistryhttp://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/timc/timc_20111219-1700a.mp3episode
of the BBC's Infinite Monkey Cage:

Chemistry is better than physics, because if something doesn't work you
can't pretend that it does by sticking the word 'dark' in front of it.


—R

On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 Nick, you misunderstood me:

 So-called dark matter is a very important example, in that until a
 deeper understanding of cosmological physics is developed, induction can
 provide little insight into the the referenced phenomenon.

 Please take up dark matter in your discourse on induction.

 If, however, for some reason you find the topic of dark matter an
 unsatisfactory vehicle for this discussion, I have another waiting in the
 wings.

 --Doug



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[FRIAM] Nature special edition on Alan Turing

[Robert Holmes]

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/turing/index.html

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Re: [FRIAM] Strange, funny and baffling units for measuring almost anything | Royal Pingdom

[Robert Holmes]

There's a similar list on Wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement), where
you'll also find a measure of information flow, the Dirac:

Physicist Paul Dirac http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac was known
among his colleagues for his precise yet taciturn nature. His colleagues in
Cambridge jokingly defined a unit of a dirac which was one word per hour.

—R

On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:01 PM, Tom Johnson t...@jtjohnson.com wrote:

 Just in case you need a special metric


 http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/07/13/strange-funny-and-baffling-units-for-measuring-almost-anything/

 -tj


 
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Re: [FRIAM] Oh my gawd...

[Robert Holmes]

Actually you can't define primeness any way you want. The definition needs
to be negotiated by the community of professionals who are can credibly
agree on the definition.

My definition of primeness is anything bigger than 3 and painted an
attractive shade of blue. But no one listens to me. Nor should they,
because I'm not a mathematician.

—R

On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Grant Holland
grant.holland...@gmail.comwrote:

  George's observation (from Saturday) under mathematician pretty much
 captures the issue for me. One can define primeness any way one wants.
 The choice of excluding 1 has the fun consequence that George explains so
 well. Maybe including 1 has other fun consequences. If so, then give that
 definition a name (prime is already taken) , and see where it leads. You
 can make this stuff up any way you want, folks. Just follow the
 consequences. Some of these consequences provide analogies that physicists
 can use. Some don't. No matter. We just wanna have fun!

 Grant

 On 12/10/11 4:08 PM, George Duncan wrote:

 Yes, it does depend on how you define prime BUT speaking as a

  *mathematician*

  it is good to have definitions for which we get interesting theorems,
 like the unique (prime) factorization theorem that says every natural
 number has unique prime factors, so 6 has just 2 and 3, NOT 2 and 3 or 2
 and 3 and 1. So we don't want 1 as a prime or the theorem doesn't work.

  *statistician*

  do a Bing or Google search on prime number and see what frequency of
 entries define 1 as prime (I didn't find any). So from an empirical point
 of view usage says 1 is not prime

  *artist*

  try Bing of Google images and see how many pretty pictures show 1 as
 prime. I didn't see any.

  Cheers, Duncan

  On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 5:19 PM, Pamela McCorduck pam...@well.comwrote:

 I asked the in-house mathematician about this. When he began, Well, it
 depends on how you define 'prime' . . . I knew it was an ambiguous case.

 PMcC



 On Dec 10, 2011, at 5:12 PM, Marcos wrote:

  On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 2:17 AM, Russell Standish r.stand...@unsw.edu.au
 wrote:

 Has one ever been prime? Never in my lifetime...


 Primes start at 2 in my world.  There was mathematician doing a talk
 once, and before he started talking, he checked his microphone:

 Testing, testing, 2, 3, 5, 7

 That's how I remember.

 Mark

 
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  --
 George Duncan
 georgeduncanart.com
 (505) 983-6895
 Represented by ViVO Contemporary
 725 Canyon Road
 Santa Fe, NM 87501

 Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward.
 Soren Kierkegaard



 
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Re: [FRIAM] Epistemological Maunderings

[Robert Holmes]

Logorrhea (psychology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logorrhea_(psychology),
a communication disorder resulting in incoherent talkativeness


On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 8:05 PM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 Just out of idle curiosity, what's the '...ysics' or '...ology' word for
 'prefers to talk (incessantly) about it rather than doing it?'

 Unless, of course, that is an unsuitable question.  The question emerged,
 unbidden, you see...

 On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 7:50 PM, Steve Smith sasm...@swcp.com wrote:

  Metaphysics being the nature of being and existence, Epistemology being
 the nature of knowledge.   Whether emergence is Epistemological or if it is
 Phenomenological or Metaphysical is an interesting question and not an
 unsubtle one...


  I think this is metaphysics, no?  

 ** **

 *From:* friam-boun...@redfish.com 
 [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.comfriam-boun...@redfish.com]
 *On Behalf Of *Steve Smith
 *Sent:* Sunday, December 11, 2011 11:44 AM
 *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
 *Subject:* [FRIAM] Epistemological Maunderings

 ** **

 On Primeness...

 I am  mathematician by training (barely) but I don't think anyone should
 listen to me about mathematics unless serendipitously I happen to land on a
 useful or interesting (by whose measure?) mathematical conjecture (and
 presumably some attendant proofs as well).

 That said, I've always wondered why the poets among the mathematicians
 didn't hit on naming the naive Primes (Primes+1) - Prime' (Prime *prime
 *).  Perhaps there are too many mathematicians with stutters and/or
 tourette's that would be set off by such a construct?

 Who can answer the question of why we (this particular group, or any one
 vaguely like it) can get so wrapped up on such a simple topic?  There IS a
 bit of circular logic involved in defining mathematics as that which
 mathematicians study.  Or as Robert suggests, that his definition of a
 mathematical construct (Prime numbers in this case) is not legitimate
 because he is not a mathematician.   I'd say his definition is not useful
 because it deals in concepts which are not mathematical in nature (in
 particular attractive, shade, blue) which are terms of interest and
 relevance in aesthetics and psychophysics (both of which are known to
 utilize, mathematics but not vice-versa).   Numerology, on the other hand
 uses all three!

 We seem to wander off into epistemological territory quite often without
 knowing it or admitting to it.   I am pretty sure a number of people here
 would specifically exclude epistemological discussions if they could, while
 others are drawn to them (self included).

   While I do find discussions about the manipulation of matter
 (technology), and even data (information theory) and the nature of physical
 reality (physics) and formal logic (mathematics) quite interesting (and
 more often, the myriad personal and societal impacts of same), what can be
 more interesting (and the rest grounded in) than the study of knowledge
 itself?

 That said, I don't know that many of us are well versed in the discourse
 of epistemology and therefore tend to hack at it badly when we get into
 that underbrush, making everyone uncomfortable.  On the other hand, I'll
 bet we have a (large?) handful of contributors (and/or lurkers) here with a
 much broader and deeper understanding than I have but who perhaps recognize
 the futility of opening that bag of worms.

 Our core topic of Complexity Science is fraught with epistemological
 questions (I believe), most particularly questions such as whence and what
 emergence? as Nick's seminars of 2+ years ago considered.  I don't know if
 the topic was approached from the point of view of what is the nature of
 knowledge?  or more specifically, how can we define a new concept such as
 emergence and have it hold meaning?.  In my view, emergence is strictly
 phenomenological as are the many (highly useful) constructs of
 statistical physics.

 I promised a maunder here, I trust I succeeded in delivering!

 Carry on!
  - Steve


 

 Actually you can't define primeness any way you want. The definition
 needs to be negotiated by the community of professionals who are can
 credibly agree on the definition. 

 ** **

 My definition of primeness is anything bigger than 3 and painted an
 attractive shade of blue. But no one listens to me. Nor should they,
 because I'm not a mathematician.

 ** **

 —R

 ** **

 On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Grant Holland 
 grant.holland...@gmail.com wrote:

 George's observation (from Saturday) under mathematician pretty much
 captures the issue for me. One can define primeness any way one wants.
 The choice of excluding 1 has the fun consequence that George explains so
 well. Maybe including 1 has other fun consequences. If so, then give that
 definition a name (prime is already taken) , and see where it leads. You
 can make this stuff up any way you want, folks. Just 

Re: [FRIAM] Gates discussing new nuclear reactor with China - Yahoo! News

[Robert Holmes]

Yeah, greenest only if you ignore the environmental/human/dollar costs of
getting the uranium out of the ground and then you forget about that whole
messy decommissioning component (which usually relies on the assumption
that national government must ultimately underwrite/pick up the tab and is
therefore free)—R

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 6:13 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 From the I Like Nukes department we have new designs that look
 interesting:

 http://news.yahoo.com/gates-discussing-nuclear-reactor-china-124722465.html
 They run on depleted uranium and apparently are safer.

 Ironically, nukes are apparently the greenest critters around too.

-- Owen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Gates discussing new nuclear reactor with China - Yahoo! News

[Robert Holmes]

Hmm... LANL built the world's first experimental fast reactor (Clementine,
1946). Hard to say which was strictly the world's first commercial one
(Dounreay? Super-Phenix?) but the big problem they've all had is that cost
of operation  price of electricity generated. Which is why after 60
years there's ~5 of them in the world. Five. (see wikipedia for details).
In theory, they're the greatest thing since sliced bread (free fuel! How
can that be bad?), but in practice... less so.

—R

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 9:08 PM, Carl Tollander c...@plektyx.com wrote:

  More here:   http://bravenewclimate.com/2010/09/22/twr-vs-ifr   There
 appears to be some sentiment that Gate's TWR is not as good as the IFR
 designs.   I don't know enough to judge.

 Also, Monbiot has a new screed out on GE-Hitachi's proposal for an IFR:
 ...last week GE Hitachi (GEH) told the British government that it could
 build a fast reactor within five years to use up the waste plutonium at
 Sellafield, and if it doesn’t work, the UK won’t have to pay.  You can
 raise your personal BP by reading about it here:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/05/sellafield-nuclear-energy-solution
 A somewhat more bloodless description of the project is here:
 http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Prism_proposed_for_UK_plutonium_disposal-0112114.html

 Now, you may not believe that the design can work, but if it works as they
 say, the getting the uranium out of the ground part would be marginal.
 On the surface, it sounds better than MOX, I suppose, which is what the UK
 says they'll do if they don't do this.   And if it doesn't work, the UK
 won't have to pay is not necessarily the same as free, but it's in the
 ballpark.

 As to safer, Gen IV reactors are indeed safer, but only under current
 definitions of safe.  Just about anything is safer than coal, so that's
 not saying much.


 On 12/7/11 9:27 PM, Robert Holmes wrote:

 Yeah, greenest only if you ignore the environmental/human/dollar costs of
 getting the uranium out of the ground and then you forget about that whole
 messy decommissioning component (which usually relies on the assumption
 that national government must ultimately underwrite/pick up the tab and is
 therefore free)—R

 On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 6:13 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 From the I Like Nukes department we have new designs that look
 interesting:

 http://news.yahoo.com/gates-discussing-nuclear-reactor-china-124722465.html
 They run on depleted uranium and apparently are safer.

  Ironically, nukes are apparently the greenest critters around too.

 -- Owen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] Syncing between devices...why? [was Android Choice]

[Robert Holmes]

Errr yes, that is a *really* good question.

Why *do* you have so many devices? Why do any of us? Do they make us
happier?

—R

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 12:05 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES e...@psu.edu wrote:

 To deviate a touch, and head a bit back towards a past thread... how many
 of us are there left who use their different devices for different purposes?

 I like that my computer at work has totally different bookmarks than my
 laptop, which has totally different bookmarks than my cell phone... because
 I use them for different things. Sometimes I even have my laptop sitting
 out next to my desktop at work so that I can do different tasks on a
 computer that I have set up to do those tasks. I would think having all my
 digital devices that much alike (the same programs, the same features, the
 same settings, etc., etc., etc.) would make you wonder why you have so many
 devices.

 Any thoughts from the other side of the (digital) ecological divide?

 Eric

 On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 01:26 PM, *Chris Feola ch...@nextpression.com*wrote:

  In that case, one more word in praise of the Google ecosystem, which
 people don't tend to think of as such. Until iOS 5, iPhones were
 largely ancillaries to your desktop -- you needed to cable up regularly to
 synch with iTunes to do stuff. For better or for worse, Google is pushing
 deep into the cloud space. Go to the Android Market; pick an app. The
 Market knows which of my devices are compatible and cloud installs; the
 next time I use that device its just there. The phone backup is seamless
 and wireless; when I upgrade my games are not only installed, I'm on the
 same levels! But, as Apple has proved, its the little things that often
 count most. If you use Chrome, you have The. Same. Bookmarks. Everywhere.
 Yes, I realize there are bookmark sync tools/social tools/etc. This,
 however, is seamless. If I'm working on something like the BlackBerry SDK
 -- don't ask -- and find a good reference, I drag it to my toolbar, and
 that's exactly where it is every time. On my desktop. On my laptop. On my
 tablet. (Honeycomb or better.) On my phone. (Ice Cream Sandwich.) When I'm
 done with it, delete it/file it/what ever. Changes how you use things, for
 sure.

 cjf
 --
  *From:* friam-boun...@redfish.com [friam-boun...@redfish.com] on behalf
 of Owen Densmore [o...@backspaces.net]
 *Sent:* Tuesday, November 01, 2011 11:43 AM
 *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
 *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] [SUSPICIOUS EMAIL] Re: Android Choice

   Brilliant!  Just what I needed, thanks!  If I'm wedded to anything in
 the apple world, its unix and programming and command line.  iTunes is just
 a fairly reasonable interface to manage phone/pad/pod.  I don't need it for
 music/video/books etc, there are fine alternatives. Quite willing to give
 it up and start really using my google ecology: calendar, mail, contacts
 etc.

  We have Vzn  TMo near to each other so I'm going to eliminate ATT, and
 focus my Android attention on TMo as a carrier, and iPhone via Vzn with
 their world-phone iPhone.  I'd like to wait for a larger screen iPhone but
 as for my 2G, Its Dead Jim!  No worries.  Glad to see we agree on TMo.
  Damn I wish they had not gone the AWS route.

  -- Owen

 On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Chris Feola 
 ch...@nextpression.com#133604f316893c23_
  wrote:

  Hi Owen,

 Glad to help. Short answer: Buy an iPhone.

 Longer answer: When people ask me what phone to buy, I ask one simple
 question: Are you married to iTunes? Do you have a playlist for every mood?
 Have you spent years getting it to work just right?

 If so, buy an iPhone. You will be massively unhappy otherwise. To a
 lesser extent, if you are married to the Apple ecosystem -- iCal and such
 -- this also applies. Modern smartphones are becoming the sharp point of
 your digital life; one that doesn't fit will drive you mad.

 If you are not married to the Apple ecosystem, then try out a few phones
 side by side and see what you like. Frankly, they are all good enough. I
 find the current real differentiator to be the screens.  Here, Android has
 the lead, and it is widening. (Sorry for the pun!) State of the art here is
 the new -- and for the moment, insane appearing -- Galaxy Nexus Prime, with
 a full HD 720 screen -- !! -- that's just over 4.6 inches. What appears to
 be happening here, btb, is that Apple is betting heavily on larger tablets,
 and Google is trying to find out if a phone can have a screen big enough --
 while the device remains small enough -- that you don't want a tablet.

 So, specific advice. It sounds like you are in the Apple eco-system. If
 so, buy an iPhone. If your 2 is dead dead, buy a 4s; its a very nice
 device.  If your 2 can be coaxed through another year, wait for the iPhone
 5. Rumor has it that this will be the last Jobs designed phone, and that it
 will finally have a bigger screen.

 If you are not married into the Apple eco-system, I would 

Re: [FRIAM] [sfx: Discuss] Fwd: FlowingData - Best statistics question ever

[Robert Holmes]

Zero. Because the actual correct answer is herring

—R

On Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Carl Tollander c...@plektyx.com wrote:

  Imagine it's not multiple choice...


 On 10/29/11 9:44 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:

 Oops fat fingered earlier email.  I think this, as Tyler sez, is tricky
 because of the double 25.  You have a 50% chance of 25, but only 25% of the
 other two.  Like the Monty Hall, I'd like to hear a pro reason through to
 the answer.

 On Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 9:39 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.netwrote:



 On Sat, Oct 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Tyler White 
 tylerwhitedes...@gmail.comwrote:

 The solution depends on how you consider the answers...  you can say that
 there are four unique answers (A, B, C, D) or you could say there are only 3
 answers (25%, 50%, 60%).  It's a trick question!  Hahahah

 Tyler White¹
 http://TylerWhiteDesign.com
 http://twitter.com/Uberousful



 
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Re: [FRIAM] heart beats

[Robert Holmes]

It is approximately invariant. See for example Joseph Bronizino's The
Biomedical Engineering Handbook: biomedical engineering fundamentals,
section 17.4 Comparative Analysis of the Mammalian Circulatory System

—R

P.S. So has the Google broken down in your corner of New Mexico? If you
Google the total number of heart beats in a mammal's lifetime is invariant
you get the above *as the very first link*. How much easier does the
interweb need to be for members of FRIAM? ;-)

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[FRIAM] Editorial survey: swarm intelligence for data mining

[Robert Holmes]

The Editorial survey in the latest Machine Learning is worth a read

http://www.springer.com/?SGWID=0-0-1500-1493603-0cm_mmc=AD-_-Journal-_-MCS14908_V1-_-0

Free access until 10/31/2011

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Re: [FRIAM] Delicious Alternative

[Robert Holmes]

pinboard.in

It's a one-off cost of ~$10 but it's a really clean design that I find
easier to use than the old delicious

—R

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 9:52 AM, Jochen Fromm j...@cas-group.net wrote:

 The new Delicious really sucks, what kind of bookmarking service are you
 using now? Any recommendations? Is Diigo a good alternative?

 -J.

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Re: [FRIAM] Official Google Blog: When patents attack Android

[Robert Holmes]

Poor Google.

I think we should all make a commitment to double our search activity today
so that they can generate some additional revenue to fight off this awful
anti-competitive threat.

—R

On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 This is a fascinating post on the Google Blog:

 http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/when-patents-attack-android.html


 Apparently Android has posed a threat great enough for the Patent Wars to
 begin.

 IMHO, Android is so different from iPhone that it creates a new market, not
 an attack on iPhone .. so Apple should chill.

 Why different?  The iPhone is for folks who want a stable, evolving,
 predictable phone and software base which spans from iTV, iPhone, iPad,
 iPod, and Lion OS.  Android is the innovative market for people wanting each
 cellular provider to put its own stamp on the user experience, and to
 integrate with Google, not OSs and devices.  The Android market wants to be
 broader in cost and market demographic.

 But anyway, interesting read from Google.

 -- Owen


 
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Re: [FRIAM] Santa Fe

[Robert Holmes]

Is that special or special?

—Robert

On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 2:17 PM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 Yes, everybody here is special.

 --Doug




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Re: [FRIAM] iClarified - Apple News - Amazon Launches Textbook Rentals for the Kindle

[Robert Holmes]

Hmmm... strikes me as another attempt to extract rents from an already
monopolistic market (you must use textbook X for this course and you will
pay Y). 80% off list price for a 30 day rental? So if I want it for a year,
that's about 240% of list price? Nice business model.

—R

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 9:17 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Interesting: digital rental of text books at amazon:
 http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=16101

 Others have done this sort of thing but this is pretty big-time.  And I
 notice that this is not only for the kindle device, but also for your
 computer, phone, ipad via their kindle apps, which now allow color, even
 though the kindle itself is black/white only.

 -- Owen

 
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Re: [FRIAM] iClarified - Apple News - Amazon Launches Textbook Rentals for the Kindle

[Robert Holmes]

I hope the Open University is accredited, that's where I got my MBA!

They had an interesting approach in the late 90s ( don't know if is the same
now): course fees included textbooks, so a week after signing up you would
get a big box through the mail full of the textbooks you would need for the
year. Saved a lot of time!
--Robert
On Jul 19, 2011 11:37 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

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Re: [FRIAM] Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private - NYTimes.com

[Robert Holmes]

Unfortunately, that's all about to change. See Banks Find Way To Sell
Consumers Shopping
Datahttp://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/11/233227/Banks-Find-Way-To-Sell-Consumers-Shopping-Data
on
Slashdot

—R

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 4:52 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 snip I'm less concerned about banks and credit cards, they generally do
 not use your data for other purposes.




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Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

[Robert Holmes]

Owen—I'm afraid that scientists  engineers like us have occasionally got to
be on the receiving end of go read the book comments just as much as
non-scientists who want to know about vortex formation...

The contemporary utilitarians who are writing about this stuff include
Judith Lichtenberg, Michalel Slote and Michael Stocker. Ones with a more
theoretical bent include Peter Railton, Samuel Scheffler and Shelly Kagan.
Google Scholar has links to their work.

—R

P.S. The paradigm case of consequentialism is utilitarianism says
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/. You many need to expand
your search terms!

On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 9:25 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 snip

 Indeed, as far as I can tell .. and I have looked .. this form of thinking
 is foreign to philosophers.



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Re: [FRIAM] [sfx: Discuss] Gmail Phishing Warning Messages

[Robert Holmes]

Owen—this email is composed in gmail's web interface and it's actually from
a gmail address (I've got my send mail as... set to the address you see).

One email is going direct to you, the other via FRIAM. Do you get phishing
warnings on either of them?

—R

On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 I'm not kidding, here's the email I got from your response!  Anyone else?
  Or do I have to figure out how to fix gmail  chrome.  Again!

-- Owen

 [image: Google Chrome007.75.gif]

 On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 12:37 PM, Marie F mree.wh...@gmail.com wrote:

  On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net
 wrote:
  I've recently changed to gmail, web browser version, and have seen the
  following warnings in many posts to these lists from gmail users:
  This message may not have been sent by: x...@gmail.com  Learn
 more  Report
  phishing
  1 - Is this also appearing in your email when using gmail's web UI?

 No.



 
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Google Chrome007.75.gif
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Re: [FRIAM] The Uncertainty Tax

[Robert Holmes]

If you go to regulations.gov and select newly posted regulations, you'll
see that there's been 24,476 of them in the last year.

For me, that seems quite a lot. But I'm not a trained academic, so perhaps
my reading speed is abnormally low.

—R

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 3:06 PM, Russ Abbott russ.abb...@gmail.com wrote:

 snip
 With respect to uncertainty due to new regulations, I'll believe it when
 you can show me all the new regulations that have been put in place in the
 past 2 years.  (Very few!)

 snip


 *-- Russ Abbott*
 *_*
 ***  Professor, Computer Science*
 *  California State University, Los Angeles*

 *  Google voice: 747-*999-5105
 *  blog: *http://russabbott.blogspot.com/
   vita:  http://sites.google.com/site/russabbott/
 *_*



 On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 1:55 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.netwrote:

 Great pointer to Clinton's points.

 In terms of uncertainty, I think there are two different kinds being
 discussed.
 - The republicans discuss certainty in regulations and new laws.
 - Tom discusses certainty of the job market and downturn direction.

   -- Owen


 On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 11:39 AM, Russ Abbott russ.abb...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  I'm, pretty skeptical about the uncertainty argument. That seems to me
 to be
  a Republican ploy to argue for lower taxes, which in their view is the
  solution no matter what the problem is.  For the most part companies
 aren't
  hiring or adding new production capacity because there isn't the demand
 to
  justify it.
 
  But there are some things that can be done. Here are some very ideas
 that
  Bill Clinton is suggesting.  We miss him as president.
 
  -- Russ Abbott
  _
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles
 
Google voice: 747-999-5105
blog: http://russabbott.blogspot.com/
vita:  http://sites.google.com/site/russabbott/
  _
 
 
 
  On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 9:08 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net
 wrote:
 
  Tom Friedman's Op Ed
 
 
 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1partner=rssnytemc=rss
 
  He starts with shocking mortgage statistics, but then discusses
  unemployment and its causes via this report:
  http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/us_jobs/index.asp
 
  Quote: McKinsey Global Institute released a long study of the
  structural issues ailing the U.S. job market, entitled: “An Economy
  That Works: Job Creation and America’s Future.” It begins: “Only in
  the most optimistic scenario will the United States return to full
  employment before 2020. Achieving this outcome will require sustained
  demand growth, rising U.S. competitiveness in the global economy and
  better matching of U.S. workers to jobs.”
 
  Interestingly enough, they still feel education is important but
  stress areas of current need.
 
  BTW: The tech bubble folks are afraid of is likely NOT to be one. Marc
  Andreessen (admittedly a techie) has compiled P/E ratios of the new
  tech market and shows them to be well under traditional values. They'd
  please any conservative investor.
 
  Tom is concerned about the Uncertainty Tax .. our loss of production
  due to fear of downturn unknowns, but ends: Any good news? Yes, U.S.
  corporations are getting so productive and sitting on so much cash,
  just a few big, smart, bipartisan decisions by Congress on taxes and
  spending (and mortgages) and I think this whole economy starts to
  improve again. Workers with skills will be the first to be hired.
 
-- Owen
 
  
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Re: [FRIAM] GMail: Wow: Corsi di italiano a Firenze, Scuola Toscana

[Robert Holmes]

I always found it fun seeing the ads that got themselves attached to FRIAM
posts...

—R

P.S. I've disabled ads in Gmail with
thishttps://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coibnogmjcpbccgjofoiklnfpbbjbapochrome
extension. Works well.

2011/6/19 Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net

 I'm trying gmail for a variety of reasons.  Gmail has a TINY add
 posted at the top of the mail, and if you allow them, the add is
 targeted more accurate by checking your email data.

 I've been astounded how accurate they are!  I just got this, written
 in italian, likely due to my attending a school in Le Marche last
 year.  I don't know whether to be impressed or spooked .. or both!

 Da 20 anni offriamo corsi di italiano per farVi conoscere sempre
 meglio la lingua e la cultura italiana, e sopratutto per fare si che
 il Vostro soggiorno a Firenze, sia esso di una settimana o di un anno,
 sia indimenticabile. Piu di 8,000 studenti di tutto il mondo e di
 tutte le eta ci hanno scelto in questi anni, ed il fatto che ogni anno
 tantissimi di loro tornino alla scuolatoscana a perfezionare la lingua
 italiana significa che siamo riusciti nel nostro scopo.
 http://www.scuola-toscana.com/it/?gclid=CL_juPSewqkCFacZQgod8XhTMQ

 
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Re: [FRIAM] The stopping rule

[Robert Holmes]

Errr guys? You might want to check the
paperhttp://www.americanscientist.org/issues/issue.aspx?id=5783y=0no=content=truepage=2css=print.
It isn't three random numbers. It's two numbers written by a human opponent
and a random number. A somewhat different scenario...

—R

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 12:39 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES e...@psu.edu wrote:

 1) Constraint on the range is irrelevant, it is just a distraction.

 2) Knowing the actual range or the boundaries is irrelevant, it is only a
 distraction. -- heck, even knowing the shape of the distribution and the
 actual value of the numbers is a distraction.

 3) All that matters is that half the time the first number will be below
 the median and half the time it will be above the median (by definition of
 the median). As Shawn points out (providing what seems like a cleaner
 presentation than the one I offered), the second number only serves to help
 you guess whether the first number is above or below the median, and no
 matter what distribution you have it will on average provide at least some
 (Shannon-style) information.

 Surely guessing in this manner will often get you the wrong answer, but all
 that was asserted was that you would, on average guess at a better than
 chance level. As long as there are more than two numbers in the distribution
 from which the random numbers are drawn, and the three numbers are known to
 be distinct, it should be true - hence the reducability to the Monte Hall
 problem.

 Eric

 P.S. For the Monte Hall reduction, we can do it with simple ordinal
 judgements:
 Step 1, you are given a door (it does not matter how good a prize is behind
 that door)
 Step 2, you are told that a second door has a better prize behind it.
 Step 3, you are asked if you want to take the prize behind a third door, or
 stick with the first door.

 Because we know that what is behind the three doors is different, there are
 two possibilities:
 1. You were shown what was behind door 2, because that was the only door
 with a prize better than door 1.
 2. You were shown what was behind door 2, because both door 2 and 3 have
 better prizes than door 1, and the guy running the show flipped a coin.

 Option 2 is twice as likely as option 1, hence you are ever so slightly
 better off switching (on average).

 If we move to a continuous distribution, we can still pretend that it is a
 discontinuous-ordinal distribution, so the same logic works. If I tell you
 that a second random number was larger than the first... you are better off
 guessing that a third random number will also be better than the first. The
 actual shape of the distribution will determine how big an advantage you
 receive, but there will be an advantage no matter what.

 P.P.S. Thanks Shawn for your explanation, and Russ for mentioning dear old
 Monte.


 On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 01:52 PM, *Sarbajit Roy sroy...@gmail.com* wrote:

 a) The assumption was that there is no constraint on the range.

 b) Knowing 2 numbers (or even a hundred) tells us nothing about the
 range/boundary for the 3rd (or the 101st).

 c) So the only thing I can say is that if the 3 numbers are disclosed to
 the guesser in ascending order, the probability that the 3rd number is
 greater than the 1st approaches or equals 1 (making it well over 50%).

 Sarbajit

 On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 7:36 PM, 
 sba...@gmail.com#13076d5fa992f1a1_13075b4419e4519c_
  wrote:

 The first number partitions the distribution.  Unless the areas on
 either side of the partition are equal, there is a greater than 50
 percent chance that the second number will be drawn from the larger
 partition.  Assuming that the three numbers are independent and
 identically distributed, the probability of drawing the third number
 from the larger partition is the same as the probability of drawing
 the second number from the larger partition.  Basically, the second
 number determines whether the third number will be larger or smaller
 than the first.


 Shawn

 On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:09 AM, ERIC P. CHARLES 
 e...@psu.edu#13076d5fa992f1a1_13075b4419e4519c_
 wrote:
  Sarbajit,
  Great point, but let me make it a bit more complicated. Possibilities
 marked
  with a + indicate situations in which we will have a probabilistic
  advantage in our guessing, possibilities marked with a - indicate
  situations in which we will have a probabilistic disadvantage in our
  guessing:
  1) A below B below
 1a) and A below B +
 1b) and B below A -
  2) A below B above +
  3) A above B below +
  4) A above B above
  4a) and A above B +
  4b) and B above A -
 
  Eric
 
  P.S. The case of a single bounded distribution is definitely the hardest
 for
  me to think about, a double bounded or unbounded distribution seems much
  more intuitive. Also, the restriction to guess relative to A makes it
 harder
  for me to think about. Imagine instead that all we did was guess that
 the
  third number would be above the smallest of the first two.
 
  On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 

[FRIAM] Quote of the week

[Robert Holmes]

From the BBC's science podcast The Infinite Monkey
Cagehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/timc
:

Philosophy is to physics as pornography is to sex. It's cheaper, it's
easier and some people seem to prefer it.

—R

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Re: [FRIAM] Gmail love

[Robert Holmes]

An interesting point. So which webmail providers, ISPs *etc.* should we
trust not to violate our privacy? And how do we know to trust them?

—R

On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 7:15 PM, Sarbajit Roy sroy...@gmail.com wrote:

 So lets hear your experiences with Gmail and how you like/don't like its
 features!

 The worst problem with Gmail is PRIVACY - you don't have any. You must
 assume that each and every email which passes through gmail is archived
 indefinitely (the copyright being with google).

 - Sarbajit




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[FRIAM] He sees you when you're sleeping...

[Robert Holmes]

http://xkcd.com/838

-- R

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[FRIAM] Network neutrality

[Robert Holmes]

Network neutrality matters. It really, really matters. Here's why.

http://www.theopeninter.net/

-- R

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Re: [FRIAM] The decline effect

[Robert Holmes]

... and this is why probability and statistics should be a compulsory class
for *everyone* who goes through our education system :-)

-- R

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 5:38 AM, Pamela McCorduck pam...@well.com wrote:

 The NYer can be obtuse about scientific topics, but this article intrigued
 me. Is the decline effect real?

 It's certainly the case that many medical practitioners follow outdated
 advice. And the use of statistics in medicine (to be sure, a special subset
 of science) can be awkward. I keep asking people: if I've lowered my chances
 by twenty percent of contracting a certain cancer by doing thus-and-so, and
 I find four other thus-and-so's to also do, does that mean I'll never get
 that cancer? No one can answer.


 On Dec 12, 2010, at 5:58 AM, lrudo...@meganet.net wrote:

 On 12 Dec 2010 at 0:46, Nicholas  Thompson wrote:

 At least until recently, when the NY-er writes about science, they try very

 hard not to write anything stupid.


 What??? Have you forgotten the whole disgraceful
 Paul Brodeur episode?  Refresh your memory by reading
 http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN10/wn121010.html.
 Worse than stupid, verging on criminal, given the
 amount of money it's caused to be thrown away and
 the amount of anxiety it's generated or caused to
 be misplaced.

 I haven't yet read the decline effect article, and
 am not commenting on it, just on your quoted sentence
 above.


 
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If you're away from Broadway, you're only camping out.


   Thomas E. Dewey



 
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Re: [FRIAM] WikiLeaks, US Gov't prohibition, Corporate Boycotts, etc.

[Robert Holmes]

This is an interesting and—IMHO—nicely balanced piece. It's all shades of
grey, man -- R

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/12/wikileaks-and-the-long-haul/

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Re: [FRIAM] NASA-Funded Research Discovers Life Built With Toxic Chemical

[Robert Holmes]

http://xkcd.org/829/


On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Miles Parker milespar...@gmail.com wrote:

 Yeah -- staying out of the name the pill controversy ;) -- one neat little
 tidbit in the I'm always amazed by how little I know and how little I've
 thought about what I do know category. We think of Arsenic as a poison, but
 the only reason we think of it as a poison is (duh) that it is bad for
 *us*, i.e. humans + every other critter that we've run into before now. But
 the reason that it is bad is not that it is different from our chemistry,
 like an acid, but that it is so close to our chemistry, being next to
 phosphorous on the old periodic table, thus disrupting cellular mechanisms.
 So while typically we think of things that are close in structure or design
 to be friendly in fact here a movement to our nearest neighbor represents a
 major boundary shift, while one to a distant neighbor would of course be
 quite unlikely as the chances of slotting into the same role would be very
 slim. That idea could certainly argue for the idea that the current six
 element setup is arbitrary against some set of possible configurations. Once
 a choice is made in that configuration space it would be very unlikely (and
 only under these kind of extreme conditions) that we would move off it. The
 fact that we can (hmm, I mean I actually probably can't so please don't
 subject me to any experiments) anyway makes the argument that because
 that's the only way it works here even more tenuous.


 On Dec 2, 2010, at 9:21 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES wrote:

 Following Glen, Roger, and James, and also wondering why Nick is being a
 pill

 I believe the report is of interest for showing an organism that uses
 arsenic in interesting ways, but it gets its magical-shininess (i.e. Science
 worthiness) for showing an organism that does not use phosphorous. We have
 never found a life form that could do the life thing without phosphorous. It
 is almost (almost) like finding an organism that uses silicon instead of
 carbon.

 Oh, and then there is the potential for practical application... like
 cleaning up arsenic, which is a common pollutant coming out of mines. But
 anything like that is a long way off.

 Eric


 On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 08:03 PM, *Roger Critchlow r...@elf.org* wrote:



 On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 4:39 PM, glen e. p. ropella 
 g...@tempusdictum.comwrote:


 [*] FWIW, I find it odd for you to ask, of this particular article, why
 is this important?  Of all the obscure, mumbo-jumbo journal articles
 out there (our discussion of PoMo aside ;-), it seems blatantly obvious
 to me that the substitution of As for P in DNA is important, even if we
 don't know what the implications are.  I am woefully ignorant of the
 literature, though.  Is it fairly common to find and report substitutes
 for DNA components?

  No, it's not common, it's never been reported before, all DNA and RNA in
 life as we have known it up until today has been based on phospho-esters.

 -- rec --

  
 FRIAM Applied
 Complexity Group listserv
 Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's
 College
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 Eric Charles

 Professional Student and
 Assistant Professor of Psychology
 Penn State University
 Altoona, PA 16601


  
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Re: [FRIAM] Neat piece of Net art

[Robert Holmes]

I experienced a similar emotion Doug: my childhood home used to be a
isolated Victorian house surrounded by fields and woodland. Now the fields
are gone and it's surrounded by cookie-cutter suburban houses.

-- R

On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 8:45 AM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote:

 I t was sad for me -- My childhood home(s) in Los Alamos burned down in the
 Cerro Grande fire of 2000.  The video shows a wasteland of burned forest
 around where my home used to be.

 --Doug


 On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 10:05 PM, Robert Holmes rob...@holmesacosta.comwrote:

 http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

 It's been around for a few months, but I've only just come across it. I
 found it surprisingly moving.

 -- R

 P.S. You'll need Chrome to view it. Some very cool HTML5 going on there.
 P.P.S. It's got flocks of boids! The signature of all great art :-)

 
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[FRIAM] Neat piece of Net art

[Robert Holmes]

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

It's been around for a few months, but I've only just come across it. I
found it surprisingly moving.

-- R

P.S. You'll need Chrome to view it. Some very cool HTML5 going on there.
P.P.S. It's got flocks of boids! The signature of all great art :-)

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Re: [FRIAM] Parsing the Bard

[Robert Holmes]

And Gamlet is available on Netflix I see. That's one for the queue.

Your comment about the mistranslation reminds me of the (almost certainly
apocryphal) anecdote about the early days of computerized translation. The
researcher types the phrase out of sight, out of mind and requests
English-Russian followed by Russian-English translation, only to get
invisible lunatic.

Of course, I've also heard versions where the mediating language is Arabic,
Chinese etc. But a good anecdote (even a poor one) is always more truthy
than mere facts.

  -- R


On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 11:00 PM, plissa...@comcast.net wrote:

  Shakespeare versus Friam!  Oh, My!  Seems like a hugely mismatched
 intellectual exercise! Well, Will wrote words for that, too!  Perhaps: “A
 concatenation of cats”.  Or: “What fools these mortals be!”  It’s poetry,
 fellas!  Didn’t anyone tell you?  Before penning ab initio, ab ignorantio
 analyses, just study a leetle of the overwhelming volume of criticism on the
 Melancholy Prince.  A good modern one, of the tens of 1,000’s of articles,
 is in Marjorie Garber’s, *Shakespeare after All* (2004).  Read, and 
 *then*write.



 But, but, but, to the horror of literalists, in the “To be, or not...”
 soliloquy (III, i) our forgetful Prince describes death as “The undiscovered
 country from whose bourn no traveler returns,” when two acts earlier (I, ii,
 iii), on the battlements, he’d actually been hearing some unpleasant
 revelations from his father’s ghost, “sy pappie se spook”, as the inelegant
 Afrikaans translation has it! Ah, consistency -- the hobgoblin of small
 minds -- but nevah the Bard’s!



 I view with delight all foreign versions of the play in “tongues unknown
 and accents yet unheard” that I can dig up.  The Russian “Gamlet” (1964),
 with Smoktunovsky, and Shostakovich’s score, is pretty good.  A darkly
 grand gothic revenge horse-opera.   Much cold steel and poisoned
 chalices!!   The Russian dialog is very impressive, sonorous and sinister,
 but a particular delight are the English captions.  They are good, and
 grammatical, but *weirdly,* *unaccountably,* contain none of Shakespeare’s
 lines!!  I have a vision of some good, grey Apparatchik Soviet State
 Translator, in the editing room earnestly listening to the  spoken words
 and transcribing same into nice twentieth century English dialog with not
 the slightest inkling that there had actually been an English script (First
 Quarto, 1603), that a lotta Capitalists, over the centuries, found pretty
 inspiring!


 Peter Lissaman, Da Vinci Ventures

 Expertise is not knowing everything, but knowing what to look for.

 1454 Miracerros Loop South, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505,USA
 tel:(505)983-7728


 
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Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

[Robert Holmes]

Owen - I work interchangeably on my office and home computers and I use
Dropbox to keep particular parts of my setup synced between the two
machines. In particular:

   1. my to-do lists, engineer's notebook, big file o' passwords (gpg-ed, of
   course)  and simple Python utilities all go into Dropbox  hence are always
   up to date and accessible;
   2. my ever-growing collection of .PDFs of academic journals and papers
   goes into Dropbox so I can easily get it from any machine (and add to it
   from any of my machines).

I do have Dropbox enabled on my Droid, but I don't think the Droid is
terribly effective as an input device and its screen is just too small
for comfortable viewing of PDFs, so I don't use it much for that. Handy in
an emergency though.

-- R

On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 6:55 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Anyone on the list using dropbox a lot?  I'm wondering if the iPad/iPhone
 app would be useful.

-- Owen



 
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Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

[Robert Holmes]

For me, the automatic sync is the big attraction. It's probably no better
than any other online storage system if storage is all you want from it, but
the ease of sync (and the fact that I can selectively share these synced
folders with non-Dropbox users) is a big plus.

-- R

P.S. Dropbox keeps previous versions. Not sure how far back, but far enough
back for my purposes.

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 3:27 PM, Russ Abbott russ.abb...@gmail.com wrote:

 I just looked up DropBox. Why is it better than other online file storage
 systems?  For example, Google sites includes the means to store files, up to
 10GB for free. (Dropbox includes only 2GB for free.)  Windows Live SkyDrive
 includes 25GB free.  (I think it syncs automatically if you have Windows 7.)
 Google sites seems to keep all versions of files so that one can retrieve
 previous versions. I haven't found a way to retrieve previous versions from
 SkyDrive and don't know if they keep them. The DropBox website didn't say
 anything about keeping previous versions.
 *
 -- Russ *



 On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net
  wrote:

  Good info!  gpg is new to me, so a question or two:
 - Do you use the pay Dropbox service?  .. or just the free one?
 - Is gpg (http://www.gnupg.org/) easy to administer?  Does it replace SSH
 key pairs?
 - Is gpg available fairly universally .. iPhone/Android, Mac/Win/Linux ..
 web hosting services?
 - What's gpg like to use?

 Sounds interesting.

 -- Owen


 On Nov 28, 2010, at 8:07 AM, Robert Holmes wrote:

 Owen - I work interchangeably on my office and home computers and I use
 Dropbox to keep particular parts of my setup synced between the two
 machines. In particular:

1. my to-do lists, engineer's notebook, big file o' passwords (gpg-ed,
of course)  and simple Python utilities all go into Dropbox  hence are
always up to date and accessible;
2. my ever-growing collection of .PDFs of academic journals and papers
goes into Dropbox so I can easily get it from any machine (and add to it
from any of my machines).

 I do have Dropbox enabled on my Droid, but I don't think the Droid is
 terribly effective as an input device and its screen is just too small
 for comfortable viewing of PDFs, so I don't use it much for that. Handy in
 an emergency though.

 -- R

 On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 6:55 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net
  wrote:

 Anyone on the list using dropbox a lot?  I'm wondering if the iPad/iPhone
 app would be useful.

-- Owen



 
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Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

[Robert Holmes]

Owen -

   - I use the paid version, because I've got tons of PDFs.
   - Administering gpg can be a little opaque but there's some good guides
   out there (cheat sheet
herehttp://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~lockhart/gpg/gpg-cs.html;
original
   reference documentation—surprisingly
readable—herehttp://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual.html
   ).
   - Mac/Win/Linux availability: yes. In all cases you can get GUI clients
   that sit on top of the command line tool, but to be honest I find the
   command line gpg easier to use. iPhone/Android: dunno, but I tend to use
   those as read-only devices.
   - Once I had my public and secret keys set up I've only ever used gpg
   -d to decode a file and gpg -e -s to symmetrically encode it and sign it.

-- R



On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Good info!  gpg is new to me, so a question or two:
 - Do you use the pay Dropbox service?  .. or just the free one?
 - Is gpg (http://www.gnupg.org/) easy to administer?  Does it replace SSH
 key pairs?
 - Is gpg available fairly universally .. iPhone/Android, Mac/Win/Linux ..
 web hosting services?
 - What's gpg like to use?

 Sounds interesting.

  -- Owen


 On Nov 28, 2010, at 8:07 AM, Robert Holmes wrote:

 Owen - I work interchangeably on my office and home computers and I use
 Dropbox to keep particular parts of my setup synced between the two
 machines. In particular:

1. my to-do lists, engineer's notebook, big file o' passwords (gpg-ed,
of course)  and simple Python utilities all go into Dropbox  hence are
always up to date and accessible;
2. my ever-growing collection of .PDFs of academic journals and papers
goes into Dropbox so I can easily get it from any machine (and add to it
from any of my machines).

 I do have Dropbox enabled on my Droid, but I don't think the Droid is
 terribly effective as an input device and its screen is just too small
 for comfortable viewing of PDFs, so I don't use it much for that. Handy in
 an emergency though.

 -- R

 On Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 6:55 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.netwrote:

 Anyone on the list using dropbox a lot?  I'm wondering if the iPad/iPhone
 app would be useful.

-- Owen



 
 FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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[FRIAM] The Case for a Scientific Education

[Robert Holmes]

Let's leave it to C.P. Snow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Cultures:

A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the
standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who
have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the
illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice I have been provoked and have asked
the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was
asking something which is the scientific equivalent of: *Have you read a
work of Shakespeare's?*

I now believe that if I had asked an even simpler question — such as, What
do you mean by mass, or acceleration, which is the scientific equivalent of
saying, *Can you read?* — not more than one in ten of the highly educated
would have felt that I was speaking the same language. So the great edifice
of modern physics goes up, and the majority of the cleverest people in
the western world have about as much insight into it as
their neolithic ancestors would have had.

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Re: [FRIAM] The Best 10 Fictional Works

[Robert Holmes]

So I take it that our working definition of best is will look good on the
coffee table and impress liberal arts graduates rather than will be read
and enjoyed? ;-)

-- R

P.S. Also: when selecting foreign authors you must specify the translation
if you are going to maximize your pseud points. It's not Don Quixote, it's
the Grossman Quixote. It's not The Brothers Karamazov, it's the Volokhonsky
Karamazov. Collect enough points and you get a merit badge!

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[FRIAM] A brief history of mathematics

[Robert Holmes]

A series of 10 15-minute lectures from the BBC
herehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srz5b/episodes/player.
Good value.

-- R

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[FRIAM] How to do statistics (UK Govt version)

[Robert Holmes]

There's a surprisingly solid set of introductions to statistics published by
the UK Government
herehttp://www.parliament.uk/topics/Statistics-policyArchive.htm.
I think the guide to statistical
chartshttps://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.uk%2Fbriefingpapers%2Fcommons%2Flib%2Fresearch%2Fbriefings%2Fsnsg-05073.pdfis
particularly good (it reads like a practical guide to the good bits of
Tufte).

-- R

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Re: [FRIAM] Amazon Says E-Book Sales Outpace Hardcovers - WSJ.com

[Robert Holmes]

Owen - I nearly got myself the new Kindle DX precisely because I have tons
of technical PDFs and no simple portable way of reading them (hey, my
failing eyesight means if it's not on 8.5 x 11 I can't see it...). The
Kindle was getting dinged by a lot of people for its poor PDF support (no
bookmarks, poor searching, can't follow links). As a user, what's your
experience been?

And how reader-friendly is the glossy screen of the iPad? Is it visible out
of doors (I like to read books  papers on my deck, not in
dark subterranean environs)? Advice please!

-- R

On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote:

 Interesting: Amazon ebooks surpass hardcover books:
http://tinyurl.com/2esb5x6

 With both a kindle and an ipad, I find I'm reading a lot more ebooks.  The
 complete works of Sherlock Holmes on the kindle just now ($.99) and two
 computer tech books (HTML5, JavaScript) from SitePoint ($5.00 on sale last
 week).  They certainly weigh less! (Great for large travel books, for
 example)

 I think tech book are going to be majority ebooks soon, simply because they
 go out of date so quickly.  The tech folks are doing a good job of making a
 book a complete experience, including multiple formats (epub, pdf, mobi).
  Most formats now have an app (ipad, iphone, ipad, android, desktop) so the
 books can be used on multiple devices.

 It'll be nice when they have fewer formats, or at least all devices handle
 them all.

-- Owen



 
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[FRIAM] Physics World has a couple of good articles this month

[Robert Holmes]

Physics World http://physicsworld.com/ is a particularly good read this
month. Highlights for me are:

   - a historical piece
(linkhttp://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/43030)
   on why the US doesn't use the SI system (answer: the phenomenal bad luck of
   Joseph Dombey);
   - a review article (linkhttp://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/43033)
   on crowd dynamics, written by Andreas Schadsneider of the Hermes project.
   The videos on the web-version of this article are great fun. There's also a
   neat piece of tilt-shift photography
(linkhttp://images.iop.org/objects/phw/world/23/7/30/ball2.jpg)
   that reminds us that in a crowd we're really just a particle.

-- R

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[FRIAM] It's competition time!

[Robert Holmes]

$5000 for IEEE data-mining contest on predicting traffic jams:
http://tunedit.org/challenge/IEEE-ICDM-2010

C'mon guys, SF Complex and Friam are *bursting* with brains. Surely we're a
shoe-in for this. Go Team Santa Fe! Yay!

-- R

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