Thanks, Phil, there is no kindness that one academic can give another that is greater than a reading of his work.
I think in the New Academia, professors will be given tenure for reading. Any fool can write. I have responded off line. Nick > [Original Message] > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 3/25/2007 11:02:54 AM > Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18 > > Send Friam mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Friam digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait (Phil Henshaw) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:29:05 -0400 > From: "Phil Henshaw" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "'The Friday Morning Applied > Complexity Coffee Group'" <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Thanks Nick, a rather accurate depiction I think. But as the complaint > displays, the fact that some individuals can see the perceptual problem, > that people are more or less blind to emergence for some deep reason, > does not in itself generate a solution, like learning how to see. > That's what puzzles me about why absolutely no one asks me about my > rigorous scientific method of identifying emergent systems as > individuals and closely watching their evolving structures . Yea, > well, it involves a slightly different set of questions. What would > you expect! > > Learning questions is messier than learning answers perhaps. What I do > is start by picking questions according to whether they can be answered. > That's just more productive. Asking when where and how the animation > of local events begins and ends is one of them. That turns out to be > emergence, and I think all the disciplinary models fit as > interpretations of that from different perspectives. > > > Phil Henshaw ????.?? ? `?.???? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > 680 Ft. Washington Ave > NY NY 10040 > tel: 212-795-4844 > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > explorations: www.synapse9.com <http://www.synapse9.com/> > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson > Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:39 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait > > > > > > All, particularly those in the Home Church. > > On Wednesday, we got into it about emergence and so I thought I would > offer the attached file from a few years back, when the Bush > administration was still an ugly rumor. > > . Here is the abstract, in case you aren't awash in free time. > > Nick > > > > ABSTRACT. We [me and two reluctant colleagues] hypothesize that, because > human minds are ill prepared by natural selection to perceive emergence, > the achievements of groups that arise from their good functioning as > groups easily goes unnoticed. This perceptual flaw has been an obstacle > for developmental science, as it has been for biologists who want to > look at the productivity of groups as opposed to the productivity of the > individuals that make them up. Humans tend either (1) to attribute the > non-additive productivity of the group to one of its members, investing > him or her with special powers of ?leadership?, or (2 ) to invent an > additional supernatural member of the group -- a spirit or god -- to > account for its hyper-productivity. Either method of resolving the > cognitive problem posed by emergence is likely to make the group?s > individuals more readily subject to the demands of group members who > appear to embody or speak for the source of this hyper-productivity. > Thus, selection at the group level will favor such cognitive > misattributions because they make groups more coherent and enhance their > emergent qualities. > > > > > > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20070324/b6670a85 /attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Friam mailing list > [email protected] > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > > End of Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18 > ************************************* ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
