The task of associating abstract and real things is rather complicated, and often made more so by using the same names for them, so it appears that when you're referring to a physical system you're discussing entirely some network of abstract rules, for example. Even though you say the article refers to physical systems, is it possible they just switch back and forth between ways of referring to things, while being consistent with an 'information world' model they assume everyone understands to be the baseline of abstract discussion?
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 Robert Holmes Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2007 10:36 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] JASSS (and despair) Ah, if it was just a case of them drawing conclusions about these artificial societies. Unfortunately the authors explicitly state that their conclusions apply to real societies. In this issue alone they explain the paucity of women in corporate management, the effect of mass media on cultural dynamics, the distribution of land holdings in the Caparo Forest Reserve in Venezuela, and more. These papers all claim that their conclusions explain real world behaviours; all without even the most rudimentary comparison with real measurements. Robert On 6/30/07, Marcus G. Daniels <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Robert Holmes wrote: > I dunno, after our discussions about the nature of explanation, > reading JASSS left me thoroughly depressed. Want to guess how many > papers compared their simulation results with real historic data? I don't see a problem because their study is of _artificial_ societies. The development of math and methods for study of a subclass of abstract processes... ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
