-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > The simulation (the concrete thing that is apparently detached from > human rhetoric) can serve as a dazzling bluff to say that model > assumptions have been scrutinized when they may not have been. It's > potentially a deeper sort of deception or delusion. I'm not saying > there is a technical or conceptual problem here with ABM, just that it > is a technique that is perhaps more obvious how to abuse than others.
I could buy that it's easier to impress the masses of the unenlightened with blinking lights than it is to impress them with words. After all, it takes a very skilled wordsmith like MLK Jr to seriously move humans with language. All it takes to create some blinking lights is a "simulation toolkit" and the ability to follow instructions. But, I don't think the subsequent delusion/deception is deeper in any real sense. The rhetorical "magic" is simply available to more people. It's very analogous to the printing press. Prior to it, one had to do a lot of work to convince others that one's words were worth copying... when copying that work was a huge and difficult task, hiring clerics, memorizing poems and such. After the printing press, any yahoo with a little money could work the machine and generate piles of arguments. So, rather than deeper delusion/deception, I think what we'll see is a higher quantity of delusion/deception but a lower _quality_ of delusion/deception. - -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities. -- Voltaire -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFHC77UZeB+vOTnLkoRAkCjAJ97o0+FWx1zy8D6L2mF/VVFL/WVhwCfZcx9 Hr1qSxkoC/wcs849krlLyKE= =AkWF -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ============================================================ 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
