Nick, I don't think we have an issue. "No group genes" means that there are groups aren't biological entities in the sense that they have biological genes. Goups work because the genes of the individuals lead to effective group behavior. Those genes could be called group genes, but they are really genes in individuals. In fact, in social systems one could argue that there are group genes: constitutions, written down organizational structures, etc.
-- Russ Abbott _____________________________________________ Professor, Computer Science California State University, Los Angeles o Check out my blog at http://russabbott.blogspot.com/ On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 7:51 PM, Nicholas Thompson < [email protected]> wrote: > Russ, > > I think I may disagree that there are no "group genes". Well, unless one > defines gene in such a limited way that there are no genes at all. Please > see attached. I apologize for its size., which is stupid and unnecessary. > The paper is not that big. I promise. > > Nick > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, > Clark University ([email protected]) > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Russ Abbott <[email protected]> > *To: *[email protected] *Cc: *[email protected] > *Sent:* 2/15/2009 8:34:35 PM > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Emergence: The No-Stats All-Star > > Thanks Nick. I know (and love) the story. Here's my blog post about > it<http://russabbott.blogspot.com/search?q=wildon+chickens>. > It shows that a pen of chickens is an entity. > > -- Russ > > On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 7:07 PM, Nicholas Thompson < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Russ, >> >> For years, chicken breeders selected their chickens at the individual >> level, even though they were placing them in close quarters in crates of >> nine chickens. Chickens had to be debeaked and they were constantly pulling >> dead chickens out of the pens. . So, one day, a couple of poultry >> husbandry guys got a bright idea. They selected the best PENS of chickens >> for breeding. Pen rates of reproduction went up and the need for debeaking >> went away. If anybody is curious, I will chase down the reference. >> >> I guess even a pen of chickens can be a black box. >> >> N >> >> Nicholas S. Thompson >> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, >> Clark University ([email protected]) >> >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> *From:* Russ Abbott <[email protected]> >> *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group<[email protected]> >> *Sent:* 2/15/2009 10:32:44 AM >> *Subject:* [FRIAM] Emergence: The No-Stats All-Star >> >> After sending the previous message I started reading this (long) article: The >> No-Stats All-Star - >> NYTimes.com<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all>. >> Here's a key paragraph. >> >> The five players on any basketball team are far more than the sum of their >> parts; the Rockets devote a lot of energy to untangling subtle interactions >> among the team's elements. To get at this they need something that >> basketball hasn't historically supplied: meaningful statistics. For most of >> its history basketball has measured not so much what is important as what is >> easy to measure — points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots — and >> these measurements have warped perceptions of the game. ("Someone created >> the box score," Morey says, "and he should be shot.") How many points a >> player scores, for example, is no true indication of how much he has helped >> his team. Another example: if you want to know a player's value as a >> rebounder, you need to know not whether he got a rebound but the likelihood >> of the team getting the rebound when a missed shot enters that player's >> zone. >> >> That's a nice illustration of emergence. It may be subtle, but it's not >> magical or mysterious. To create the emergent level of abstraction that the >> paragraph refers to, the components have to work together in the right way. >> >> -- Russ >> >> >
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