I guess you too Glenn. It seems to have become fashionable to act disparagingly toward the notion of "real." What do you intend to substitute for it?
-- Russ On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 3:21 PM, glen e. p. ropella < [email protected]> wrote: > Thus spake ERIC P. CHARLES circa 09-09-16 01:35 PM: > > When people on this list talk about emergence, complexity, intrinsic > > organization, rule governed behavior, consciousness, software usability, > > threshold phenomenon, keyboard preferences, etc., don't most of them > think they > > are talking about something real? > > I'm sure we do think it's real AT THE TIME... in the context... during > execution of the use case. What's that famous quote by Steven Hawking? > ... something like: "I have noticed even people who claim everything is > predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they > cross the road." > > There's another quote by someone... perhaps Fitzgerald? ... perhaps > previously quoted by Nick? "The test of a first rate intelligence is > the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and > still retain the ability to function." > > I would suggest this is just an inevitable outcome of a relatively > accurate model of the world (if my previous assertion is true that > multiple models are required to model a complex system). Often, those > models will be contradictory ... more precisely, the _mechanisms_ that > implement the behavior of those models will be contradictory. But the > phenomena need not be contradictory. You just have to be smart enough > to know when to switch from using one model to using another. > > -- > glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com > > > ============================================================ > 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
