But Frank, 

 

The pattern of behavior of that train IS a behavior.  Conductor Frank insists 
that we not take that into account at the instant and that we defer to the 
engineer concerning where the train is going; Conductor Nick includes it within 
the behavioral analysis, and insists that the engineer is not in principle any 
more knowledgeable than the rest of us concerning the destination of the train. 
 

 

Signed,

 

Conductor Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2019 9:48 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] query and observation

 

Didn't you get the names interchanged?  I thought Nick was the one who thought 
that the only thing you can know about an individual is his/her observable 
behavior.

 

Frank

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

 

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 4:48 PM Nick Thompson <nickthomp...@earthlink.net 
<mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net> > wrote:

So, you are late meeting the train to Albuquerque.  As you drive into the 
station, you see a train sitting at the platform, absolutely motionless.  You 
rush up to the conductor and demand to know, “Is this train going to 
Albuquerque?”  “No!” the Frank, conductor replies.  As you can plainly see, it 
is sitting here not going anywhere.”  Confused, you rush down to the other end 
of the car where there is another conductor, Nick and you ask the same 
question. “Yes,” Nick replies.  “Given what this train has been doing all day 
and how it is standing in the station, and the time of day, there is every 
reason to believe that this train is going to Albuquerque.  C’mon aboard!”  
“Shouldn’t I ask the engineer first?” you ask.  “Well, you might.  He has a lot 
of experience with this train.  But the answer is so obvious that he might pull 
your leg, and you’ld miss the train.  Are you getting on, or not?. 

 

Nick 

 

 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com 
<mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com> ] On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2019 5:59 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com 
<mailto:friam@redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] query and observation

 

Straw man:

 

Nick:  People don't think, they only behave.

 

Frank:  You reached that conclusion by thinking.

 

Nick:  You presume to have observed my reaching the conclusion.

 

Frank:  I am certain your mind works like mine.

 

Nick:  How could you know that?  You are a Cartesian.

 

Frank:  And proud of it.

 

Nick:  People don't feel; they infer their feelings from their behavior.  They 
recognize hunger from eating or food seeking behavior.

 

Frank:  I know I'm hungry from feeling hungry.  I could feel hungry while 
totally still, with no observable behavior.

 

Nick:  No because...

 

Etc., etc....

 

No resolution to date.

 

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

 

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 12:17 PM Steven A Smith <sasm...@swcp.com 
<mailto:sasm...@swcp.com> > wrote:

We love our "flocking" models but FRIAM is less of a 'birds-of-a-feather'  
group than something much harder to similize.  It feels to me that some of our 
conversations are a bit flocky or schooly (rarely herdy) but others are more 
geophysical like flares or eruptions...  a good schoolyard "pileon" 
occasionally happens as well... and then there are... as we are now 
contemplating, the long dark-tea-times of our collective-soul.

On 9/12/19 10:04 AM, Gary Schiltz wrote:

FRIAM is such a strange beast. At times full of philosophical discourse that 
flies far above my head, other times full of irreverent inanities that defy 
categorization, and occasionally even with something to do with complexity. And 
then the periodic deafening silence that makes me realize just how much I would 
miss it if it were to go away. Long live FRIAM.

 

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 10:45 AM Nick Thompson <nickthomp...@earthlink.net 
<mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net> > wrote:

Frank, Dave, 

 

Well I AM tied up with relocation issues, so haven’t been paying close 
attention, but …

 

I just did a search in my inbox and there is nothing from FRIAM from 24 August 
on.  

 

I have always understood that the Friam-Owner. is like the wine pourer at a 
classical “symposium”,  more or less watering the wine to maintain the flow and 
quality of the conversation.  He won’t admit to it of course, but every once in 
a while He “shuts me off” from friam when He thinks I have become too … 
agitated?  I assume He is also gently modulating your contributions in the same 
way, as a beneficent god should.  I don’t know how He gets the time to do it, 
but nothing else could possibly explain the fact that sometimes our emails just 
go missing for a while.  So, I didn’t get alarmed when I stopped receiving 
FRIAM correspondence in late August.  I just assumed that the All Powerful 
Friam-Owner was giving me a rest.  

 

Thank you APF-O.  We love you and worship you.  

 

Nick 

 

Ps.  Let me know if you don’t get this message.  (};-\)

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com 
<mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com> ] On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2019 8:02 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com 
<mailto:friam@redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] query and observation

 

Dave,

 

The Friam list remains as you can see but is sort of a trickle.  I posted a 
couple of items about the Cooper/Colbert interview and something I can't 
remember but they weren't up to the high intellectual standard which engages 
you, Glen, Marcus, Nick, et al.  Glen did comment insightfully.  Nick will be 
back in Santa Fe soon; maybe the change in location will stimulate him.

 

Frank

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

 

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 12:42 AM Prof David West <profw...@fastmail.fm 
<mailto:profw...@fastmail.fm> > wrote:

Hello All,

Traffic on the FRIAM list seems to have ground to a halt, from my reception 
point in Amsterdam - i.e. I have seen nothing for some time. Not in spam 
filter, so question is has the list trickled to a stop or just not making it 
across the Atlantic.?

Observation: an interesting coincidence arising from reading a new book, The 
Case Against Reality, How evolution hid the truth from our eyes, by Donald D. 
Hoffman, professor of cognitive science at UC Irvine. Main thesis is that what 
we perceive is but a constructed, via evolution,  "interface" and not a 
veridical perception of "Reality." 

Not a new idea but the evolution / survival / fittest being the ones that see 
the optimal interface instead of what is behind the interface is interesting.

Coincidence comes from simultaneously rereading Heidegger and Gadamer, and even 
some Peirce,  and seeing apparent parallels between "interface,: 
"interpretation," and "experience."  Feels like a lot of Nick's Monism 
convictions might be illuminated by looking at these works in juxtaposition.

dave west

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

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