I think you’ve answered Owen’s question?
and to paraphrase/convolve glen and the five-man-electric band:
/"Words, words, everywhere words, can't you bleep the words?"/
Glen has regularly asserted here (paradoxically) that he /doesn't
believe in communication at all /(my lame paraphrase, demonstrating the
point?!). I'm inclined to (paradoxically) believe him.
I have been chattering with the *swarms* of Robins which are
(re)migrating through the area again (heading back north I suppose?)...
their group dynamics are unfamiliar to me this year. Usually we get
groups (not flocks as such) of 10-20 visit... but yesterday I saw tens
and tens in my yard, around my pond (they love the pond) but when I
disrupted them, they fled to a large cottonwood tree where there were
perhaps hundreds who joined them in flight, almost "murmurating"
away... fascinating.
And of course, they don't give a birds-ass about my words, about
"groups", or "flocks" or "swarms" or "fleeing" or "flight" or
"birds-ass" for that matter... this is the first year in my memory (25
years at this location, 45 in the general area, 69 in the southern
Rockies and nearby high deserts) that Robins have remained present
through the winter. My chickens tolerate "little gray
sparrow-like-birds" in their "pasture" scavenging for grain, but run off
anything bigger (at least jays, robins, flickers)... I never noticed
that before.
And do the ClawdBot Agents thrashing around on MoltBook have the same
conversations as we do here? Maybe indistinguishable?
What kind of Stochastic Parrot-Farm (nod to Doug) are we anyway?
- Steve (the Stochastic Parrot and erstwhile Underdog Character who
flies off in all directions at once like a ChatterBot running on a TPU
cluster?).
*From:*Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Nicholas Thompson
*Sent:* Wednesday, February 4, 2026 11:12 AM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<[email protected]>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Dead Stack?
Ok, so here is an example of the KIND of thing we might have discussed
at a FRIAM meeting in the old days:
NICK: iF friction is negligible between two layers, how in fact do
two layers come to affect one another?
FRIAM MOB:: (affectionate exasperation) When you have read a physics
book, a philosophy book, and 8 math books, come back and we'll explain
it to you.
NICK TO MOB: Nuthn' doin'. If you are so smart, you should be able
to explain it to me NOW.
MOB TO NICK: Oh, God. Do we have to? OH, OKAAAAAAAAAAY.
SUB MOB 1 TO NICK: Any idiot knows that THIS is how it works
SUB MOB 2 TO NICK: Any idiot knows that THAT is how it works.
NICK TO MOBS: Any idiot knows that THIS and THAT can't both be true.
ETC.
I learned almost everything I know from those conversations. I miss
them terribly.
Nick
On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 11:32 AM Gary Schiltz
<[email protected]> wrote:
My feeling is that there was a bubble of activity in Santa Fe
about complexity in the late 1990s (see Wired’s article about
“Silicon Mesa”) that burst in about 2001. Many who were there are
now old farts 😆
On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 7:47 PM Jon Zingale <[email protected]>
wrote:
I know I came to this group in what appears to be its
twilight. The in-person meetups are weirdly sad. I feel
pressed to ask if it is the case that everyone is either:
1. on vacation/ too busy
2. too depressed / failing to find inspiration
3. moved on to greener forums
4. preferring the company of LLMs
...
N. waiting for someone frail to post
Sometimes I trawl reddit or whatever discord, but I cannot
help but feel like beacons of inspiration are becoming fewer
and further between. This group has managed to inspire me,
keep my interest, for over a decade. In that time, I pushed
myself to understand perspectives that I would never have
dreamed existed. I hope there is still something to talk about.
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--
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
Clark University
[email protected]
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson
https://substack.com/@monist
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