Mark Measday wrote:
> Naively, should the simulation work well and teach lessons in management
> of the world economy to those looking for that data, how will the
> simulation recursively model itself within it own simulation?
> ....
> I know this is a theoretical rather than practical question....
I dunno. It seems an important question within in the context of
modelling. Expressed less succinctly, it amounts to a question I've
wondered about: Sombody else has got more stuff that I do so I work
hard to figure out the system within which this unsatisfactory
circumstance has arisen. If I'm successful, I devise a way to
outsmart the system and start raking in the goodies. But before I
hardly get going, some other SOB has done the same thing, *including
my clever devices in his take on the system*. And the *he* starts
outsmarting the system and *still* somebody ekse has more stuff than I
do. So I start over again. If only I could find the *completely
general* formulation for the system, I could devise a completely
general way to outsmart it and then *I* would have the most stuff.
This recurses infinitely unless somone does figure out a completely
general model of some domain. I suspect that if that were to happen,
the result would be a positive feedback situation a la Brian Arthur.
Monsanto's (socalled) "terminator technology" may be an example of an
attempt to implement such a completely general model in the plant
biology domain. With positive feedback, the first corporation to own
and implement such a model is highly likely to own it all after a few
ticks of the clock.
- Mike
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
URL: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mspencer/home.html
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