Using your traditional description of modeling "Modeling, traditionally, consists of taking one concrete thing, in all its particular gory detail, and studying it side-by-side with some other concrete thing, in all its gory detail." What is a concrete thing? I guess by concrete thing you do not mean a living individual. In this traditional sense of model is there anything that is not a model? Probably not. But comparing a living individual to a non living model of a individual highlights the exact divide...life. Compressing the model it seems to me would not overcome this difficulty in anyway. I think with living individuals "all its gory details" becomes all its glorious detail, as many a film/video or novel teaches. Compressing the model, or a process that results in the compression of the model does make the model more alive. Biomimicry changes that formulation so that rather than compressing or simplifying it does not take a stand of power relations between the two comparitants. The possibility of Biomimicry itself is the result of using compassion to understand two living individuals beginning with oneself.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of glen e. p. ropella Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:06 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Mathematics and Life - Comments on Gregory Chaitin Lectures Sweden 2005 Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > Ann Racuya-Robbins wrote: >> Why does a law have to be simpler? What is simpler? I suppose that is >> the reason to be for complexity science that life appears to more >> likely move from simpler to more complex. >> > The most powerful computers in the world can only simulate microseconds > of the many body physics and electrostatics of a million atoms, which is > just a small part of a single cell. If there is no compression, or > simplification, there is no hope of grasping what happens in organisms. It's not quite true that without compression or simplification, there is no hope of grasping what happens in organisms. Actually, this concept of compression is relatively new in the modeling world. Modeling, traditionally, consists of taking one concrete thing, in all its particular gory detail, and studying it side-by-side with some other concrete thing, in all its gory detail. Both things, the model and its referent are replete with the messy details of concrete existence, yet we can use one to learn about the other, no compression or simplification needed. In fact, one might say that this obsessive compulsive fixation on compression and distillation is a kind of mental disorder. -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.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
