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
