Re: [FRIAM] multiple tool kits [was (advice needed!)]

Steve, As a partial endorsement of your argument, I was trained as a comparative psychologist (comparing between species) and an ethologist (the European branch of animal behavior that showed we could treat behaviors as evolved phenomenon in the same way we treat anatomy). I was specifically traine

Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!)

Heh, I am handy as a kind of party trick. But I often don't get invited back after I wreak my havoc. [grin] I think the issue you're raising is fairly important, especially regarding zero intelligence agents. I tend to approach the problem with the following framework: Persistent processes bui

Re: [FRIAM] How to Begin?

That actually sounds cool. There's probably a lot of potential to work on stuff that includes cognitive biases and group think and such. You ever read Richard Feynman's take on the Challenger disaster? Might be a good reference for you ... probably, you can find it in one of his books, where he

Re: [FRIAM] How to Begin?

Nick Thompson may deny being a proper "social psychologist" but he certainly hung about with social psychologists for enough years that his remarks on such matters as "cognitive biases and group think"--should he choose to make any--would be well worth attending to (if only to determine a basepoin

Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!)

On Mar 22, 2010, at 5:06 PM, glen e. p. ropella wrote: > Thus spake Nicholas Thompson circa 10-03-22 04:58 PM: >> Yes. I am sorry. That was my fault. There was a bit of a slipup between >> the "provost" and the professor. > > No worries! It looks like a great book and I expect I'll enjoy i

Re: [FRIAM] How to Begin?

Nick actually wrote an yet-unpublished paper about cognitive blindness to complex explanations of group phenomenon (i.e., our bias towards asserting that specific individuals were responsible for whatever happened). I have a copy around here somewhere if people were interested (and Nick did not obj

Re: [FRIAM] multiple tool kits [was (advice needed!)]

Eric - Excellent anecdote.   It has been a theme in my life, trying to understand the "space between the lines", or to the point here  "what cannot be translated directly".   I am very lucky to have met Dr. Pennington and to be even a small part of her work in this area. I believe that there

Re: [FRIAM] multiple tool kits [was (advice needed!)]

Eric, Steve, I am trying to reconcile my agreement with the spirit of your correspondence with my largely failed attempts to work toward a common language in our conversations about complexity on this list and on Friday mornings. I, too, was trained in many traditions comparative psycholo

[FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

Discussions of the "mea ning" of math are always interesting --- and revea ling. When I was a student of math at Cambridge B ertra nd R ussell was still around, and much in evidence.  H e is supposed to have said, "M athematics is a subject where you don't know what you are talking about, and

Re: [FRIAM] How to Begin?

Eric, I certainly don't object. I am not sure I have a copy of that paper myself. Seeing it would be like meeting an old friend in the Philadephia railway station.. N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University (nthomp...@clarku.edu) http://home.ea

Re: [FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

plissa...@comcast.net wrote circa 03/23/2010 10:08 AM: > He is also alleged to have said, "People who discuss sex or mathematics > usually don't practise it very well." Heh, this sounds like a confession on his part given that he wrote entire books discussing math. He must have totally sucke

Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!)

Tom, Thanks for supplying this quote. To my shame, I have never read Rorty. "Interesting [field of study] is rarely an examination of the pros and cons of a thesis. Usually it is, implicitly or explicitly, a contest between an entrenched vocabulary which has become a nuisance and a half-form

Re: [FRIAM] How to Begin?

Vladamir wrote -- I must be the first ever to wish to program stupid autonomous agents! On the contrary, Vladamir. It is their stupidity that makes autonomous agents so theoretically endearing. Thanks for stirring us all up! Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and

Re: [FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

Peter, Always great to receive the benefits of your observations - and wisdom! I much enjoyed being reminded about Russell. I believe his heyday was likely in the first decade of the 20th cent - when mathematics was finally shaking its ensnarement by, and tight association with, the natural (

Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!)

I think that's my job description! TV On Mar 23, 2010, at 10:26 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > Tom, > > Thanks for supplying this quote. To my shame, I have never read Rorty. > > "Interesting [field of study] is rarely an examination of the pros and cons > of a thesis. Usually it is, impli

Re: [FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

When I saw that subject line I was so hoping it was Bertie Wooster. On Mar 23, 2010, at 1:08 PM, plissa...@comcast.net wrote: Discussions of the "meaning" of math are always interesting --- and revealing. When I was a student of math at Cambridge Bertrand Russell was still around, and much

Re: [FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

Gussie Finknottle. Newts. On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Pamela McCorduck wrote: > When I saw that subject line I was so hoping it was Bertie Wooster. > > > On Mar 23, 2010, at 1:08 PM, plissa...@comcast.net wrote: > > Discussions of the "meaning" of math are always interesting --- and > rev

Re: [FRIAM] Bertie on Maths

Rem acu tetigisti. > When I saw that subject line I was so hoping it was Bertie Wooster. FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.f

[FRIAM] yeow

Brilliant Noise from page "...The visual noise in the images is caused by natural and man made interferences. The white noise is cosmic rays impacting the CCD of the satellite camera, we also see frame dropouts and one frame taken from a ground based observatory which shows the silhouette o

Re: [FRIAM] yeow

The producers demonstrate quite a flare for cinematography. On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 2:29 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote: > Brilliant > Noise > > from page "...The visual noise in the images is caused by natural and man > made interfer

[FRIAM] fibonacci in bliss

Nature by numbers. The movie 3.44 minutes. Art vs. Science, Part Two: You want raw data? You can't handle raw data! : bioephemera The blog source for both this and the last, lots more there: go there yourself if these appeal. Moi, I need to go have a cigarette. =

Re: [FRIAM] yeow

Was this supposed to have a link, or an attachment? About ten or twelve years ago, Wally Feurzeig and Oliver Selfridge were trying to get NSF interested in funding a project to study "sonorization" (like "visualization"), for application to (e.g.) computer use by visually impaired people, but pre

Re: [FRIAM] yeow

Must be using a text-based email client. http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/Brilliant_Noise/BNoise.htm On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 2:56 PM, wrote: > Was this supposed to have a link, or an attachment? > > About ten or twelve years ago, Wally Feurzeig and > Oliver Selfridge were trying to get NS

Re: [FRIAM] fibonacci in bliss

Pretty sexy. The dragonfly was amazing. On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 2:48 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote: > Nature by numbers. The > movie > 3.44 minutes. > > > Art vs. > Sc

Re: [FRIAM] multiple tool kits [was (advice needed!)]

Nick - Eric, Steve,   I am trying to reconcile my agreement with the spirit of your correspondence with my largely failed attempts to work toward a common language in our conversations about complexity on this list and on Friday mornings. I think this is a relevant and worth

Re: [FRIAM] yeow

thanks, was about to respond- good to know that is what happens. On Mar 23, 2010, at 2:59 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: Must be using a text-based email client. http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/Brilliant_Noise/BNoise.htm On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 2:56 PM, wrote: Was this supposed to have a

[FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

Given our conversation a few months ago about the relationship between facebook/twitter and narcissism, I thought this might be interesting to some: http://news.discovery.com/human/narcissism-epidemic-college-students.html I love the quote: "I'm extremely confident," Twenge told Discovery News

Re: [FRIAM] multiple tool kits [was (advice needed!)]

Just when I was getting into it On Mar 23, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Nick - Eric, Steve, I am trying to reconcile my agreement with the spirit of your correspondence with my largely failed attempts to work toward a common language in our conversations about complexity on th

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

sm is probably rising, but so is illiteracy, bigotry, stupidity, and self-proclaiming punditry. Is Facebook to blame for those as well? Or, how about Obama Derangement Syndrome<http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20100323/ts_dailybeast/7269_scarynewgoppoll>. Who gets to take credit for that one?

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

Both Eric and Nick use the phrase "I was trained". I would like to know more about the intention here. Normally one talks about training an animal, e.g., to sit or roll over, etc. One also talks about training people to do relatively formalizable jobs or to obey fairly well understood rules, e.g.

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

I think that "being trained" as a scientist starts in 6th year science class, when one is 11 (I.e. Upon formal exposure to the scientific method), and continues from then on. ~~James Turtlezero.com On 3/23/10, Russ Abbott wrote: > Both Eric and Nick use the phrase "I was trained". I would like

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

Thus spake Douglas Roberts circa 10-03-23 03:08 PM: > So, the suggestion is that If you have a Facebook account, you got it > because you are a narcissist. Sounds a bit ... simplistic to me. Oh no, that suggestion wouldn't come from me! [grin] I defended facebook users from Nick's accusation of

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

That would include the 8th grade science teacher nailing your hand with a rubber band from across the room because you can't stop fiddling with the scales (clanking noise) while someone else is talking ! I still flinch around taut (taught!?) rubber bands (SIT Fido! don't move) Steph T

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

The more benign view would be akin to my experience, around age 6, of watching frogs hatch, and falling in love with science (ie the logos of everything) forever. Formal training was just more specific data. Now if the teacher had taught youall why it was possible to zap you with a rubbe

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

This is more or less aimed at Glen Ropella, This narcissism issue intrigues me> I considered a network of agents that are inter-connected to each other with some type of two way conduits. In one type they gain and the other they must give. I imagined that each agent could corrupt the demand cond

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

Russ, A fascinating question! My knee jerk reaction would be to say that I was trained as a comparative psychologist in the same sense that someone could be trained as a police officer - insofar as a comparative psychologists is a person with a certain skill set who does a job (research). However,

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

"Nick's accusations of narcissim" Was that me? Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University (nthomp...@clarku.edu) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe] > [Original Message] >

[FRIAM] Bertie/Jeeves on Lost Positives

After some egregi ous faux pas with a titled lady, Bertie asks Jeeves, "Did you think the Duchess was disgruntled?"   Jeeves replies, "That is not for me to say, Sir, but it was clear that she was very f ar from being gruntled." Peter Lissaman, Da Vinci Ventures Expertise is not knowing every

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

A thread on narcissism in FRIAM? Let me just go check the definition of irony... -- R On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Nicholas Thompson < nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote: > "Nick's accusations of narcissim" > > Was that me? > > Nick > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology

Re: [FRIAM] Being trained

It also seems like a way of avoiding responsibility. When one follows one's training, it is the trainer or the training dogma that gets the credit or blame, not the person who is acting as he was trained to act. I am acting this way because that's the way I was trained. It's not my fault. -- R

Re: [FRIAM] Narcissism Epidemic Spreads Among College Students

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:57 PM, Robert Holmes wrote: > A thread on narcissism in FRIAM? Let me just go check the definition of > irony... > > -- R > > > On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Nicholas Thompson < > nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote: > >> "Nick's accusations of narcissim" >> >> Was th