Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-08 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Doug, Let me just say that a think your questions is basically right, but perhaps a tad broad. I agree that philosophers are what philosophers do, but only when they are acting as philosophers. So a philosopher might tell us how to run the economy or what the nature of the universe is, but

Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-08 Thread Nicholas Thompson
All, I have a creepy feeling some of my posts aren't getting through. For instance, did anybody ever tell me what OWEN things philosophers do? Including Owen? If so, could somebody resend the message, cause I never found out. Also, I keep writing messages in which I argue that

Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-08 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 7:07 AM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Owen, Please. I am confused. What is it that you think philosophers do? Nick Well, to be frank, I don't

Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-08 Thread Nicholas Thompson
From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 6:30 PM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris All, I have a creepy feeling

Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-07 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Isn't that like saying that mathematics is dead because [some] mathematicians haven't kept up with modern . um. astrophysics? N From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 1:02 PM To: Complexity Coffee Group

Re: [FRIAM] The Grand Design, Philosophy is Dead, and Hubris

2011-07-07 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Not clear why this is a philosophical implication. Would an empirical result EVER answer a mathematical question? Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Bruce Sherwood Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 8:20 PM To: The

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Eric, Based on my own experience with my own expertise, I offer the following understanding of what has happened on the list: (1) There is an elementary explanation of this phenomenon. (2)The speakers are enormously well-educated individuals who once knew that explanation.

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Thanks, Owen AS for the discussion with Doug and Peter, I am, I guess, an incurable amateur. I think of the world as arrayed in layers [of abstraction]; for me, there always is [should be?-note the use of modal language!] a level of abstraction at which it is appropriate for somebody to

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Ok. I got it. You guys don't want to talk about this subject, you don't want ME to talk about it, and nobody else really wants to talk about it. So, I declare this thread closed. Please don't post any more responses to this thread. You want to make off color remarks, find you own damn thread.

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear Peter, There are three ways to learn something: read, fiddle with things, and talk to somebody. I think the best learning take place if one is doing all three at the same time. Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Well, a couple of points. First, It says something kind of funny about physics . that it will never explain anything that any of us are curious about. Second, it seems to say that there is no educational advantage to . nothing to be learned from . trying to connect principle to

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
and/or explain the physics of vortex mechanics. English and hand waving and/or philosophy shudder are not rich enough communications media to carry that much information. --Doug On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Well, a couple of points

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Actually, Steve, despite spending 40 years doing what it was I did, I never felt an expert. One of my criteria for expertise, which I felt I never met, was the capacity to explain a difficult subject to an attentive, well-educated lay person. And the emperor's new clothes has always been one of

Re: [FRIAM] Experiment and Interpretation

2011-07-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
, or perhaps, even, is entitled to a full understanding of complex scientific systems without having provided oneself with a sufficiently rich, specialized scientific background? --Doug On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Ok. What follows from

[FRIAM] InciWeb the Incident Information System: Las Conchas News Release

2011-07-03 Thread Nicholas Thompson
I was blown away by this site which asserts that 20 archeologists are working with fire suppression teams in the Jemez so that historic and cultural sites are not damaged as the fire being fought. http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2385/12170/ Impressive, N

[FRIAM] Household vortices, redux

2011-07-02 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Steve S., You and I are the only two participants in that discussion to have presented any empirical evidence. In the spirit of experimental collegiality, would you try my experiment, and report back to me. Fill a basin with water Set it to spinning in a concerted way. Be careful not to

Re: [FRIAM] Household vortices, redux

2011-07-02 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Lee, Yep! There is that little grid in the mouth of the drain and the little tornado thingy generally forms on the hole at the center of that grid. Doesn't explain why the water leaving the drain starts to slow down when the natural vortex forms, by comparison with the circumstance in which I

Re: [FRIAM] A Happy Thought (experiment)

2011-07-02 Thread Nicholas Thompson
But peter. I actually did an experiment. So, your criticism has to shift from calling me an air head to calling my experiment dumb … and,, presumably, having reasons why it’s dumb. N From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of

Re: [FRIAM] symmetry breaking

2011-07-02 Thread Nicholas Thompson
/11 8:02 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: Thanks, Eric, for taking the question seriously. I will study your answer with care. Ask a simple question, and waddya get? Another day older and deeper in (conceptual) debt! Eric says: All these flow problems that we talk about are not described

Re: [FRIAM] symmetry breaking

2011-06-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Thanks, Eric, for taking the question seriously. I will study your answer with care. All the best, Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Eric Smith Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 8:35 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied

Re: [FRIAM] thought experiments

2011-06-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Eric, Lee, I have never been a thread-fascist before, but I am glad that this is a new thread because, on the other one, I actually reported an real-life experiment and got results that disconfirmed the theory. Those gallons of water I spilled down the sink were NOT in my mind. If I

Re: [FRIAM] Spin Doktors, and the Bathtub Vortex

2011-06-29 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear Peter, There HAS to be SOME lesson for us handwavers. If one charts the pressure-relative rate of flow as one allows and disturbs the formation of sink-vortices, does one see increases and decreases? Ok, so let me try and go empirical on you. I put a measured amount of

[FRIAM] symmetry breaking

2011-06-29 Thread Nicholas Thompson
In an offline conversation about my open letter, somebody asked me what symmetry breaking was; Here was my answer. Symmetry breaking is Guerin/Kaufman talk. Something like this: Just before Benard cells form, the fluid is symmetrical horizontally (Kaufman/Guerin talk for uniform), although

[FRIAM] An Open Letter to Steve Guerin

2011-06-28 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear Steve Guerin, I was staring at the water swirling down the drain this evening and I thought of you (};-]). It has been a very long time since we have had any kind of conversation on this list about self-organizing systems. I was reflecting on the vigor with which the water was rushing

Re: [FRIAM] An Open Letter to Steve Guerin

2011-06-28 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:03 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] An Open Letter to Steve Guerin And please, couch your answer in the most general of terms. :) -Doug On Jun 28, 2011 6:59 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote

[FRIAM] vortices and dissipation

2011-06-28 Thread Nicholas Thompson
I am not happy to have my thread hijacked and spoofed. So, at the risk of my seeming to be a bad sport, could we just pick it up from here? I think you guys are right on the edge of troll-dom here. My worst fear is that because I don’t really know what spoofing is, I will inadvertently send

Re: [FRIAM] The Uncertainty Tax

2011-06-21 Thread Nicholas Thompson
our respective lenses You have your Apollonians and your Dionysians; Apollonians are your planters, your gardeners, your planners. They can defer pleasure because, for them, the future seems assured. Dionysians are your impulsive types: they grab pleasure and excitement now because the future

Re: [FRIAM] The Uncertainty Tax

2011-06-21 Thread Nicholas Thompson
, and morphing into the unknown. Dionysians will tolerate change more easily and see it as positive, Apollonians will tolerate routine more easily and see it as positive. Victoria On Jun 21, 2011, at 12:03 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: our respective lenses You have your Apollonians and your Dionysians

Re: [FRIAM] On Apps and Browsers

2011-06-11 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Thread HiJacking Alert: What about the world in which you can wake up in the morning and discover that your credit company has been hacked? A million Citibank accounts were compromised yesterday. Is this relevant to the cloud/ground discussion, or shall I start my own thread on whether

Re: [FRIAM] Quote of the week

2011-06-10 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Quote of the week Nick: Next you are in town, lets read the original Shannon paper together. Alas, it is a bit long, but I'm told its a Good Thing To Do. -- Owen On Jun 6, 2011, at 7:44 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: Grant

Re: [FRIAM] Quote of the week

2011-06-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Grant, This seems backwards to me, but I got properly thrashed for my last few postings so I am putting my hat over the wall very carefully here. I thought..i thought .. the information in a message was the number of bits by which the arrival of the message decreased the uncertainty of

Re: [FRIAM] Why Evolve , when you Thriving!

2011-05-23 Thread Nicholas Thompson
managing the list at friam-ow...@redfish.com When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than Re: Contents of Friam digest... Today's Topics: 1. Re: Financial Scam (Nicholas Thompson) 2. Re: PC emulator written in JavaScript (Owen Densmore) 3. Re: PC emulator

Re: [FRIAM] Financial Scam

2011-05-22 Thread Nicholas Thompson
, passwords and other financial data etc. Sarbajit On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Really? A reformed cyber criminal? Say more! N PS, I have to say, as a psychologist, I am fascinated by the m.o. Does it really work to get

Re: [FRIAM] [sfx: Discuss] Re: blog recomendations?

2011-05-21 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Sorry, everybody: When I made my comment about WordPress being nerdy, I was confused. N From: David Collins [mailto:collida...@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2011 7:31 PM To: disc...@sfcomplex.org Subject: Re: [sfx: Discuss] Re: [FRIAM] blog recomendations? It's worth noting that

Re: [FRIAM] Financial Scam

2011-05-20 Thread Nicholas Thompson
me to keep the check around for possible criminal investigation purposes, as well as to keep an eye out on my cell phone in case they have any questions. On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 3:18 PM, Nicholas  Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net  wrote: Gillian, I would start by calling the Bursar

Re: [FRIAM] blog recomendations?

2011-05-19 Thread Nicholas Thompson
: [FRIAM] blog recomendations? nerdy heart - is that good or bad? Sent from my iPhone On 19/05/2011, at 2:42 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: My slight experience with WordPress made me feel that it had a nerdy heart. Don't be ashamed to try something that costs a little

Re: [FRIAM] craigs list q

2011-05-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Gillian, I would start by calling the Bursar at Central Christian College. That person should be straightforward, down-to-earth, and should have an explanation for this odd procedure. It doesn't sound right to me, I have to say. What does test out Western Union mean? Let us know how it

Re: [FRIAM] blog recomendations?

2011-05-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
My slight experience with WordPress made me feel that it had a nerdy heart. Don’t be ashamed to try something that costs a little and doesn’t have the notion that learning obscure finger-mantras is good for your soul. But I probably don't know what I am talking about. Nick -Original

Re: [FRIAM] blog recomendations?

2011-05-17 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Eric, I would not advise anyone to start a blog who didn’t have a genuine case of logorrhea. It’s like, gee, wouldn’t it be nice to have a daily column in the newspaper. Yeah, for about a week, but then…..? It’s like having to cook dinner EVERY night. I have logorrhea, but it’s a

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-16 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Carl Tollander wrote: That is very nearly a tautology. NST replies: You mean: All thoughts are morbid This is a thought This thought is morbid? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's

Re: [FRIAM] Fwd: Seth Godin : The future of the library

2011-05-16 Thread Nicholas Thompson
FWIW, a few years ago, my university library gutted its down floor, put in a coffee bar and IT stuff, and called itself the “academic commons.” Seems like a fad in Library Land. Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of ERIC P. CHARLES

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-13 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Wouldn't that be the definition of non evolution. As in, horshoe crabs have not evolved since the . carboniferous (or whatever) -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:01 AM To:

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-12 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Well, then I read you wrong. Sorry. N From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Russ Abbott Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 10:14 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] What evolves? Lots to respond to. First of

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-12 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Russ, Your question, I now see, is the same one that has motivated much of my career. See natural designs website below. It would be nice to come up with a definition of natural design that was more apriori (!?) than whatever nature selects. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-12 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Bruce, Suddenly can't think what the evidence would be for most mutations are lethal. Given the tremendous capacity of the developmental system to absorb variation and produce a common result, how would we know. The best we could know is that most visible mutations are lethal. This is a

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-10 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Steve: This is sort of fun: Which is more advanced; a horse's hoof or a human hand.? Answer: the hoof is way more advanced. (Actually I asked the question wrong, it should have been horses forearm) Why? Because the word advanced means just altered from the ancestral structure

[FRIAM] Tornados: vORTEX 2

2011-05-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
http://www.f5tornadovideos.com/Part-2-Twc-Vortex2-S-First-Tornado-6-5-Video- Id-u6WBFIJkLpA.html This a more technical video with excellent continuity. There is a comic aspect to this: It becomes clear as the video develops, Dr. Forbes is clearly somewhere safe and warm and dry. We'll

[FRIAM] Tornado article

2011-05-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
http://kkd.ou.edu/METR4433_Spring_2011/DaviesJonesEtal2001.pdf This link courtesy of this wondrous information-gathering institution we call FRIAM. This is a summary of What Was Known about tornados, as of about yr 2000. I can't claim to have read every word at this point, but it seems very

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Russ, I hope has been clear to everybody from the start that I am not a proper biologist. My degree is in psychology and my postdoctoral year was as an ethologist. I will leave it to Eric to tell you the same thing about himself. If you ask me on my best days, I will say that what

Re: [FRIAM] What evolves?

2011-05-09 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear Victoria, The word evolution has a history before biologists made off with it, but I can't speak to those uses. I think it first came into use in biology to refer to development and referred to the unfolding of a flower. The one use I cannot tolerate gracefully is to refer to whatever

Re: [FRIAM] VORTICAL FLOWS and LIFT

2011-05-07 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Peter, Thanks for this interesting response. It would seem to be the last word on this subject, for a time. But we’ll see. I wonder if there is any chance you would make an electronic copy of your article available to the list? No reason for us all to continue to live in

[FRIAM] How do these things WORK?

2011-05-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
How does the momentum get carried down to the ground so coherently? N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org http://www.cusf.org/

[FRIAM] notice the multiple vortices

2011-05-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Sorry about the commercial at the beginning. There's a skip button. Again, imagine you had a very strong suction device. Could you produce something like this in smaller scale? Why would it be narrower at the bottom than the top? n Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of

Re: [FRIAM] vol 95, issue 97

2011-05-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
RussG, A message such as you wrote is ambiguous because it is a demand TO the list to be taken OFF the list. If you simply wanted to be taken OFF the list, the instructions for doing that are at the bottom of every post from the list. So, it sounds like you want us to talk about the decline of

Re: [FRIAM] Big Whorls have little Whorls!!

2011-05-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
... Today's Topics: 1. How do these things WORK? (Nicholas Thompson) 2. notice the multiple vortices (Nicholas Thompson) 3. Re: off topic., but still (Mohammed El-Beltagy) ___ Friam mailing list Friam@redfish.com http://redfish.com/mailman

[FRIAM] more tornados

2011-05-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Here is one that has a steady picture over a relatively long period of time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HX_L-FDLCc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HX_L-FDLCcfeature=relmfu feature=relmfu The best footage on this one is in the second half. Turn the sound down if the frenetic

Re: [FRIAM] off topic....., but still

2011-05-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
/ !!! On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 9:36 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars

[FRIAM] off topic....., but still

2011-05-03 Thread Nicholas Thompson
I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. ~ Martin Luther King Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of

[FRIAM] 541002main_severe_weather_28apr11_0652_utc_animated.gif (GIF Image, 648x368 pixels)

2011-04-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
These images are probably eye-candy to some degree, but still mindblowing. http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/541002main_severe_weather_28apr11_0652_ut c_animated.gif Nick FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays

[FRIAM] sweeny announcement

2011-04-22 Thread Nicholas Thompson
This the production that The entire Friday meeting of FRIAM was invited to audition for, and none of us had the courage. The part was the judge. Nick sweeny announcement.odt Description: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text FRIAM

[FRIAM] Cult-cha

2011-04-19 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear all, Last fall, some of you encouraged me to try and organize a lit’ry thing (12 best books, or something of the sort) for our “seminar” series. I couldn’t pull it off ,but, for the summer, St Johns is offering seminars that might fill the bill. Please See,

Re: [FRIAM] Cult-cha

2011-04-19 Thread Nicholas Thompson
don't know by now, Dryden and Plutarch ain't gonna teach me. (He happens to be an example of a very good life well-lived, so I understood his annoyance at this lost opportunity for another approach.) On Apr 19, 2011, at 12:26 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: Dear all, Last fall, some of you

Re: [FRIAM] vol 93, issue 22

2011-03-29 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Thanks, Roger. Well distilled. As to your main question, I think it's a control system problem. Somehow the thermostat (the board room) needs to be made sensitive to the temperature (the pollution.) Friam would seem to be really well poised to think about this issue. But I think we need a

Re: [FRIAM] vol 93, issue 22

2011-03-29 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Wow! So when a majority of white southerners showed up in their Sunday finest to watch the weekly lynchings, that was the right thing? I guess you mean right in some other sense. N -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of

Re: [FRIAM] vol 93, issue 22

2011-03-24 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Vlad, Not sure why Peggy's comment deserved such a trolllish response. I will join in her view that if we are to base our economy on competition, then the practice of exporting externalities to the neighborhoods and nations of the powerless has to stop. We have to work to find the true

Re: [FRIAM] toxins from magnets

2011-03-22 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Steve, There is a basic cybernetic solution. Pump the output of the smokestacks into the mill-owner's aircirculation system. Internalize all externalities. Either the rich people stop polluting or they die. Either way, the problem of pollution is solved. Also the guilt problem. Oh, and I do

Re: [FRIAM] Assistance sought: The meaning of constraints

2011-03-14 Thread Nicholas Thompson
, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Dear anybody, I am reviewing a book by a psychologist in which the author makes a distinction between constraints and causes. Now perhaps I am over thinking this, but this distinction seems to parallel one made by Feynman in his famous

Re: [FRIAM] Books about true love

2011-03-13 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Really great article , Jochen. Wish we had had it for our evo-devo seminar! Thanks, Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of ERIC P. CHARLES Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 8:03 PM To: Jochen Fromm Cc: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity

[FRIAM] Satellite Photos - Japan Before and After Tsunami - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

2011-03-13 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Use the handles on the vertical bars down the middle of images to move the before|after line back and forth. What we are seeing here looks like New Orleans a hundred times over. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-ja

Re: [FRIAM] Advantages of groups

2011-03-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Jochen, Thanks for this. Your message led me to a whole cascade of wikis on subjects I am supposed to know something about. Note the use of modal language. Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Jochen Fromm Sent:

Re: [FRIAM] Advantages of groups

2011-03-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Interesting, Russ. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. The legislature is in town these days¸ and given the appalling inefficiency of its decision making processes, it would seem that the fish are better at collective decision making than we are. Nick From:

Re: [FRIAM] The cognitive niche

2011-02-20 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Oh wait a minute. I was editing to remove the echo with the next sentence. So, I guess it's To me the New Realism concedes our right to a point of view while DEMANDING THAT WE share it. Each of us is obligated to give clear instructions for how to stand where we are standing, so that

Re: [FRIAM] The cognitive niche

2011-02-20 Thread Nicholas Thompson
.), A New Look at New Realism: E. B. Holt Reconsidered, Transactions Publishers (2011) http://www.amazon.com/New-Look-Realism-Psychology-Philosophy/dp/1412842425 Right ? -J. - Original Message - From: Nicholas Thompson To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Sent: Sunday

Re: [FRIAM] The cognitive niche

2011-02-19 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Jochen, I CRINGE when anybody calls me an expert, but I have to admit that in my last job, I served as an evolutionary psychologist. Before that, I was a comparative psychologist, ethologist, and sociobiologists, more or less in that order. Unfortunately, any of these roles would

[FRIAM] Tomorrow's meeting

2011-02-10 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear all, Frank and I will be a bit late tomorrow. If you arrive and don't see anybody else, have faith: others are coming. See if you can sneak those two tables together. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University

Re: [FRIAM] A question for your Roboteers out there

2011-02-08 Thread Nicholas Thompson
about other things is the point where self-awareness begins. To know the self means to know where the self ends, and where the rest of the world begins. -J. - Original Message - From: Nicholas Thompson To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2011

Re: [FRIAM] A question for your Roboteers out there

2011-02-07 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Grant, The article was collected in an edited volume by Ashby and is available on Google Scholar. I am rushing now, but if you don't find it easily, please get back to me and I will find it for you. Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf

[FRIAM] A question for your Roboteers out there

2011-02-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
At what point in the complexity of a robot (or any other control system) does it begin to seem useful to parse input into information about the system itself and information about other things? Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University

Re: [FRIAM] A question for your Roboteers out there

2011-02-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
for your Roboteers out there McAfee SiteAdvisor Warning This e-mail message contains potentially unsafe links to these sites: friam.org On 5 Feb 2011 at 12:29, Nicholas Thompson wrote: At what point in the complexity of a robot (or any other control system) does it begin

Re: [FRIAM] A question for your Roboteers out there

2011-02-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
-bielefeld.de k...@uni-bielefeld.de) concerning your interest in child-care services by the end of May. The detailed organization will be planned according to the needs. Yukie Nagai Publicity Chair of ICDL-EpiRob2011 2011/2/5 Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net At what point

[FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans

2011-02-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Message: 2 From: National Science Foundation Update nsf-upd...@nsf.gov Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 14:47:36 -0600 (CST) Subject: The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record

Re: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans

2011-02-04 Thread Nicholas Thompson
an effect on that emergence? Ray Parks From: Nicholas Thompson [mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 08:33 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group friam@redfish.com Subject: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans Message: 2 From: National Science Foundation

[FRIAM] opportunity for chess-loving programmer.

2011-01-27 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Everybody, I hope this isn't inappropriate, but I love chess.com and wish it the best and I imagine that this would be a really, really good job for somebody on FRIAM, which I also love. So I guess I am in the business of match-making. See below: Chess.com: Senior Web Developer

Re: [FRIAM] We have presented evidence that the proton may be considered as a Schwarzchild entity... Nassim Haramein [oops, into nonduality...]: Rich Murray 2010.01.26

2011-01-26 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Rich, I am one of those list members who gets grumpy when somebody posts something without making it clear why s/he cares about the material or, even better, why I should care about it. Can you give us a couple of pointers. Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com

Re: [FRIAM] [Vo]:Proposition to the Membership of Vortex List in Regards to Andrea Rossi

2011-01-25 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Oh gosh! Do we HAVE credibility? With whom? What a wonderful thought! N From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Douglas Roberts Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:49 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM]

Re: [FRIAM] [Vo]:Proposition to the Membership of Vortex List in Regards to Andrea Rossi

2011-01-25 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Steve, I hear you edging out onto the slippery slope of censorship, here. Even if the cold fusion thing is completely unfounded, it has more interest as a cultural phenomenon than many of the topics in good standing on Friam. Don't go there, Steve. Don't listen to him, Rich. Nick

Re: [FRIAM] [Vo]:Proposition to the Membership of Vortex List in Regards to Andrea Rossi

2011-01-24 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Thanks, Rich. Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Rich Murray Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:24 PM To: vorte...@eskimo.com; michael barron; lit...@earthtech.org; mari...@earthtech.org; puth...@earthtech.org Subject:

Re: [FRIAM] Place your bets now

2011-01-20 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Doug Buy nickel, sell copper. http://www.metalprices.com/ Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Douglas Roberts Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:34 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM]

Re: [FRIAM] PROGRESS; Used to be: We'll be taking gentle, leisurely cruises to the Moon on Ni fusion hot H2 filled high altitude airships, 4 km wide...: Rich Murray 2011.01.19

2011-01-19 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Rich, Your faith in progress brings tears to my eyes. I don't think the world is one ounce better than it was when I was a kid. It is DIFFERENT, but we have given up at least as much as we have gained. Nor do I expect it to be any better in a hundred years. Thus, the sole rational defense of

[FRIAM] FRIAM tomorrow and CUSF Coffee House Seminars Continued

2011-01-06 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Hi, everybody, Once again, we are meeting at St. Johns this week. We have come out of the Holiday Tunnel. WE-OO! While I have your attention, allow me to tell you that I am organizing another in the series of Coffee House Seminars in which we explore findings and texts

Re: [FRIAM] Flowing Data/Prezi

2011-01-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Tory, Any way to get a larger, readable version of the dialects map? Fascinating. Nick From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Victoria Hughes Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 8:17 AM To: disc...@sfcomplex.org; The Friday Morning Applied

Re: [FRIAM] Flowing Data/Prezi

2011-01-05 Thread Nicholas Thompson
=en_usos_ver=6.1.0.0 friam.org Nick: Go to the map's home page, then click on the map in the upper left and drill down. Tkx, Tory. -tom On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 7:47 PM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Tory, Any way to get a larger, readable version of the dialects map

Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

2011-01-03 Thread Nicholas Thompson
. -- Owen On Jan 2, 2011, at 8:41 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: Off topic: The warning only appears only on FRIAM messages and it appears on all of them. Is there anything about FRIAM that the list-owner should be attending to? N -Original Message- From: friam-boun

Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

2011-01-03 Thread Nicholas Thompson
not sure that would rase the warning you see. -- Owen On Jan 2, 2011, at 8:41 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: Off topic: The warning only appears only on FRIAM messages and it appears on all of them. Is there anything about FRIAM that the list-owner should be attending to? N

Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

2011-01-03 Thread Nicholas Thompson
pwned. That is, despite the paranoia which we've instilled in Nick, he still managed to install a trojan that has hijacked the DNS services on his machine to redirect him to more bad sites. -- rec -- On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Nicholas Thompson nickthomp...@earthlink.net wrote: Isn't

Re: [FRIAM] dropbox?

2011-01-02 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Off topic: The warning only appears only on FRIAM messages and it appears on all of them. Is there anything about FRIAM that the list-owner should be attending to? N -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore

Re: [FRIAM] [sfx: Discuss] Anyone know if Friam is meeting on Friday Dec 31?

2010-12-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Hi, kim. I sent a similar note out to the friam list yesterday; no response yet. The problem is WHERE. DS will probably be too crowded and noisy, but I would do it as a last resort. Or can somebody help us break new ground? N From: Kim Sorvig

[FRIAM] Tomorrow Morning

2010-12-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Kim, and others, Well there has not been a din of responses to our probes about tomorrow's FRIAM meeting nor a plethora of suggestions about where we might meet. Frank and I are available and Kim, if you are in, that's enough for me, and then others could join if they felt like it. I

[FRIAM] FRIAM: It's agreed: 9.30+ at D.S.

2010-12-30 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Unless, the weather is too awful. Frank and I will get there a little early to find us a spot. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org

[FRIAM] Friam this FRI AM

2010-12-29 Thread Nicholas Thompson
St. Johns will be closed as tight as a drum. Any new venues to try out? Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org http://www.cusf.org/

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