tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post5876872770024117260..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: Book review: Complex Adaptive Systems, by John Miller and Scott PageSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-76143336283584496702009-08-14T22:41:34.495-04:002009-08-14T22:41:34.495-04:00I Agree wiht the statement about the book appear r...I Agree wiht the statement about the book appear require some previous complexity science's knowledge. For this book, could be interesting read the paper "Can Game(s) Theory Explain Culture?<br />The Emergence of Cultural Behavior Within Multiple Games" where Jena Bednar and Scott e. Page evolve a framework based in the ideias of the book in questions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88661344215690198832008-04-14T10:37:00.000-04:002008-04-14T10:37:00.000-04:00Theories aren't bright or stupid, they are useful ...Theories aren't bright or stupid, they are useful or they aren't. One shouldn't confuse a theory with it's predictive power though. I would have the theory that you can't plan a war, you can only make sure to react to situations in the best possibly way, where 'best possible' is up to you to specify. Same applies to politics. I don't think you can 'predict' sociological trends, the system is far Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-1617518302939324352008-04-13T15:58:00.000-04:002008-04-13T15:58:00.000-04:00Very bright guys using the theories and math to de...Very bright guys using the theories and math to decide when to fight a war: Vietnam and Iraq, what joy. The right in the U.S. blames the press, the draft and the anti-war movement for the lose in Vietnam ignoring the Soviet lose in Afghanistan. <BR/><BR/>We won near every battle in Vietnam BUT battles are only partly about battles in Vietnam and Iraq we had no real plan or idea what do after we Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-20639075782207129162008-04-02T16:39:00.000-04:002008-04-02T16:39:00.000-04:00The Vietnamese knew how to wield a negotiation tab...<I>The Vietnamese knew how to wield a negotiation table.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.1stcavmedic.com/Jane_Fonda/JaneFonda-MugShot.jpg" REL="nofollow">Jane Fonda's image</A> was very powerful sitting on the piece of their artillery?:)<BR/><BR/>When you know what's happening at home,it's not hard to see that the "democracy is welling up" with a statement of it's own, had already been working PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-57036024167283206072008-04-01T22:11:00.000-04:002008-04-01T22:11:00.000-04:00Hi Uncle Al,Your point serves more to indicate tha...Hi Uncle Al,<BR/><BR/>Your point serves more to indicate that we would not be able to control those required to execute the plan, rather then the possibility as not to conceive one. Mind you I’m not so disappointed, since most people’s concept of what a Utopia appears to me more like a social lobotomy. As an example, there would be no need for and therefore exist any Uncle Als. Now I ask; whatPhil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-79803065681492462522008-04-01T13:14:00.000-04:002008-04-01T13:14:00.000-04:00Network (1976):Case I, "...one vast and ecumenical...<I>Network</I> (1976):<BR/><BR/>Case I, "...one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock; all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused."<BR/><BR/>Case II, "All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!'"<BR/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-24197408988224122762008-04-01T12:25:00.000-04:002008-04-01T12:25:00.000-04:00To Hari Seldon fans: The Mule. Seldon failed.A g...To Hari Seldon fans: The Mule. Seldon failed.<BR/><BR/>A general arranges overall logistics and strategy. Old fart sergeants run local tactics. If their lieutenants don't listen everybody dies. Ex-corprorals Napolean and Hitler were incredible local tacticians but poor generals at global scales (e.g., going East; adding America). The Vietnamese knew how to wield a negotiation table.<BR/><BR/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-20064207320999459392008-04-01T07:08:00.000-04:002008-04-01T07:08:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,Nice review. I wonder sometimes if you hav...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>Nice review. I wonder sometimes if you have a different number of hours in a day then I do. That is you seem to find time be a researcher, write this blog and read. What I’m curious to hear your opinion on is if you think that such techniques will ever lead us to the point that in could help us to plan our future? I am reminded of Isaac Asimov’s classic science fiction Phil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-45882120136319685782008-04-01T07:02:00.000-04:002008-04-01T07:02:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Phil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-107690028105944682008-04-01T04:31:00.000-04:002008-04-01T04:31:00.000-04:00Great post, Uncle Al!We had a superb TV series her...Great post, Uncle Al!<BR/><BR/>We had a superb TV series here in the UK called "The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom" (see <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(television_documentary_series)" REL="nofollow">here</A>) which I am sure you would have enjoyed.Andrew Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03852211910001840777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-6056955965398252332008-03-31T18:20:00.000-04:002008-03-31T18:20:00.000-04:00Hi Uncle,I think the part in the book that I found...Hi Uncle,<BR/><BR/>I think the part in the book that I found overly defensive is written for people like you. A computer can't make you more intelligent, but it can help you examine features that otherwise would remain inaccessible due to the sheer complexity of the situation. Typically, if you have a large parameter space, or many (but not infinitely many) constituents, numerical models are Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-16497395137392152822008-03-31T16:00:00.000-04:002008-03-31T16:00:00.000-04:00But, didn't Hari Seldon figure all this out alread...But, didn't <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Seldon " REL="nofollow">Hari Seldon</A> figure all this out already?<BR/><BR/>;-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-61702146788045128152008-03-31T14:52:00.000-04:002008-03-31T14:52:00.000-04:00I guess you've never read John Nash and understood...I guess you've never read John Nash and understood what the nobel prize he won was for, Uncle Al:)<BR/><BR/>Take that one step further and what the Nobel prize was won for "last year in that particular area of research. It's all a Game(Theory)? It's all a Game of Life? (Conway?)<BR/><BR/>"Ingenuity" is not stupidity. It's understanding what that space represented and what came next.PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-84587346888371422972008-03-31T14:46:00.000-04:002008-03-31T14:46:00.000-04:00If you are stupid without a computer you are still...If you are stupid without a computer you are still stupid with a computer.<BR/><BR/>US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara entered Vietnam. He modeled a Mil-Spec enemy that carried casebooks, eschewed heteroskedasticity, and surrendered when it could not win. Dien Bien Phu (1954) was insubordinate to his model. It lacked quantified negotiating table carpentry during his own defeat.<BR/><BR/>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-40479329321494227042008-03-31T14:42:00.000-04:002008-03-31T14:42:00.000-04:00I was having similar thoughts today when I constru...I was having similar thoughts today when I constructed my <A HREF="http://eskesthai.blogspot.com/2008/03/numerical-relativity-and-human.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="Numerical Relativity and the Human Experience?">new post</A><BR/><BR/>While you write about complex adaptive systems(<A HREF="http://www.i2cam.org/" REL="nofollow">ICAM</A>), I think the thinking mind is very capable even if one were PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-58416595780689311202008-03-31T14:39:00.000-04:002008-03-31T14:39:00.000-04:00Wow. Ive had that book on my amazon wishlist for o...Wow. Ive had that book on my amazon wishlist for other 6 months. Nice read!dsfqfsqdqfdsdfqshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05657957225090456911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-78077131529707983662008-03-31T12:40:00.000-04:002008-03-31T12:40:00.000-04:00I admittedly haven't checked the literature too ca...I admittedly haven't checked the literature too carefully, but from what I came across it's the first introduction to the use of such computational agent based models (that's also what the backflap says). There a surely lots of other books about complex systems etc, and there are also other sources besides books, but well, I had to start somewhere. <BR/><BR/>Best,<BR/><BR/>B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-68707512903535012902008-03-31T12:35:00.000-04:002008-03-31T12:35:00.000-04:00Thanks for the review. Below is what I find to be ...Thanks for the review. Below is what I find to be the most important piece of information: <BR/><BR/>"It is however a useful book to have because it's the first of this kind." <BR/><BR/>When I see or hear of an book on an interesting topic, I always wonder if it is somewhat unique, or if there are many books on the topic, and I need to choose carefully. <BR/><BR/>But I wonder what exactly you Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com