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Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18

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Nick Thompson

Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18

Thanks, Phil,

there is no kindness that one academic can give another that is greater
than a reading of his work.

I think in the New Academia, professors will be given tenure for reading.
Any fool can write.

I have responded off line.

Nick

> [Original Message]
> From: <friam-request at redfish.com>
> To: <friam at redfish.com>
> Date: 3/25/2007 11:02:54 AM
> Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18
>
> Send Friam mailing list submissions to
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
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>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait (Phil Henshaw)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:29:05 -0400
> From: "Phil Henshaw" <sy at synapse9.com>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait
> To: <nickthompson at earthlink.net>, "'The Friday Morning Applied
> Complexity Coffee Group'" <friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID: <000501c76e74$98917640$2f01a8c0 at SavyII>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Thanks Nick, a rather accurate depiction I think. But as the complaint
> displays, the fact that some individuals can see the perceptual problem,
> that people are more or less blind to emergence for some deep reason,
> does not in itself generate a solution, like learning how to see.
> That's what puzzles me about why absolutely no one asks me about my
> rigorous scientific method of identifying emergent systems as
> individuals and closely watching their evolving structures . Yea,
> well, it involves a slightly different set of questions. What would
> you expect!
>
> Learning questions is messier than learning answers perhaps. What I do
> is start by picking questions according to whether they can be answered.
> That's just more productive. Asking when where and how the animation
> of local events begins and ends is one of them. That turns out to be
> emergence, and I think all the disciplinary models fit as
> interpretations of that from different perspectives.
>
>
> Phil Henshaw ????.?? ? `?.????
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 680 Ft. Washington Ave
> NY NY 10040
> tel: 212-795-4844
> e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com
> explorations: www.synapse9.com <http://www.synapse9.com/>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On
> Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson
> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:39 AM
> To: Friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait
>
>
>
>
>
> All, particularly those in the Home Church.
>
> On Wednesday, we got into it about emergence and so I thought I would
> offer the attached file from a few years back, when the Bush
> administration was still an ugly rumor.
>
> . Here is the abstract, in case you aren't awash in free time.
>
> Nick
>
>
>
> ABSTRACT. We [me and two reluctant colleagues] hypothesize that, because
> human minds are ill prepared by natural selection to perceive emergence,
> the achievements of groups that arise from their good functioning as
> groups easily goes unnoticed. This perceptual flaw has been an obstacle
> for developmental science, as it has been for biologists who want to
> look at the productivity of groups as opposed to the productivity of the
> individuals that make them up. Humans tend either (1) to attribute the
> non-additive productivity of the group to one of its members, investing
> him or her with special powers of ?leadership?, or (2 ) to invent an
> additional supernatural member of the group -- a spirit or god -- to
> account for its hyper-productivity. Either method of resolving the
> cognitive problem posed by emergence is likely to make the group?s
> individuals more readily subject to the demands of group members who
> appear to embody or speak for the source of this hyper-productivity.
> Thus, selection at the group level will favor such cognitive
> misattributions because they make groups more coherent and enhance their
> emergent qualities.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University
> (nthompson at clarku.edu)
> Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com)
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
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>
> End of Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18
> *************************************

Phil Henshaw-2

Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18

Yes, but isn't that one of the curious structures of nature, that
readers inexplicably always have the last word? I suggest looking
through a new kind of microscope, all sorts of new sort of living
things, readers say, not a chance, nothing there but dust!

Phil Henshaw ????.?? ? `?.????
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
680 Ft. Washington Ave
NY NY 10040
tel: 212-795-4844
e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com
explorations: www.synapse9.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com
> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson
> Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 2:29 PM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18
>
>
> Thanks, Phil,
>
> there is no kindness that one academic can give another that
> is greater than a reading of his work.
>
> I think in the New Academia, professors will be given tenure
> for reading.
> Any fool can write.
>
> I have responded off line.
>
> Nick
>
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: <friam-request at redfish.com>
> > To: <friam at redfish.com>
> > Date: 3/25/2007 11:02:54 AM
> > Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 45, Issue 18
> >
> > Send Friam mailing list submissions to
> > friam at redfish.com
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> > friam-request at redfish.com
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> > friam-owner at 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: Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait (Phil Henshaw)
> >
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:29:05 -0400
> > From: "Phil Henshaw" <sy at synapse9.com>
> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait
> > To: <nickthompson at earthlink.net>, "'The Friday Morning Applied
> > Complexity Coffee Group'" <friam at redfish.com>
> > Message-ID: <000501c76e74$98917640$2f01a8c0 at SavyII>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Thanks Nick, a rather accurate depiction I think. But as
> the complaint
> > displays, the fact that some individuals can see the perceptual
> > problem, that people are more or less blind to emergence
> for some deep
> > reason, does not in itself generate a solution, like
> learning how to
> > see. That's what puzzles me about why absolutely no one
> asks me about
> > my rigorous scientific method of identifying emergent systems as
> > individuals and closely watching their evolving structures . Yea,
> > well, it involves a slightly different set of questions.
> What would
> > you expect!
> >
> > Learning questions is messier than learning answers
> perhaps. What I do
> > is start by picking questions according to whether they can
> be answered.
> > That's just more productive. Asking when where and how
> the animation
> > of local events begins and ends is one of them. That turns
> out to be
> > emergence, and I think all the disciplinary models fit as
> > interpretations of that from different perspectives.
> >
> >
> > Phil Henshaw ????.?? ? `?.????
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > 680 Ft. Washington Ave
> > NY NY 10040
> > tel: 212-795-4844
> > e-mail: pfh at synapse9.com
> > explorations: www.synapse9.com <http://www.synapse9.com/>
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: friam-bounces at redfish.com
> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On
> > Behalf Of Nicholas Thompson
> > Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:39 AM
> > To: Friam at redfish.com
> > Subject: [FRIAM] Emergence blindness as an Adaptive Trait
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > All, particularly those in the Home Church.
> >
> > On Wednesday, we got into it about emergence and so I
> thought I would
> > offer the attached file from a few years back, when the Bush
> > administration was still an ugly rumor.
> >
> > . Here is the abstract, in case you aren't awash in free time.
> >
> > Nick
> >
> >
> >
> > ABSTRACT. We [me and two reluctant colleagues] hypothesize that,
> > because human minds are ill prepared by natural selection
> to perceive
> > emergence, the achievements of groups that arise from their good
> > functioning as groups easily goes unnoticed. This
> perceptual flaw has
> > been an obstacle for developmental science, as it has been for
> > biologists who want to look at the productivity of groups
> as opposed
> > to the productivity of the individuals that make them up.
> Humans tend
> > either (1) to attribute the non-additive productivity of
> the group to
> > one of its members, investing him or her with special powers of
> > ?leadership?, or (2 ) to invent an additional supernatural
> member of the group -- a spirit or god -- to
> > account for its hyper-productivity. Either method of resolving the
> > cognitive problem posed by emergence is likely to make the group?s
> > individuals more readily subject to the demands of group
> members who
> > appear to embody or speak for the source of this
> hyper-productivity.
> > Thus, selection at the group level will favor such cognitive
> > misattributions because they make groups more coherent and enhance
> > their emergent qualities.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Nicholas S. Thompson
> > Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University
> > (nthompson at clarku.edu)
> > Research Associate, Redfish Group, Santa Fe, NM (nick at redfish.com)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------- next part --------------
> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> > URL:
> http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/200

70324/b6670a85
/attachment-0001.html

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