Posted by
glen e. p. ropella-2 on
Sep 16, 2009; 5:15pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Re-comm-was-Re-FW-Re-Emergence-Seminar-BritishEmergence-tp3654051p3657748.html
Thus spake ERIC P. CHARLES circa 09/16/2009 08:35 AM:
> Again, this conversation about "modeling minds" is weirdly high-end.
> Even the most trivial understanding of the words in context (e.g.,
> "agitate") requires something of a model of the writer.
Well, Marcus' point is well taken to the extent that if you don't need
the extended model of the writer, then a model based purely on the text
(including some sort of interpretation of the vernacular meanings of all
the words in it) is a) more practical, b) more trustable, c)
conservative, etc.
The key part is that, especially in science, one is supposed to be
building transpersonal knowledge... things that are true for multiple
people, not just a single person. So, by sticking with the vernacular
meanings as opposed to the specific personal meanings, private to the
writer, you help ensure that transitive aspect of the knowledge. Hence,
modeling the writer's _mind_ is, from this perspective, not only
unnecessary, but a Bad Thing(tm) in general. Only sloppy, irresponsible
people (would) use these extended models.
At least that's my take on his argument. And I agree with my
interpretation of his argument, except in cases where the usage
_requires_ an extended model of the writer. E.g. where a text cannot be
understood without the extended (speculative) context. In those cases,
I say go ahead and extend the model despite your ignorance, but be
vigilant in the caveats that the uncertainty in the extended model is
unbounded and your model is totally invalid ("invalid" in simulation
jargon or "unsound" in logic/philosophy jargon).
--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095,
http://agent-based-modeling.com============================================================
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