Posted by
glen e. p. ropella-2 on
Sep 16, 2009; 6:18pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Re-comm-was-Re-FW-Re-Emergence-Seminar-BritishEmergence-tp3654051p3658144.html
Thus spake Marcus G. Daniels circa 09-09-16 10:39 AM:
> If the symbols of a model
> aren't anywhere close to grounded, almost any proposition could be true
> or false. It could be that some things are more or less likely, but
> figuring that out soon becomes a huge computational/cognitive load.
Well, the symbols in such a model _are_ grounded to the person
constructing and using the model. So, as a thinking tool, there's no
danger at all. The danger comes in when that person makes the mistake
of believing that what they think is somehow real.
Besides, we can say the exact same thing about models grounded to the
vernacular. Just because a bunch of people use the same terms in,
seemingly, the same way does NOT imply that those terms are any more
grounded than the private terms inside one person's mind. In fact,
because those terms are aggregate abstractions, they are _less_
well-grounded than personal terms (because grounding comes from having
fingers, toes, tongues, eyes, etc.). The danger of misunderstanding and
confusion is much higher when using the vernacular because it's more
tempting to think that, because you speak the way others do, you're all
somehow _right_ about whatever you're talking about. It's easier to be
tricked into thinking a falsehood is true if _lots_ of people share in
the falsehood ... another typical trait of organized religion.
Using your own private models and forcing yourself to continually map
your lexicon to others' is a great way of ensuring you don't fall into
the trap of "consensus reality" and justificationism.
Really, it's 6 to one 1/2 a dozen to the other. Both are untrustworthy
and that's why the success of science is based on _behavior_ not words.
--
glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095,
http://agent-based-modeling.com============================================================
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