(GWAVA: SPAM) What have the Romans - sorry - complexitydone for us?

Posted by Michael Agar on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/What-have-the-Romans-sorry-complexity-done-for-us-tp522232p522240.html

The odd thing here is that I meant "diffusion" to indicate  
development of a paradigm shift, not the absence of one. I'm seeing  
complexity ideas put to use all over the intellectual and  
organizational map. Problem is the thing mutates like fruit flies on  
stereoids, though there's still a there there. I keep trying to  
articulate the "there," but then it's limitations all the way down (:

Mike


On Jul 24, 2006, at 9:56 AM, Christopher Newman wrote:

> Guys--
>   I usually stay out of this, having a true appreciation of my own  
> limitations (to paraphrase Clint Eastwood in one of the Dirty Harry  
> movies, I believe) but there are at least two venues where this  
> work is appreciated: in the American Association for History and  
> Computing (they will be having a cyberconference in the spring) and  
> the Midwest Political Science Association Modeling Section (mutatis  
> mutandis--the section's name changes as often as the Artist  
> Formerly Known as Prince.) If those with appropriate knowledge  
> skills would care to contribute, these are areas to establish  
> beachheads.
>                    Chris Newman
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com on behalf of Robert Holmes
> Sent: Mon 7/24/2006 9:55 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] (GWAVA: SPAM) What have the Romans - sorry -  
> complexitydone for us?
>
>
> You beat me to it Mike. I was re-reading Kuhn this morning because  
> I'm pretty darn sure that complexity science is failing to  
> establish itself as a paradigm, and I wanted support for this  
> contention from someone a whole load cleverer than me. I'll report  
> back on my readings...
>
> Just as a starter, Kuhn suggests that a field's history is largely  
> represented in the new textbooks that accompany the paradigm shift.  
> I'm thinking that if we don't have the textbooks (see Owen's  
> thread), it's hard for us to even claim that a new paradigm exists  
> ("there's no there there").
>
> Robert
>
>
> On 7/24/06, Michael Agar <magar at anth.umd.edu> wrote:
>
> Well, there's the roads, yeah, and then there's the...
>
> Romans are the right metaphor, since much of what's happened in the
> last X years has been diffusion of ideas--ideas, not measures--into
> numerous different domains. Like Kuhn said...
>
> Mike
>
>
> On Jul 24, 2006, at 7:21 AM, Robert Holmes wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I really enjoyed Joe's post and it set me thinking - exactly what
> > has complexity science achieved? IMHO, one measure of a field's
> > health is that the field moves forward (radical, huh?). If I look
> > at particle physics, they now know stuff that they didn't 15 years
> > ago (neutrino mass for example); if I look at high-temperature
> > superconductivity, Tc moves ever upwards. If I look at string
> > theory they ask (and occassionally answer) ever more abstruse and
> > unlikely questions that might not bear any relation to the real
> > world but are at least based on what was asked before.
> >
> > So here's the question: in the field of complexity science, exactly
> > what can we do now that we could not do 15 years ago?
> >
> > Robert
> > ============================================================
> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
>
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org