How times have changed [was Sr. Developer ]

[Jeff Kinz]

On Thu, Feb 16, 2006 at 10:22:01AM -0500, Fred wrote:
> 
> I would have to somewhat disagree with this. Whenever a group of nodes 
> interact in concert, that entire group can be considered a node in its own 
> right, with its own peculiar set of dynamics.  It does not matter whether 
> the "nodes" are ants, computers, or people.
> 
> When the number of interacting nodes are small, one may easily distinguish 
> them as separate, though they are acting as a group. When the number of 
> nodes are large, it's much more difficult to cull them apart.
> 
> This is all about emergence of behavior and also a new mathematics I am 
> quietly (for now) working on.
> 
> So, to differ, "organizations" DO exist -- but their efficiency to act is 
> inversely proportional to the number of participants. That is to say, the 
> "collective IQ" of the group, if there is such a thing, will always be 
> *less* than the IQ of individuals. The reason for this is simple: The 
> individuals are *not free* to act as the group can. The group itself is by 
> design forced to act as a unit; therefore it is a node in its own right.
> 
> This scares the willies out of me because group nodes where it involves 
> humans typically become *less humane* than the individuals themselves.

Fred, are you looking at chaos/complexity theory as it applies to 
human behavior & economics?  

A whole bunch of stuff came out of the Santa Fe Institute that allowed
economists to actually start realistically modeling human behavior
wit the same  approach the physicists had started using to model
complex-chaotic systems.  They labeled it "chaos theory".  I'm sure
everyone has heard of it and it seems to be usable for a great deal
more than modeling chaotic physical systems.

One of the most interesting items I ran across was that there seems to be
some cross-over between the chaos theory and the automata theories
being advanced by Stephen Wolfram in "A New Kind Of Science".  A great
book, but much harder to read than "Freakonomics".  Also harder to lift.
:)



-- 
Jeff Kinz, Emergent Research, Hudson, MA.
speech recognition software may have been used to create this e-mail

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men
of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." - Brandeis

To think contrary to one's era is heroism. But to speak against it is
madness. -- Eugene Ionesco