Glen, you wrote
" Math is a language for disambiguation". Forgive me if I have asked you this before: Have you ever read Byers HOW MATHEMATICIANS THINK? If so, could you rub those two rocks together a little for me? Thx, N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([email protected]) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe] > [Original Message] > From: glen e. p. ropella <[email protected]> > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Date: 3/22/2010 12:20:16 PM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!) > > Thus spake Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky circa 10-03-22 10:43 AM: > > I opened a lid and are you the surprise in side? > > Language issues are extremely complex and I am not sure which position you > > take, In fact I suspect you do not subscribe to either. > > I'm just an Eddington style typewriter. I read a bunch of stuff. It > percolates around randomly. Then I spew it back out without really > knowing anything about what I'm saying. [grin] And in the great > tradition of psychological reflexion, I assume everyone else is the same. > > > I always suspected my father was slightly mad when he would begin laughing > > at something someone said, He explained that it sounded like something > > obscene in Finnish or Yiddish. > > Exactly! Those interested in language mismatch claim that lots of > "interestingness" seems to come from language mismatches, including lots > of humor. > > > I agree with your comments but unfortunately we often have to make choices > > between two bad options since there is nothing better. If we recognize the > > language trap how do we escape? > > I tend to keep reminding myself that my grasp of reality is very tenuous > regardless of my (frequent) sporadic descents into the conviction that I > have a very good understanding of it. By continually reminding myself, > I find that almost every time I remind myself while stuck in that > conviction, the conviction is a direct result of being ensconced in a > particular language. As I age, however, I'm finding my own reminders > more and more difficult to maintain. So, I sporadically start arguments > with people like those on this list and enlist them to help me remind > myself. (Yes, that's totally selfish ... But you'll rarely find me > arguing that altruism is natural. ;-) > > I confess, though, that these constant reminders make me a jack of many > trades, master of none. And that can be a very bad thing. Luckily, I'm > a simulant and my job requires that I be that way. > > > Creating a new language such as mathematics did not solve our difficulties > > if anything it helped illuminate the issues. > > Yes! I firmly agree with that! Math is a language for disambiguation. > > -- > glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com > > > ============================================================ > 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
