Well, to be *totally* fair, Owen, I wasn't just pointing out an article in one of my interest areas. I was also using it as an opportunity to gently criticize some of my FRIAM colleagues. Just a little bit.
--Doug On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > Oh, and I'm 200% with Doug about our "deadly embrace" tendency, quibbling > about words and sucking the life out of otherwise interesting > conversations. Now *that's* trolling! > > -- Owen > > > On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 10:44 AM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Wait, to be fair, Doug simply >> 1 - Presented a pointer to an interesting article >> 2 - Explained why the article was interesting to him >> >> Where's the problem? >> >> I'm amazed at the article and would love to see the stunts that the >> program uses to increase entropy locally .. if I get it. >> >> -- Owen >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 10:34 AM, glen ropella <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> Whenever I go down to Portland State University, there's a >>> fundamentalist preacher standing on a bench asserting that all the >>> people walking around are morally in danger. He talks and talks, rails >>> and rails. Yet the students discuss their classes or their social >>> networks, study their books, talk on their phones, eat their lunch, etc. >>> >>> No matter how loud the preacher yells about the behavior and moral >>> degradation of the people around him, nobody listens. They continue to >>> do what they do, sometimes listening in amusement to the preacher, or >>> playing "Amen, brother" games with him, but mostly ignoring him. >>> >>> I have some ideas about why his protestations have no effect. But it >>> would help, especially in a conversation like this, if the preacher, >>> himself, were to give some practical hint as to _how_ the discussion >>> could be taken in a new direction. Or even in what new direction the >>> preacher would like us to take the discussion. (Aside from thumbing >>> some bible or other.) >>> >>> Mostly, the preacher seems to want to preach, with no discussion being >>> possible. Anytime anyone tries to approach the preacher and _discuss_ >>> whatever, the preacher ends up ranting and railing about how that person >>> just doesn't get it and always falls into the standard immorality they >>> exhibited before they tried to start a discussion with the preacher. >>> >>> >>> On 04/23/2013 08:16 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote: >>> > Fuggit, work can wait, the first proposal is in final edit and the >>> second >>> > one is under control, so why delay my response. >>> > >>> > Re: your question of what do I find ridiculous: Not the subject of the >>> > referenced paper, certainly. Rather our little group's pronounced >>> tendency >>> > to niggle and (dare I say it?) pontificate over the true, deep, and >>> (dare I >>> > say it?) philosophical meanings of words. Like, say, just to pick a >>> random >>> > sample: "emergence", "complex", "behaviors", "through", "causal", >>> > "entropic", and "forces". >>> > >>> > And now to hijack my own thread: the referenced paper mentions >>> cosmology as >>> > one of the topic ares that the above terms are frequently used to >>> describe. >>> > Since cosmology is one of my favorite spare time reading focus areas, >>> I >>> > wanted to make an observation that the following reference makes very >>> > clearly, which is that *nobody* has even the slightest glimmer of >>> > understanding of our true cosmological origins. Even the events after >>> that >>> > instant of the big bang, where it is postulated that our universe >>> expanded >>> > from sub-atomic dimensions, through inflation (inflation? WTF caused >>> that?) >>> > are only sparsely understood. >>> > >>> > Classical physicists like to duck the subject of "What caused the big >>> > bang?" by hiding behind the academic artifice of claiming that the >>> question >>> > is meaningless because space-time did not exist before the big bang. >>> > >>> > But, we do like to pontificate here on FRIAM, don't we? Deeply, and >>> > philosophically. But rather than continuing in the usual vein of >>> debating >>> > (deeply, but with much pontification) the true meaning, of, say >>> "emergence" >>> > again, let's take the discussion in a new direction. Sorry for the >>> > Facebook link, but the original article is buried behind a NewScientist >>> > paywall. The article nicely addresses my thoughts on that other >>> question >>> > you asked me, i.e. where do I think life comes from. >>> > >>> > >>> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=501821756549668&set=a.477892902275887.114170.334816523250193&type=1&theater >>> > >>> > >>> > --TrollBoi >>> >>> >>> -- >>> glen =><= Hail Eris! >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> >> >> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > -- *Doug Roberts [email protected]* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*<http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> * <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile*
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