SG
I think of this particular exercise as a deliberate sampling/searching
of the infinite (or staggeringly large) phase space of a system as you
described it earlier. Since you invoke "random systems along with
random models", I think I therefore mean my System to be a system of
systems from which you randomly select promising examples?
SS
On 5/28/17 11:00 AM, Stephen Guerin wrote:
Though there are times, like in the context of machine learning, when
we program algorithms to define ensembles of random systems along with
ensembles of random models and select amongst them based on how well
they fit observed data to find novel explanations for data for uses in
prediction or classification. This might be related to past
discussions on abductiion at FRIAM. Genetic Programming would be a
related example.
Even though the systems in this case are defined randomly, given that
they are selected for against some fitness function, the final systems
used would probably still not constitute "arbitrary".
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On Sun, May 28, 2017 at 10:39 AM, Stephen Guerin
<stephen.gue...@simtable.com <mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com>> wrote:
So, what constitutes a system is arbitrary? In the mind of the
beholder?
I remember when we used to argue about this at The Complex.
I always wanted to argue that a system is in some sense
“self-bounding”. It consists of a group of entities that are
interacting more intimately with one another than they are
with entities outside the system.
In the context of complex systems research, a *system* is an
abstraction of a set of connected components and its boundary. The
system's boundary can be defined as open, closed or isolated to
flows of quantities of energy, mass, information, symbols etc.
Defining information is a different thread ;-)
A *model* is the mathematical/computational formalization of the
system.
/Is what constitutes a system arbitrary?/
George Box famously said "all models are wrong, but some are
useful <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong>".
Given that models are formalizations of systems and if arbitrary
means: "based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any
reason or system.", I would say researchers use reason and
systemic thought to develop "useful" system descriptions. So,
system descriptions are not arbitrary. They are designed to be
useful for the question being asked. No system description nor
model can answer all questions - they are specifically designed
for a problem at hand.
Relatedly, a*simulation,* in the way we use it, is a single
instance of a model run based on initializing a model's
parameters computing next states to observe its behavior/dynamics.
The *phase space* is the behavior of the model over all possible
input states.
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