Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Carl Tollander
Ummm, not quite. You could argue that some portion of science is concerned with obtaining true answers to some questions asked, and there might be explicit or implicit deception involved there. But another large chunk is concerned with finding better questions to ask. If I find, for exam

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Dear Eric and Nikita n all, You join Robert in the desperate, altruistic attempt to save me from the clear meaning of my own words. There are two reasons to stop doing lame social psychology studies and take up writing novels: (1) is the reason you give, and which I endorsed in the sec group:

Re: [FRIAM] Lying is an Art?

2010-10-18 Thread Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky
Hi Tori, Guess I am up to no good again. Misdirection . like a female chimpanzee trying to gain some fool's hard won high hanging fruit with a wink and a Nod.??? Believe it or not even a simpleton like me has learned to do the same thing. A little bit like the old trick for catching Bull

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Again, Robert, this would be a weaker (and perhaps saner) version of the thesis I am offering. Thanks, again, for your heroic attempts to rescue me. However, what I have in mind at the moment is a stronger thesis. It goes something like this. Every attempt at objective scientific observ

Re: [FRIAM] Lying is an Art?

2010-10-18 Thread Carl Tollander
Artists who don't lie to themselves usually end up looking for a day job too. Carl On 10/18/10 5:15 PM, Victoria Hughes wrote: How about the word "misdirection"? Lies we tell ourselves are different that the sleight of hand we offer others, with a wink and a nudge, to say things without bein

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread glen e. p. ropella
I took it to mean that: a) scientific knowledge is the only authentic knowledge, b) _if_ there is is knowledge in fiction, then it is scientific knowledge (by definition), and most importantly, c) if we fail to devise any falsifiable hypotheses from fiction, then we've demonstrated there is no kn

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology, er

2010-10-18 Thread Russ Abbott
I think that Jochen is right to look at what is being produced. It's a fairly commonplace observation by now that living organisms reduce entropy locally. Someone who is fairly well know wrote as part of a fairly large book (and I can't remember either the author or the book; it's perhaps 5 years

Re: [FRIAM] Lying is an Art?

2010-10-18 Thread Victoria Hughes
How about the word "misdirection"? Lies we tell ourselves are different that the sleight of hand we offer others, with a wink and a nudge, to say things without being held accountable. Art usually (not always) falls into the latter category. Artists who lie to themselves usually get a day jo

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology

2010-10-18 Thread Victoria Hughes
So: a thought- is not death the end point across the board? No system is infinite. No motion perpetual. ( Isn't that a primary reason for the solipsism we fall into so easily, a knee-jerk attempt to compensate? While altruism can provide more sustainable and long-lasting systems over the lo

Re: [FRIAM] Lying is an Art?

2010-10-18 Thread Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky
Peter and Steve I have heard Peter's quote before ( I suspect Picasso was not the first, just the most prominent ) and other slightly different extensions, "Assemble a man's lies and then you will learn what he values" "First deceive yourself then you can deceive others" "We comfort with

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology

2010-10-18 Thread Vladimyr Ivan Burachynsky
Ecology has no Contracts , no Enforcers and no Guilt nor Punishment. All are rewarded with death. Every problem is solved with death. The players or actors treat each other as threats or opportunities. There is no shared consciousness. All actions are driven by Fear, or Hunger. Ecology is a theft

[FRIAM] Accreditation

2010-10-18 Thread glen e. p. ropella
Prof David West wrote circa 10-10-14 03:06 PM: > Another dimension -- various watchdog groups report on the veracity > of the attack ads, and these get reported on the news occasionally. > It would also be interesting to see if this kind of "objective > reporting" influences the degree to which pe

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
Perhaps what I am hearing you say Nick is that by writing fiction (and studying it) we can uncover something meaningful about the author's mental makeup. Just as some therapies, I am told, recommend keeping journals for later examination. By studying readers' reactions to the same writing, I

Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF.

2010-10-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Midrange tops! Nick -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Merle Lefkoff Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 11:25 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF. Ni

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology, er

2010-10-18 Thread Jochen Fromm
Tory is right, ecologic systems and especially their inhabitants, the living organisms, look more complex than companies or corporations. What I meant was that there seem to be a fundamental difference in the input-output relations. The output of agents in economic systems is a product made from

Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF.

2010-10-18 Thread Scott R. Powell
Good one, it is possible to have an enormous salad for under $10. Good homemade pies and other desserts. Scott On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Paul Paryski wrote: > Vinaigrette on Paseo de Peralta, if one likes great salads and soups, is > great place for lunch or a light dinner. Around $15

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Miles Parker
On Oct 18, 2010, at 6:54 AM, ERIC P. CHARLES wrote: > Nick, > I hope you are not arguing that cutting edge sci-fi writers should get > endowed chairs in physics on the basis of their scientific accomplishments! Actually, I think it is only *bad* fiction writers that get the endowed chairs. ;D

Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF.

2010-10-18 Thread Paul Paryski
Vinaigrette on Paseo de Peralta, if one likes great salads and soups, is great place for lunch or a light dinner. Around $15-20/person. More California than Santa Fe. Paul -Original Message- From: Scott R. Powell To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Sent: Mon, Oc

Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF.

2010-10-18 Thread Scott R. Powell
Merle, This being Santa Fe, there's about a 20% surcharge for the mere privilege of eating here. Figure on a dinner for 1 costing anywhere between $25 - $50, depending on whether you have 1 glass of wine with the meal and of course what you order. La Boca, Il Piatto, Pranzo and Andiamo would be

Re: [FRIAM] URGENT "URGENT!"! Restaurants in SF.

2010-10-18 Thread Merle Lefkoff
Nick, What's their price range? Merle Nicholas Thompson wrote: Hi, everybody. Sorry for this intrusion. I just got an urgent email from friends saying that they are in Santa Fe for a few days and want recommendations for good local restaurants. I am a bad person to ask because I hate a

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Robert, Thanks for offering me that escape route, but I cannot take it, because I probably believe the IF-conditions. You are right to sense that I need rescuing, because if I am abandoned by Eric, I am truly abandoned. I have to admit that what I laid out (below) are probably VALUES.

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology, er

2010-10-18 Thread Victoria Hughes
Thanks Eric, this is quite helpful in the specifics and also on the 'philosophy-of' level. I'll look into these references. Your phrase more interested in the flexibility afforded by innovation than in the constraints that limit the landscape. elegantly sums up that basic human tendency that's

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread Robert J. Cordingley
It's hypothetical reasoning. Re-read the IF statements. Robert C On 10/18/10 7:54 AM, ERIC P. CHARLES wrote: Nick, This is bizarre! "Fiction is a potential method in scientific psychology." I cannot, for the life of me parse it. Is it equivalent to saying: "Fiction is a potential method in

Re: [FRIAM] Art is a Lie

2010-10-18 Thread ERIC P. CHARLES
Nick, This is bizarre! "Fiction is a potential method in scientific psychology." I cannot, for the life of me parse it. Is it equivalent to saying: "Fiction is a potential method in scientific physics."? Granted that science fiction has broadly anticipated many things that are now part of scientif

Re: [FRIAM] Economy vs. ecology, er

2010-10-18 Thread Eric Smith
Tory, wonderful post, and as far as I can understand, spot-on in all respects, A few things to add to Jochen's comments, as sources for thought: The acts that organisms take, merely in the course of living from one day to the next, tend to be under-emphasized in relation to the acts of rep