Re: [FRIAM] Time travel and the hard problem of free will

Russ, your replies are always thought-provoking. I think it is fascinating that the "hard problem of consciousness", the problem of predictability and the "problem of free will" are related. Hard problem of consciousness: we think we can not know what it is like to be someone else. But Hollywood

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Being self-published hasn't stopped my book "Theory of Nothing" from being cited. According to Google Scholar, it has 22 citations, 9th on my list in terms of citation count, just after "Why Occams Razor", a peer reviewed paper on similar topics. It got a bit of a boost from Max Tegmark's book, as

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Russ, I agree. Maybe we found it already, the theory of everything & nothing: Darwin's theory of evolution. It is a theory of everything because everything evolves. It doesn't say anything how fish, insects, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, religions, civilizations, companies, parties or states look l

[FRIAM] The fractal dimension of group selection

We recently discussed the concept of a fractal dimension, and today morning I had the idea that we can apply it to the concept of group selection to measure how many dimensions an evolutionary system has. If you are interested take a look athttp://blog.cas-group.net/2020/07/the-fractal-dimensio

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Probably make digital copies accessible for $5, and whatever the equivalent these days is for other media. I say that... but probably free at this point, thats what i would have started with At any rate, it would be nice to have the copyright in principle. On Sat, Jul 4, 2020, 11:56 PM

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Dear Gillian It's not an unpopular opinion at all. The High Court at New Delhi, India considered these issues and said it's perfectly legal for a teacher to PHOTOCOPY or REPRODUCE chapters of over-priced/unaffordable/expensive foreign textbooks for the benefit of their students, AND that no royal

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Russ, Jochen, Thanks for what you wrote, below. I have never managed a book-length exposition of my ideas, so I particularly appreciate what you have accomplished. Perhaps the incentives are coming to be where they should be. Why should it be that others pay to be infected with my ideas? I don

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Jochen, FOOD FIGHT! FOOD FIGHT! I absolutely and totally disagree that “everything evolves” [while agreeing that anything that is everything is nothing]. Rocks and tornadoes do not evolve. They change, but the don’t evolve. Evolution (to me) is a very specific pattern of design arising

Re: [FRIAM] The fractal dimension of group selection

Interesting. Reading it gave me one of those, “OH Crap! Why didn’t I thing of that?” moments. I now realize that I don’t know whether “fractality” is a descriptive concept (it presents a state of affairs that requires explanation) or an explanatory concept (gives an account of a state of affa

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

I haven't been following this thread, so this may already have been mentioned. But in case it hasn't: Springer has a free-book publishing

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Sarbajit, Can you provide an exegesis of this wonderfully opaque passage from the judgement? It happens in law that footprints of one concept fall in the territory of other but that does not mean that the former should be restricted.."[3]

Re: [FRIAM] Freedom of opinion or fascist trap

Thanks for the title and ideas, but I humbly decline the offer. I'm unfortunately too much of an "idea skimmer", only going an inch deep into many deep subjects. That's probably my way of saying I'm too lazy to delve too deeply into it :-) On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 2:50 PM wrote: > Gary, > > > > Ev

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Thanks, looks promising. I believe the promotion is misleading, though. It seems to be a kind of lottery because normally Open Access publishing at Springer costs about 15.000 $. Who I is willing to spend so much money? The system is broken.  https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/journ

Re: [FRIAM] The fractal dimension of group selection

For me Darwin's "natural selection" is mainly a metaphor that nature selects the best fit animals naturally just as a breeder selects his animals manually. Dawkins' selfish genes are a metaphor too: genes act selfishly just as egoistic people.A fractal dimension is a broken dimension. I think it

Re: [FRIAM] Freedom of opinion or fascist trap

I don’t believe in the existence of laziness. Laziness is just the not-X to the X that you are doing. Nick Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University thompnicks...@gmail.com

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Nick, Can't speak to tornadoes, but rocks certainly evolve. To understand how, you need to let go of your Western Rationalism just a tad. Karma and reincarnation provide a theory that, in turns, provides a context for seeing how a rock can evolve, very slowly to be sure, simply by 'acting corr

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

“Evolve” in this sense: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamical_system From: Friam on behalf of "thompnicks...@gmail.com" Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Date: Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 9:47 AM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re: [

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Dave, Since they don’t evolve in my sense, in what sense to rocks evolve? n Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University thompnicks...@gmail.com https://wordpress.clar

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Nick, Let me only say, having some personal experience of the judge in question, that English is not the first, or even second, language of many superior court judges in India. in my view, the original judgment under appeal is far better reading for its clarity of reasoning, especially paras 72 to

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Marcus, So in your sense, a system evolves if it passes along a predictable pathway from state to state. I wonder if phylogenetic evolution is a special case of yours. Nick Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Yes, phylogenetic evolution is often modeled using a matrix exponential. From: Friam on behalf of "thompnicks...@gmail.com" Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Date: Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 1:35 PM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re:

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Those passages were abundantly clear, as you predicted. I have to admit, the whole argument feels casuistic, even though I agree with its conclusion. But I was (as I often am) interested in the METAPHOR implicit in the other rendition I read “It happens in law that footprints of one c

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

So, phylogenetic evolution is evolution that proceeds toward adaptation. How would a state theorist characterize that constraint? n Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University thompnicks...@gmail.com

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

A matrix exponential proceeds toward an equilibrium state. From: Friam on behalf of "thompnicks...@gmail.com" Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Date: Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 1:47 PM To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The th

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Nick: How and who is going to define "no longer promotes it."? t Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA 505.577.6482(c)505.473.9646(h) *NM Foundation for Open Gove

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Sorry. I may not be worth your effort, here. I just don’t understand what you said. Let it be the case that as we examine the history of species, there are repeated (and therefore predictable) pathways through which they pass. A lineage of any sort, entering the water at some historical s

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Hi, Tom, I take that to be a rhetorical question. However, in my experience, no publisher has ever failed to give me back a copyright when I asked for it, so I have never had to put the concept to the test. If you ask me to express my honest feelings in the matter I would say that I wa

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Steve: I, too, have not heard of the card you speak of. Does the card contain the book? If so, is it a flash drive type card or what? Tom Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA 505.577.6482(c)

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Nick: The advantage of being in a journalism dept. was that I got battle ribbons for publishing in the non-academic publications that also paid me for that work. Hell, they even paid expenses. A semi-double-dipping, one would think. Though I did publish in a few academic journals, usually upon i

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Nick I suspect you read the Wikipedia article rather than the actual judgement accessible here https://indiankanoon.org/doc/114459608/ Paras 76 and 77 would amply clarify the Ld. appellate judge's state of mind immediately before they issued their direction in the next paragraph "*76. A lay perso

Re: [FRIAM] The fractal dimension of group selection

Hi, Jochen, So, I am writing to ask for access to our mind for this work . I think it explores your notion of “fractality” but in a very different language. What’s access cos

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

We led a charmed life, let’s face it. n Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University thompnicks...@gmail.com https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam On

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Sarbajit, Thanks for pulling that out for me. No, I did not find it the first time. I think it’s a wonderful use of metaphor. Can you imagine our Supreme Court justices writing like that? I would go to court just to hear that judgement read aloud! Nick Nicholas Thompson Emeri

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Still do. Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA 505.577.6482(c)505.473.9646(h) *NM Foundation for Open Government* *Check out It's The People's

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Having printed books in India on behalf of European and Australian academics, my experience is if the print run is 500+ then the cost of offset printing (on fairly decent paper) and perfect binding a softcover book with approx. 250 -300 pages is about $3.50 per copy shipped to the USA. 500 copies

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

I think it's just an access code to put in on the site. Haven't received it yet. Though I've heard from the author :-) ___ stephen.gue...@simtable.com CEO, Simtable http://www.simtable.com 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505 off

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Edward The PDF of the 7th edition of your book being widely circulated was very likely not generated from its Kindle version, but from the Postscript version used to print your book. It was generated using Adobe Distiller 7+ for a Macintosh. Must have been cloned from one of those unwatermarked co

[FRIAM] Fwd: Monday Note #595 — Five newsletters to cover the Post Covid world (FF)

Some potentially interesting resources here. Tom Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA 505.577.6482(c)505.473.9646(h) *NM Foundation for Open Government*

[FRIAM] request on behalf of another

Some of you, Frank especially because of conversations in Spanish, will remember an occasional FRIAM attendee — Esperanza Richard. She and her family were given thirty day notice (owner has sold their current residence), and they desperately need to find a rental house. He teaches middle school

[FRIAM] Book Publishing Advice

Re:Book Publishing Advice   A friend, Bob Brodkey in Chemical Engineering at Ohio State, wanted to republish his text cheaply. He had the rights and he figured out how to approach pirate publishers in Hong Kong (or Taiwan?). They were very suspicious at first, but he got it done. This was probab

Re: [FRIAM] request on behalf of another

I wish I knew of a place. She is a very nice person. I would call my friend Tom Noble, who came to Friam once. He's a realtor. 505-699-7802 Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Sun, Jul 5, 2020, 4:50 PM Prof David West wrote: > S

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Thanks but the story is more complex. What transpired is in retrospect somewhat amusing. I received an email from someone at a university that was using the book asking if I knew there was a ps file on the web of the whole book. I checked it out, contacted the instructor who had it taken down.

Re: [FRIAM] request on behalf of another

There's a facebook group where people often post looking for or advertising housing in Los Alamos and White Rock: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1584948625120990/ If that link doesn't work, the name of the facebook group is "Rentals in Los Alamos & White Rock (NM)". LANL largely cancelled their s

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Hi Nick, I’m attempting to identify another use of the word evolve that you will accept as valid, nothing more. In computational phylogenetics, one typically uses an error distribution (which arises from biochemistry) to estimate distance between different DNA sequences. The probabilities of

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

meaningful thoughts, as opposed to evocations, seem to me to require senences. How would you handle an issue like “The difference between math and dram in understanding each other?” with single words? doug > On Jul 5, 2020, at 4:42 PM, David Eric Smith wrote: > > Not good for me to do this,

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

I got your book from here https://www.pdfdrive.com/interactive-computer-graphics-a-top-down-approach-with-webgl-edward-angel-and-dave-d38281420.html The Indian judgment is clear, Reproduction is limited to a copy which the teacher/institute has LEGALLY purchased. There are other judgments from th

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

No offense to the government of your country, but just because its courts have judged it to be legal, doesn't make it right. Of course "right" is a subjective, moral concept, and I hasten to add that morality is relative and personal. Additionally, I don't know how subject other countries are to th

Re: [FRIAM] Illegal copies of your book

Huh wow, thanks! ^_^ On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 10:21 AM Sarbajit Roy wrote: > Dear Gillian > > It's not an unpopular opinion at all. > > The High Court at New Delhi, India considered these issues and said it's > perfectly legal for a teacher to PHOTOCOPY or REPRODUCE chapters of > over-priced/unaff

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Not good for me to do this, so let me try to be brief (never a thing I am good at). 0. To repeat myself for the 100th time, of course if one structures conversations around writing down single words (“evolve”, “emergent”, “complexity") and arguing about what they _really_ mean, one can go on f

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

Oh by the way, if I remember correctly, one of the fundamental obligations of a publisher is to defend infringements of copyright. Thus, if they fail in this obligation, copyright, FWIW, reverts to the author, no? N Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clar

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Thanks, Marcus. I think we are on the same page. N Nicholas Thompson Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University thompnicks...@gmail.com https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Fri

Re: [FRIAM] Book publishing advice needed

And who among us will hire the lawyers to press this case? T On Sun, Jul 5, 2020, 10:11 PM wrote: > Oh by the way, if I remember correctly, one of the fundamental > obligations of a publisher is to defend infringements of copyright. Thus, > if they fail in this obligation, copyright, FWIW, rev

Re: [FRIAM] The theory of everything

Eric, Ok. So I have read your post and, while I still don’t understand everything you write, you seem to understand my question precisely and answer it voluminously. We know what natural design is and it is a property of the relation between things and their environments, which individual