[FRIAM] Kudos to the social scientists

[Glen E. P. Ropella]

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Marcus G. Daniels wrote:
> The simulation (the concrete thing that is apparently detached from 
> human rhetoric) can serve as a dazzling bluff to say that model 
> assumptions have been scrutinized when they may not have been.    It's 
> potentially a deeper sort of deception or delusion.  I'm not saying 
> there is a technical or conceptual problem here with ABM, just that it 
> is a technique that is perhaps more obvious how to abuse than others.

I could buy that it's easier to impress the masses of the unenlightened
with blinking lights than it is to impress them with words.  After all,
it takes a very skilled wordsmith like MLK Jr to seriously move humans
with language.  All it takes to create some blinking lights is a
"simulation toolkit" and the ability to follow instructions.

But, I don't think the subsequent delusion/deception is deeper in any
real sense.  The rhetorical "magic" is simply available to more people.

It's very analogous to the printing press.  Prior to it, one had to do a
lot of work to convince others that one's words were worth copying...
when copying that work was a huge and difficult task, hiring clerics,
memorizing poems and such.  After the printing press, any yahoo with a
little money could work the machine and generate piles of arguments.

So, rather than deeper delusion/deception, I think what we'll see is a
higher quantity of delusion/deception but a lower _quality_ of
delusion/deception.

- --
glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com
Those who believe absurdities will commit atrocities. -- Voltaire

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