[FRIAM] Meanwhile, back on the troll farms

Fri May 8 12:30:50 EDT 2020

Oh, goodness, looks like there are some real reasons to be dubious about
the ICL corona virus simulation,

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/05/08/so-the-real-scandal-is-why-did-anyone-ever-listen-to-this-guy/

-- rec --

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 4:45 PM Steven A Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

>
> The folks at SFI did a paper a couple of years ago about how snippets of
> constitutions have propagated into other constitutions around the world…
>
> … Bob
>
> And one wonders what is "beyond psyops" where "deep staters" (illuminati?)
> so deep they transcend states go about like retroviruses, inserting
> sequences into the genome (law/policy?) apparatus of nations?   Wait, I
> think this very likely multinational corporations and industry-lobbies
> (fossil fuels, guns/arms, ??? ) and the wealthy families/individuals
> behind/entwined-with them are doing!
>
> "I love/hate it when a metaphor comes together!" (visualize George Peppard
> muttering this around a fat stogie)
>
> On May 7, 2020, at 2:23 PM, Steven A Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:
>
>
> Nick -
>
> I doubt I can do justice to this for you, but will give a try.
>
> The idea(l) behind open-source is two-fold:
>
>    1. develop a "commons" of re-useable resources to be shared by all.
>    This concept really took off with the introduction of Linus Thorvald's
>    Adaptation of BSD Unix to run on IBM PCs and an explosion of software built
>    on top of and around that one thing.   This movement began a lot earlier
>    and the world of Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) variant of ATT Unix
>    was perhaps the strongest center for that... other efforts I was aware of
>    include things like the Andrew File System (AFS) out of CMU (nod to Frank)
>    and project Athena out of MIT.
>    2. crowdsource the troubleshooting, debugging, and validation of
>    system's design.   By making the source code available and free to use
>    (with some restrictions), large numbers of system/software designers become
>    motivated to look at, adopt, improve, build-upon that code-base and thereby
>    improve and vet the code well.   There are notable exceptions indicating
>    that big holes/bugs can exist in spite of this scrutiny.  I think there was
>    a hoopla a few years ago around some (obvious?) security holes in the
>    primary open-source router software used in most pro-sumer grade network
>    routers, and maybe even commercial-class ones.
>
> This GitHub thing Roger posted is (as Roger indicated in his subject/post)
> is clearly trolling on behalf of the anti-lockdown movement... trying to
> use the open-source community mechanism (open and free view of the software
> and the process of it's development, and the ability for anyone to pitch
> in, comment, criticize) against the ideas behind this particular model (and
> ANY? similar model).
>
> I'm not sure this is a first, but from what I know, there haven't been
> "political" trolls haranguing GitHub mediated open-source efforts...  there
> have probably been "religious" wars between differing schools of thought on
> the best way to solve a particular problem, but the preferred way to handle
> that is to FORK the project and let the alternative subset go pursue their
> alternative ideas.
>
> To some extent, this is the way the world is responding to the pandemic at
> a policy level.    Each country roughly has it's own unique/idiosyncratic
> response to the pandemic... some perhaps taking their lead from others.
> Within the USA (and I presume other "federated" governments) we have
> states/governors following the general guidelines (lame as they may be) of
> the federal government and modifying/elaborating them to match their
> regional context, and again each county/city/borough/neighborhood may well
> do the same.   In principle these policies are open and transparent as are
> the data that are gathered at each level on the resources expended and the
> results obtained.   This is the Open-Data aspect that Tom Johnson and
> others here promote.
>
> The US Constitution (and our entire body of law) might be considered
> open-source and I suspect more than a few states and younger countries have
> borrowed parts of our constitution and legal system to build their own from
> (for better and worse)... just as our Foundling Fatheds apparently used
> some of the features exhibited by the (orally maintained) Iroquois
> Federation and the ideas of French political thinkers such as Montesquieu.
>
>
> </ramble>
>
>  - Steve
>
> Marcus,
>
> Thanks for taking my question seriously.  I understood what I was talking
> about even less than I usually do.
>
> Let’s say I was an evil genius and wanted to introduce evil code into a
> project on github.  What would happen?
>
> N
>
> Nicholas Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
> Clark University
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On
> Behalf Of *Marcus Daniels
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:05 AM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <Friam at redfish.com> <Friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Meanwhile, back on the troll farms
>
> Nick writes:
>
> *< *What exactly IS the policing mechanism in open source.  Darwinian?
> Reputational?  Does this HAVE to provoke a crisis of confidence in the
> general public?  Or could it be seen as a heroic thrown-together first step
> that is now being improved? >
>
> They are whining about simple or absent unit tests as a litmus test for
> whether the code is reliable.   It’s like saying you don’t dare drive your
> car if you didn’t take out its alternator and test its voltage output last
> week.   ‘cause someone might have changed the alternator!   Eventually
> there will be consequences if the alternator fails, like stalling or the
> battery dying.   Same thing in a big simulation.   All of the parts and
> pieces of a simulation are there for a reason and global things will start
> to change in noticeable ways if something is broken.   I would say getting
> mechanisms working correctly is less difficult that choosing what
> mechanisms are appropriate in the first place.   Usually in use of a
> simulation one has instrumentation available on almost everything, and
> there is a constant checking and double- checking even if those checks are
> not embodied in automated tests.  Automated tests can even give a false
> sense of security, because they may not deal with the parameter ranges that
> happen in with the coupled system.  If you would rather have a bunch of
> unit tests, or to have modelers using and stressing the code every day, you
> have the wrong priorities.
>
> My irritation is with the notion of unit tests as a prerequisite for code
> reliability.   There are tighter ways to integrate assertions of code
> behavior with the code.   The bandwagon obsession with unit tests is in
> some sense an obstacle even better practices.   I wouldn’t even call them
> trolls, because a troll has intention to rile people up.  These folks are
> more like pompous ditto heads who feel the need to posture about the right
> way to do software engineering.   People that love unit tests love not
> understanding the problem they are solving, and prefer to work in pieces.
> This take a is a little harsh, but in this context (advising COVID-19
> policy) I don’t find the behavior very helpful.
>
> Marcus
>
>
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