[FRIAM] Few of you ...

Tue Jan 15 13:53:37 EST 2019

David, 

Is there such a thing as a fuzzy algorithm?  I would think that was a contradiction in terms. 

N

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2019 10:29 AM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Few of you ...

"any military must operate on algorithms" (Nick)

Not really true. and there is a huge spectrum of "algorithm-ness" as a function of military branch, activity, rank, etc.

A navy vessel is a machine and operates on algorithms. Humans within that machine must be constrained to be as machine-like and algorithm governed as possible else the underlying machine falters. Same this is true of the quasi-military astronauts in the space station.

In the army, soldiers are trained in principles until they become second nature and their subsequent behavior is, if successful, decidedly non-algorithmic (instead it is complex / emergent). "Plans are always the first casualty of war." Plans = algorithms. Read General McChrystal's book, Team of Teams, to get what I am saying.

A fighter pilot 'practices algorithmically' but does not fight that way. Commercial pilots fly algorithmically — is what makes the job so damn boring — but Schulenberger (tenth anniversary today) did not land in the Hudson according to some algorithm.

BTW, software developers are supposed to ply their trade rationally (i.e. algorithmically) but David Parnas once wrote an excellent paper, "The Rational Design Process: how and why to fake it," that put the lie to the ideal.

davew

On Mon, Jan 14, 2019, at 11:48 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Thanks for answering, Frank.

As the old song goes, “Then you’re much older than I-yai!”

Do you also remember when “They waltzed to a Souza Band”

My wasn’t that music grand! 

Oh, it was more than the pomp Wouk bristled at.  It was the removal of discretion, as well.  The American military is perhaps better than most in that regard, but any military has to operate on algorithms, and nobody likes to be a node in an algorithm.  So, I guess my thesis was that in the second world war we got a double and conflicting lesson:  how effective an algorithmic system can be AND how demeaning it can be to be part of one.  Two solutions present themselves: 1. Hire mercenaries and 2. Automate.  Of course we have done both. 

An officer of your dad’s rank, of course, was an exception and even within that giant system he made big decisions daily, decisions that affected the lives of thousands of people.  There is a scene in that same book where an officer is required to make one of those decisions between surely killing 50 strangers or threatening the life of 150 you know that utilitarians are fond of posing.  It’s a harrowing scene. 

I wonder what the relation is between a distaste for government and service as an enlisted soldier.  That’s not a rhetorical question.  I do wonder.  I am thinking there is a high correlation between states with high military participation  and states with anti-government politics.  When a conservative thinks of “government” is he more likely to think of the military? 

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Frank Wimberly
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2019 10:01 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com> >
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Few of you ...

I read the book but I don't remember that paragraph.  As you know, dad was a Naval Officer who achieved respectable rank.  I was fascinated by it but he felt that all the pomp and ceremony was BS.  If computers are today's sailors, something is lost and something gained.

Frank

-----------------------------------
Frank Wimberly

My memoir:
https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly

My scientific publications:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2

Phone (505) 670-9918

On Mon, Jan 14, 2019, 9:53 PM Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net <mailto:nickthompson at earthlink.net>  wrote:

, I imagine, are old enough to remember this:

“The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you are not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well by pretending to be one. All the shortcuts and economies and common-sense changes that your native intelligence suggests to you are mistakes. Learn to quash them. Constantly ask yourself, "How would I do this if I were a fool?" Throttle down your mind to a crawl. Then you will never go wrong.” 
― Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny <https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1059565> 

It seems right that the computer was invented by a democratic society after the largest successful naval campaign in the history of the universe. The navy was a giant algorithm.   Computers are the conscripted sailors of our generation.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

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