[FRIAM] Few of you ...

Tue Jan 15 14:14:42 EST 2019

There are definitely fuzzy algorithms, just as there is fuzzy logic.

Our CS colleagues could better explain.

davew

On Tue, Jan 15, 2019, at 11:53 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> 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/

>  

> *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/

>>  

>> *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>
>> *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 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[1]>>> 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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>  

> ============================================================
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> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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Links:

  1. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1059565
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