[FRIAM] Dead Stack?

[Nicholas Thompson]

OH AND:  What was Owen's question.

On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 1:40 PM Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

> Nick -
>
> You haven't met my dog.  He has a stare that very explicitly means "please
> pass me the salt<kibble>" and  he means it, he will followup with a pawing
> gesture if I ignore him for more than about 2 minutes.
>
> My chickens have a very acute body-language-gesture that tells the
> foraging big-birds in their yard "get the H3ll outta here!"   and similarly
> to the small-birds, their body language seems to say "I can't see you!"?
>
> Though both may in fact be doing it in their own mythopoetic form, my
> linear-linguistic self turns it into a simple directive.  *Humans can be
> so effing linear!*
>
> - Steve
> On 2/4/26 1:32 pm, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
>
> Communication has occurred when your behavior directed toward me has
> designed my behavior to suit your needs.  "Please pass me the salt" is a
> communication when, as a consequence of its utterance, I pass you the
> salt.  We could bicker about what we would call it if I passed you the
> pepper, but the basic principle is as above.
>
> To say that communication is impossible is nonsense.  We do it all the
> time.  It is what makes humans special.  Other animals are happy to do
> poetry, art, or music, but they have a heluva time asking for the salt.
>
> Grrrr
>
> Nick
>
> On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 1:12 PM Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> I think you’ve answered Owen’s question?
>>
>>
>> and to paraphrase/convolve glen and the five-man-electric band:
>>
>> *"Words, words, everywhere words, can't you bleep the words?"*
>>
>> Glen has regularly asserted here (paradoxically) that he *doesn't
>> believe in communication at all *(my lame paraphrase, demonstrating the
>> point?!).  I'm inclined to (paradoxically) believe him.
>>
>> I have been chattering with the *swarms* of Robins which are
>> (re)migrating through the area again (heading back north I suppose?)...
>>  their group dynamics are unfamiliar to me this year.  Usually we get
>> groups (not flocks as such) of 10-20 visit... but yesterday I saw tens and
>> tens in my yard, around my pond (they love the pond) but when I disrupted
>> them, they fled to a large cottonwood tree where there were perhaps
>> hundreds who joined them in flight, almost "murmurating" away...
>> fascinating.
>>
>> And of course, they don't give a birds-ass about my words, about
>> "groups", or "flocks" or "swarms" or "fleeing" or "flight" or "birds-ass"
>> for that matter...   this is the first year in my memory (25 years at this
>> location, 45 in the general area, 69 in the southern Rockies and nearby
>> high deserts) that Robins have remained present through the winter.   My
>> chickens tolerate "little gray sparrow-like-birds" in their "pasture"
>> scavenging for grain, but run off anything bigger (at least jays, robins,
>> flickers)...  I never noticed that before.
>>
>> And do the ClawdBot Agents thrashing around on MoltBook have the same
>> conversations as we do here?  Maybe indistinguishable?
>>
>> What kind of Stochastic Parrot-Farm (nod to Doug) are we anyway?
>>
>> - Steve (the Stochastic Parrot and erstwhile Underdog Character who flies
>> off in all directions at once like a ChatterBot running on a TPU cluster?).
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On
>> Behalf Of *Nicholas Thompson
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 4, 2026 11:12 AM
>> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
>> <friam at redfish.com> <friam at redfish.com>
>> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Dead Stack?
>>
>>
>>
>> Ok, so here is an example of the KIND of thing we might have discussed at
>> a FRIAM meeting in the old days:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> NICK:  iF friction is negligible between two layers, how in fact do two
>> layers come to affect one another?
>>
>>
>>
>> FRIAM MOB::  (affectionate exasperation)  When you have read a physics
>> book, a philosophy book, and 8 math books, come back and we'll explain it
>> to you.
>>
>>
>>
>> NICK TO MOB:  Nuthn' doin'.  If you are so smart, you should be able to
>> explain it to me NOW.
>>
>>
>>
>> MOB TO NICK:  Oh, God.  Do we have to?  OH, OKAAAAAAAAAAY.
>>
>>
>>
>> SUB MOB  1 TO NICK:  Any idiot knows that THIS is how it works
>>
>>
>>
>> SUB MOB 2  TO NICK:  Any idiot knows  that THAT is how it works.
>>
>>
>>
>> NICK TO MOBS:  Any idiot knows that THIS and THAT can't both  be true.
>>
>>
>>
>> ETC.
>>
>>
>>
>> I learned almost everything I know from those conversations.  I miss them
>> terribly.
>>
>>
>>
>> Nick
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 4, 2026 at 11:32 AM Gary Schiltz <gary at naturesvisualarts.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> My feeling is that there was a bubble of activity in Santa Fe about
>> complexity in the late 1990s (see Wired’s article about “Silicon Mesa”)
>> that burst in about 2001. Many who were there are now old farts 😆
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 7:47 PM Jon Zingale <jonzingale at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I know I came to this group in what appears to be its twilight. The
>> in-person meetups are weirdly sad. I feel pressed to ask if it is the case
>> that everyone is either:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. on vacation/ too busy
>>
>> 2. too depressed / failing to find inspiration
>>
>> 3. moved on to greener forums
>>
>> 4. preferring the company of LLMs
>>
>> ...
>>
>> N. waiting for someone frail to post
>>
>>
>>
>> Sometimes I trawl reddit or whatever discord, but I cannot help but feel
>> like beacons of inspiration are becoming fewer and further between. This
>> group has managed to inspire me, keep my interest, for over a decade. In
>> that time, I pushed myself to understand perspectives that I would never
>> have dreamed existed. I hope there is still something to talk about.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>> --
>>
>> Nicholas S. Thompson
>>
>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
>>
>> Clark University
>>
>> nthompson at clarku.edu
>>
>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson
>>
>> https://substack.com/@monist
>>
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>
>
> --
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
> Clark University
> nthompson at clarku.edu
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson
> https://substack.com/@monist
>
> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..
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>
> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. /
> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
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>


-- 
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology
Clark University
nthompson at clarku.edu
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson
https://substack.com/@monist
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