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RE: Complex Systems [was: Ontologies vs Schemas vs Transforma

• To: "'Simon St.Laurent'" <simonstl@s...>, xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Complex Systems [was: Ontologies vs Schemas vs Transformations]
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 15:19:47 -0500

Even if predictable in principle, a problem is measurability 
and the goodness of the measurement.  In one direction lies 
quantum theory; in the other is logical positivism or nominalism. 
One could summarize the difference in the well known example of 
the uncertainty principle:  one can know the position of the 
photon or its momentum but not both because the observer 
perturbs the system (actually, the photon required to make 
the measurement does).  The quantum mechanic is comfortable 
with that.  The nominalist says that if it cannot be observed, 
it does not exist or is 'meaningless'.  The quantum mechanic 
might reply, 'it is not meaningless; it is unmanageable'. Hence, 
one realizes that at some levels, no controls are possible 
but that above these levels, controls do emerge and the fascinating 
subject is in why that happens if there is no intelligent observer.

If you are ready for very hard but illuminating slogging, google 
for a paper entitled

"Scale Relativity in Cantorian Space and Average Dimensions of 
Our World" - Castro, Granik, Naschie

"It is shown that within the framework of the new relativity 
the cosmological constant problem is non-existent since the 
Universe self-organizes and self-tunes according to the 
renormalization group (RG) flow with respect to a local 
scaling microscopic arrow of time."

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Simon St.Laurent [mailto:simonstl@s...]

costello@m... (Roger L. Costello) writes:
>No, I really did mean to say non-deterministic.  (My understanding is)
>that complex systems may appear non-deterministic, but there are
>underlying patterns that once recognized will allow you to predict the
>behavior.  Until you understand those underlying patterns it appears
>non-deterministic.

Even if you understand the patterns, the amount and kind of information
involved in these systems often defies collection and analysis, so
unpredictability remains.  Meteorology, economics, and many aspects of
computing all face these kinds of issues regularly.

It's fascinating stuff, though.

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