Protension on GPlus

Recall Eric Berlow (see https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/110093549387595974648/110093549387595974648/posts/Zke4xvUzq3v)…

11 Comments to “Recall Eric Berlow (see https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/110093549387595974648/110093549387595974648/posts/Zke4xvUzq3v)…”

1. 
   Protension
   November 11, 2011 at 1:59 am

   see that ugly URL in the topic / subject line?
   google gives us crap … crap linking, crap markup language, crap archiving … G+ is second-rate. To me this shows their contempt for users.

   Reply
2. 
   Bernard ben Tremblay
   November 11, 2011 at 2:09 am

   Pundits and other careerists work as an elite, to keep things vague … hermetic … to preserve their monopoly position.
   I mean that they're fundamentally anti-democratic.
   This stuff really matters … to all of us.

   Democratization of information doesn't mean "streams of trivia". Democratization of technology doesn't mean "Oh boy an upgrade to Angry Birds".
   When folk care, it shows.
   And when folk don't care … that too.

   Reply
3. 
   Bernard ben Tremblay
   November 27, 2011 at 5:39 pm

   Pietro, I didn't want to clutter your thread; I'm sure you will enjoy this presentation.
   +Pietro Speroni di Fenizio

   Reply
4. 
   Pietro Speroni di Fenizio
   November 27, 2011 at 5:49 pm

   Thanks I know Geoffrey West from quite some time. I met him at the first european conference on complex systems held in Turin. He made a wonderful, crazy presentation. At the end of it I asked him where could I find more information. He answered: "Any of my Nature papers will do". I will look at this presentation later

   Reply
5. 
   Bernard ben Tremblay
   November 27, 2011 at 6:07 pm

   Oh how nice. I can't think of many people who could make such a technical piece as enjoyable as he has.
   A couple of his points … it really rocked me.

   And I'm quite comfortable working on a mañana basis.

   take care of that tooth!

   Reply
6. 
   Pietro Speroni di Fenizio
   November 28, 2011 at 11:29 am

   I saw the video. Very interesting! Much further than the last talks I saw from him or his students. In particular the sequence of technologies, each going toward a singularity is quite interesting. But then I would be curios to see the Sum of the timescale of all those technologies, if it is finite or infinite. The problem with Geoffrey west is that he presents those wonderful talks, and soe interesting papers, but no book that cover all of his work. There is a book from him (and I even bought it), but it's just a collection of his papers I already had from the Uni.

   Reply
7. 
   Bernard ben Tremblay
   November 29, 2011 at 12:48 am

   I look forward to watching this again. Certainly wouldn't pretend to have mastered the math, but very pleasant. This is the first I've heard of him.
   What I ponder is how we might at least bend the line down, to at least delay the singularity. Perhaps some good projects will have non-linear good effects?

   Reply
8. 
   Pietro Speroni di Fenizio
   November 29, 2011 at 12:36 pm

   Hi Bernard, I am sorry but I don't think you can easily bend that line. It looks like it's way more universal than any of our action will ever be. Better to get ready

   Reply
9. 
   Bernard ben Tremblay
   November 29, 2011 at 4:12 pm

   Not at all sure we're on the same page just here / just now.
   One axis is time, yes? So if we reduce, say, exploitation of a particular resource … let's say Sierra Leon manages to impose its laws against clear-cutting … that bends the line, no?
   I can't think of this presentation meaning that there's nothing to be done. I may not b able to steer my car away from the ditch, because the front tire has blown, but I may be able to scrub off some speed so I hit the ditch at 50 or 60 instead of 100. "Harm reduction", yes?

   Addendum: Maybe I wasn't clear. Far short of getting the line to curve downward, I was pondering how to reduce the rate of rise i.e. "bend down".

   Reply
10. 
    Pietro Speroni di Fenizio
    November 29, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    I don't think just passing a law and getting it applied can bend that line. Let's move to another example I understand more. According to Geoffrey West life runs faster in cities than in villages. The average speed at which people walk in a city is actually higher in a city than in a village by a certain exponent. Now can you slow this down with a law? Hmmm, you can make it illegal to go to fast. Like in highways, but we know how much people follow the speed limits. But then the more you slow cars (or walking) the more people will feel the internal pressure to run fast. And this will appear in other ways. Honestly I don't think it is that easy.

    Reply
11. 
    Bernard ben Tremblay
    November 29, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    Oh, 1st I wasn't thinking of new or different laws. 2nd I was thinking of real practices i.e. wasting less water, more effective recycling, better use of resources … like that. Results and products more than legislation and process. My thinking is that if we can identify areas that would have good effects ("low hanging fruit") those could be used to combat defeatism / ground the theory.

    I don't know that a lower speed limit would cause folk to feel more pressured. That's a large and complex set of influences. I've always wondered why folk don't more often use mass transit as a time to kick back and relax. That's what I did!

    Reply