Learning Models

From [Lars Christian Smith 941226 13:00 CET]

To Bill Leach

You pose a number of interesting questions, and I certainly hope they are
rhetorical, because I would like to know your (or Tom's) answers!

Best regards,
Lars

···

Subject: Organizations

<[Bill Leach 941225.00:12 EST(EDT)]

[Lars Christian Smith 941224 9:40 CET]

... In organizations or societies the hierarchies should be easily
observable, if you are looking for them in the right way. They are not
hidden away inside individuals.

Hummm... me thinks that maybe you want to talk to Tom specifically on
this one. What IS an organization? Does an organization REALLY have
"hierarchies" or these matters of individual perception? Is an
organization really an "independent" entity?

-bill

[Lars Christian Smith 941224 9:40 CET]

Re: Levels again

You are both stressing the provisional nature of the hierarchical
structure. Is there a difference between what you both are saying, on one
hand, and what the Plooijs claim to have observed and described, on the
other?

Anybody looking at control hierarchies in social organizations? In insect
societies? In organizations or societies the hierarchies should be easily
observable, if you are looking for them in the right way. They are not
hidden away inside individuals.

Best regards,
Lars

···

To: Tom Bourbon, Rick Marken

Tom Bourbon [941223.1541]

From [Lars Christian Smith 941223 12:45 CET]
To Rick Marken

Subject: Levels, again

Bill Powers has proposed a structure of 11 levels in humans. What are the
levels, and how many are there in non-mammalian animals? In plants? In E.
coli?

Lars, Rick replied to you [From Rick Marken (941223.0930)] and mentioned the
provisional nature of the levels in Powers's hierarchy for humans -- it is
actually the provisional hierarchy for Powers, but I believe Bill is a human,
too. Rick mentioned work on chimps by the Plooijs, in the Netherlands, with
field work in Africa. They have extensively studied development of the
hierarchy in chimp and human infants -- check them out.

We suspect that a lot of insect behavior demonstrates five or six levels.
Nobody in the group has had a chance to study this interesting question.
What are you doing the next ten or twelve years? :slight_smile: Aside from the
Plooijs, the field of comparative PCT is wide open for you.

Later,

Tom