I've been following the discussion of attractors on a casual basis. While
I have nothing useful to add to that particular discussion, I want to
recount an incident which illustrates what can happen when one takes a
metaphor in the wrong way.
This happened at a computer graphics meeting I attended about a decade ago.
The details are fuzzy, but here's the drift:
A man gave a presentation. He was someone at a minor institution with no
reputation--which doesn't necessarily imply anything about the quality of
his work, however.... He got up and said he the work he was about to
present solves a major problem which is important in several different
fields. It was clear that, if his claim held, he was doing Nobel-quality
work (of course, not all Nobel work is of Nobel-quality, but...). He then
proceeded to describe some graphics algorithms he had developed. Those
algorithms were used to generate images used to represent dynamic systems
in those several different fields. As he went on it became painfully clear
that his large claim was based on stepping over the boundary between
metaphor, or, in this case, visual representation of system dynamics, and
causal explanation. He assumed that, because his algorithms drew those
particular images, it thus followed that those algorithms provided a causal
account of the physical dynamics of the systems represented by the images.
The man finished his talk and received very tentative applause. I clearly
wasn't the only one in the room who'd picked up his mistake. This man was
followed by a man with a considerable reputation in complexity theory and
no tact. He started by saying that "The presentation you just heard was
complete and utter bullshit." The audience knew he was right, but ... the
silence was painful and I can't imagine what was going on in the mind of
the previous speaker (who was sitting in the front row).
Now, for all I know, these graphic algorithms may have been very good, may
have been a major contribution to computer graphics, a matter I'm not
competent to judge. But the larger claim clearly had no foundation.
ยทยทยท
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William L. Benzon 518.272.4733
161 2nd Street bbenzon@global2000.net
Troy, NY 12180 http://www.newsavanna.com/wlb/
USA
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What color would you be if you didn't know what you was?
That's what color I am.
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