Re: A name I've never heard mention of...

["John M" <***>]

Judith,
Per Bak is a much esteemed scientist in his circles. I met him some years
back at a conference (1997?) and found him a strong - but mathematically
based - mind with extended knowledge.
I wrote him off from my "complexity-whatever" aimed interest, because I
found his mathematical orientation most reductionistic.
I think he was 'calculating' complex systems - although i did not study his
writings.
As I remember I was interested in his 'complexity' as emerging complications
in systems, what I asigned at that time to my  then
favorite topic "chaos".

John M

>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ROSEN Forum [mailto:*** Behalf Of Judith
> > Rosen
> > Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 9:30 AM
> > To: ***
> > Subject: A name I've never heard mention of...
> >
> >
> > Does anyone on the list know who Per Bak was? He's touted as a "founder
of
> > complexity theory" but I've never heard my father mention him, and his
> > "ground-breaking" paper was supposedly only published in 1987,
> > which is long
> > after my father was writing about Complexity. What is the opinion of
list
> > members of this fellow's contribution and how does it fit with Rosennean
> > Complexity?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Judith
> > Website address: http://www.rosen-enterprises.com/
>