Re: Does anyone have information...

["Judith Rosen" <***>]

Hi Dan, thanks for the info. You say lots of good things about this guy,
which balances him a little more. I have to be fair and say I think the use
of "Pan" may not be a reference to the mythological god but instead derived
from the Greek root "pantos" which my dictionary says means "all". It's the
root of words like pandemic, panamerican, pantheism, panorama, etc. I could
be wrong, about their intentions and you may right. Or perhaps they intended
it to be a play on words since the god Pan is the god of fields, forests,
and wild animals, etc.

Judith

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Fiscus" <***>
To: <***>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: [ROSEN] Does anyone have information...


> Judith,
>
> I know a bit about Buzz Holling, who I would call a highly
> respected as well as boldly innovative elder statesman of
> ecological science. Don't really know Pacala. Holling has
> worked on biomath problems such as the cyclic pattern of
> spruce and spruce budworm infestation. He has written a
> monograph on "Cross-scale morphology" in ecology that
> includes an idea of "ecological quanta". He is leader of a
> fairly radical and creative group called the Resilience
> Alliance, who publish the free web journal Conservation
> Ecology. He is famous for a "figure 8" diagram depicting a
> recurring cycle of change in ecosystems in a changing
> environment, with major disturbances, involving
> reorganization, exploitation, conservation, release and
> back to reorganization. An photocopy of this conceptual
> model is here:
>
> http://al.umces.edu/~fiscus/research/images/cycling/holling150.jpg
>
> He has co-written a book called Panarchy that seems to
> suggest (I've only skimmed so far) that control is from all
> scales within complex systems, not a single scale and not
> just from top-down, not just from bottom-up. They also
> invoke the god Pan to name the theory, which to me is like
> throwing in with Lovelock and validating the use of
> persona/gods/mythical figures as a way to label theories
> (and not invalidating them due to teleological hidden
> agendas). The main point here is that he seems bold and
> not afraid to rock any and all boats of the "entrenched
> orthodoxy" of science.
>
> Holling is one of many of my ecosystem science heroes. I'd
> vote for him!! I think he could definitely "get" Rosen
> complexity in theory and could even link it to many real
> world cases in complex systems - natural ecosystems as well as
> human organizations (which Panarchy also covers).
>
> Dan
>
> Judith Rosen wrote:
> > I have had a report from Columbia U. Press that the republication of
> > Life, Itself in paperback is again postponed-- to autumn of 2004. Also,
> > they are thinking of adding a forward to the book, written by either of
> > two men whose names I do not recognize. I have done some research on
> > both, and as part of that research, I would like to ask the list
> > subscribers whether you have any information on these individuals.
> > Specifically, are either or both of them "qualified" to speak
> > authoritatively about Rosennean Complexity? If you have some information
> > and don't feel comfortable posting it on the list, by all means please
> > contact me directly. The names are Buzz Holling (Retired from University
> > of Florida) and Steve Pacala (at Princeton).
> >
> > Thanks, folks.
> >
> > Judith