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Tim,
Define "simulation".
To simulate something is to... what?
In the example you cite, there is no argument over the fact that
simulation is not a congruence between entailment structures. However, there is
congruence over external observables. So... in the case where you are modeling a
storm for some film you're directing (setting: "... it was a dark and stormy
night..."), the external observables are those properties you need to model. In
the case where you are trying to predict what the weather in some location is
going to be like on next Thursday... you must model different aspects which
correspond to entailment structures. My father's point is that human beings tend
to think if they can simulate a system convincingly enough, that's the same as
creating an exact replica... and human beings also tend to think that,
because we can fool ourselves and each other with a convincing simulation,
that systems which "seem" complex are really simple underneath.
Judith
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2004 11:23
PM
Subject: Re: [ROSEN] simulation vs.
model
Judith,
I disagree
entirely that simulations are also models, in the sense in which your father
used those terms. He explicitly distinguishes between modeling and simulations
in LI ch. 7. On p. 200, for example: "Simulation is thus not a congruence
between inferential entailments." A simulation is not a modelling
relation -- it fails the requirement that the
encoding/decoding bring the two entailment structures into
congruence.
Regards,
Tim
I've said it before but it bears repeating: All simulations are
also models. My father said many times that any system can be
"simulated". That means there are aspects of any given complex
system which can be reproduced with high "commutativity" with the
original system. What he was pointing out was that just because
some model gets external, observable aspects of the system right
doesn't mean it gets all aspects right. In other words, don't forget that
the simulation is only a model of the system, not a reproduction of an
identical system.
Any "random" set we generate becomes a repeating pattern if you
close the loop. Randomness is a local, finite property and is in
the eye of the beholder.
Judith
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