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Machine behaviour

New survey paper in Nature inspired by Herb Simon. Sciences of the Artificial is an excellent and very accessible book that feature’s heavily here. In his landmark 1969 book Sciences of the Artificial, Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon wrote: “Natural science is knowledge about natural objects and phenomena. We ask whether there cannot also be ‘artificial’ science—knowledge about artificial…

The digital world, cognition and behaviour

Herbert Simon Society call for papers. For a comprehensive overview of Simon’s work by a Who’s Who of writers, check out this collection of essays. Behavioral economicsBounded RationalityCognitionCognitive scienceecological rationalityHerbert SimonheuristicsSocial network

Automated Liberalism?

H/T Brian Smith. This from the Law & Liberty blog.     Age of EnlightenmentArtificial intelligencebenjamin constantilliberalismJames PoulosJohn Stuart MillLiberalismNetwork ScienceSocial network

Have the monks stopped meditating?

They all seem to be tweeting This observation by Herzog is totemic of what seems to me like a mass self-induced autism, immersed in a vortex of banality, that society has sunk into. When I observe how oblivious people are of reality when out and about with their device, it’s easy to understand why many of us refuse(d) to…

How Do Our Social Networks Affect Our Health?

Nicholas Christakis (yes, the very same that had been in the news recently, unfortunately caught in the midst of campus fuckwittery) explains how face-to-face social networks and their structures influence behaviors and phenomena in human society and the natural living world. (H/T to Guy Theraulaz). NPR/TED Video/Audio. collective behaviorcommunicationcontagiondistributed cognitionemergent orderExtended MindgeneticsNetwork ScienceNicholas ChristakisSocial networkSwarm behavior