The Sciences of the Artificial
First Written 1969
Genre Computer Science
Origin US
Publisher MIT Press
My Copy library copy
First Read February 28, 2002

The Sciences of the Artificial

Notes

Direct notes from my 2002 sketchook:
Artificial things are: 1. synthesized, 2. many imitate natural things whil lackign the reality of the natural world. 3. have functions, goods, adaptations. 4. discussed interms of imperaties and descriptives.
ARTIFACT is INTERFACE. A simulation is no better than the assumptions built into it.

Economic Rationality : Adaptive Artifice.
Substantive Rationality: An intelligent system adjusts to its outer environment.
Procedural Rationality: the ability (through knowledge and computation) to discover appropriate adaptive behavior. A basic example is economics: textbook economics is substantive, choosing a profit-maximizing course of action. But really, it's procedural, trying to find a way to pick a profitable course of action.

There's no such thing as real-world optimization so real-world actors are not optimizers but rather satisficers, who look for 'good enough.

Noted on May 23, 2010

Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - 2026.

Interested in talking about it? Get in touch. You might also want to check out my other projects or say hello on twitter.