Re: Gregnews: US report proves EP lies

That is, physics has a "popular credibility" in the sense that it
represents basic empiricism for most people.  Many physicists
know the limits of empiricism, but it's not the sort of thing
that people generally think about.  I think appealing to a vulgar
view of physics and empiricism is really why some people try to
gain some "prestige," as you put it, from it.  While using it for
"prestige" this way, they are also using it to encourage an
unenlightened perception of things.

This is all the Gregbot does, day in and day out.


Seth


Seth Johnson wrote:
> 
> Physics has a kind of popularity in a "vulgar empiricism" sense,
> which the Gregbot's rhetorical rules engine has been designed to
> exploit.  A lot of clueless patent professionals either share the
> same lack of understanding, or deliberately exploit this
> unenlightened point of view.
> 
> Seth
> 
> PILCH Hartmut wrote:
> >
> > > >There is something abusive in words such as   "financial engineering"
> > > >etc, an attempt to borrow the prestige of applied natural science
> > > >into a domain which is does not share the features to which a.n.s.
> > > >owes its prestige, and, from there, to infer that various rules,
> > > >including patent law, should also be transferred from a.n.s. to
> > > >that domain.
> > >
> > > There is nothing abusive if you are familiar with modern physics.  If
> > > you read current physics journals, you will see a growing number of
> > > physicists applying the tools of moderm physics (especially statistical
> > > thermodynamics) to analyzing and modeling financial markets and processes.
> > > There is even a word to describe this growing overlap of economics and
> > > physics - econophysics (for example, check out the European Web site for
> > > econophysics - www.unifr.ch/econophysics).
> > >
> > > Goods like commodities and currencies are in some ways representations for
> > > energy.  The movement and exchange of such goods is little different than
> > > the movement and exchange of energy in interacting particle systems.  In
> > > both cases, thermodynamics ignores the microscopic interactions and focuses
> > > instead on macroscopic properties.  It is not surprising then that
> > > physicists are successfully able to apply this physics to financial
> > > markets (indeed, Wall Street hires tons of physicists).
> >
> > What you are saying here is that there is an overlap between the mathematical
> > models with which economics and physics can be studied.  This is really
> > not surprising, since it would make sense to develop mathematical models
> > in a way so that they can apply to the widest possible range of complex
> > systems.  Since the earliest ages thinkers have been using terms like
> > "atom", "individual", "bit", "element" etc to make the world studiable.
> > And comparisons of all these domains where such models are applied of
> > course can help to further improve the models.
> >
> > When you look at the naming "econophysics" you once again find that it is
> > the economists who appear to be borrowing the prestige of the physicists,
> > rather than the other way around.  It is clear that physics is the most
> > successful and prestigious application area for these models.  Yet their
> > identification with "physics" by economists could again be seen as abusive.
> >
> > --
> > Hartmut Pilch, FFII.org, Munich Office +498918979927, Brussels +3227396262
> > Protect Innovation, not Monopolies       http://www.economic-majority.com/
> >
> >
> 
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I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or
distribution of this incidentally recorded communication. 
Original authorship should be attributed reasonably, but only so
far as such an expectation might hold for usual practice in
ordinary social discourse to which one holds no claim of
exclusive rights.