Comments on: Peter and Inspiration http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2008/05/07/peter-and-inspiration/ Economics of organizations, strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, and more Sat, 26 May 2012 19:17:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: brayden http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2008/05/07/peter-and-inspiration/#comment-70277 Wed, 07 May 2008 16:36:20 +0000 http://organizationsandmarkets.wordpress.com/?p=1520#comment-70277 Thanks for recommendation Randy. I have to visit the library today anyway, and so I’ll be happy to pick up some pleasure reading.

]]> By: randyw http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2008/05/07/peter-and-inspiration/#comment-70274 Wed, 07 May 2008 14:06:28 +0000 http://organizationsandmarkets.wordpress.com/?p=1520#comment-70274 Brayden, Powers’ office is in the Beckman Institute (www.beckman.uiuc.edu), which has a large research group on cognitive sciences. He sits among these scientists and has obviously thrown himself into this subject, as well as others (artificial intelligence, human-machine interface). Professors figure often in Powers’ novels. Try Galatea 2.2, wherein he tries to train a computer to pass comprehensive exams in English lit!

]]> By: brayden http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2008/05/07/peter-and-inspiration/#comment-70273 Wed, 07 May 2008 13:41:38 +0000 http://organizationsandmarkets.wordpress.com/?p=1520#comment-70273 I’ve only read one novel by Powers, The Echomaker, which I thought was incredibly entertaining and interesting. One thing I liked about it was that Powers was able to get into the academic mind in a way that few authors can. Most professors in literature are caricatures, but the psychologist in The Echomaker seemed very familiar and real to me.

]]> By: Rafe Champion http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2008/05/07/peter-and-inspiration/#comment-70270 Wed, 07 May 2008 11:29:42 +0000 http://organizationsandmarkets.wordpress.com/?p=1520#comment-70270 He could have said that any model of the market is only a poor simulation of the actual market, in the same way that all our models of ecosystems are poor simulations of ecosystems etc etc …ad infinitum. But you already said that, so one has to ask, does he know what point was he trying to make?

Interventionists can learn something from environmental studies that they might like to apply to markets. Have a good look downstream from the intervention and see what you find! The “dead fish” may be some way distant in time and space but if you know how to analyse the system you will find them.

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