Re: Dialogue, please!
DON MIKULECKY (MIKULECKY@VCUVAX.BITNET)
Thu, 2 May 1996 12:42:33 -0400
Don Mikulecky, MCV/VCU, Mikulecky@gems.vcu.edu
http://views.vcu.edu/complex/
Try saying it in English, heh? Well when a lawyer acuses you of using
jargon you HAVE to take notice.
My experience with the notion of path dependence (lock-in is an example)
is through thermodynamics, but the idea is quite general. There would
be no need for the term if someone had not concieved of "path independence".
What THAT implies is that certain processes can be counted on to end at
the same end point given the same starting point, regardless HOW they
get there. In thermodynamics and in biology that is closely linked to the idea
that EVERY system has a unique description called its "state" ( tell me
the temperature , pressure, etc. and you have automatically said
EVERYTHING to be said about the system). This is true for those models
of systems which are idealized so much as to ignore interactions, etc.
We might call them "simple" systems. Such systems do not really
exist except as constructs in physics, economics, biology and other texts.
Real systems (or COMPLEX systems) are not this way and ALL are influenced
by how you get there (often profoundly influenced by how you start out...as in
lock in). The rest was simply intended to give reference to these
thoughts. Please tell me if I am still being unclear. Sorry to
have been so opaque.
Don Mikulecky