tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335071719468565406.post458354941512013412..comments2023-08-17T11:35:18.902+01:00Comments on FuturICT Blog: “Networked Minds” Require A Fundamentally New Kind of EconomicsFuturICThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10529662700087975840noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335071719468565406.post-60130635767075012142013-03-19T16:29:22.158+00:002013-03-19T16:29:22.158+00:00One additional note that you will want to consider...One additional note that you will want to consider in future modeling studies is your initial conditions. Humans did not begin as autonomous individuals competing for resources. We began as socially bonded groups who clung together for protection -- as was the case for early hominids when they left the jungles and ventured out onto the savannahs of Africa.<br /><br />So you are not dealing with a "blank slate" system, but rather one that begins with sociality and then perpetuates it. The origins of sociality go back before the first hominids, to the emergence of placental birth and parent-offspring bonding. Your models will get closer to reflecting real economic behavior when they start out with the appropriate set of "social parameters" that characterize the kind of social animals that humans have been since we branched off from ancestral lines (that also exhibited complex social organization and parent-offspring bonding).<br /><br />An adequate characterization of the emergent dynamics for social organization will need to capture the boundary conditions and morphodynamic constraints that lead to the rise of complex societal structures. This requires careful selection of initial conditions.<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />Joe Brewer<br />Director, Cognitive Policy WorksUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09427626175036863733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5335071719468565406.post-82919266352920584672013-03-19T15:25:38.617+00:002013-03-19T15:25:38.617+00:00These results align with the massive body of evide...These results align with the massive body of evidence for human sociality that has come from every field that studies human behavior or our ancestral evolutionary history. I have written a summary article on this topic <a href="http://www.cognitivepolicyworks.com/blog/2010/04/27/the-death-of-self-interest-fundamentalism/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />I recommend Christopher Boehm's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Origins-Evolution-Virtue-Altruism/dp/0465020488" rel="nofollow">Moral Origins: The Evolution of Virtue, Altruism, and Shame</a> as one helpful starting point that shows how human sociality arose in the context of hunter-gatherer societies (with a long history prior to this in early hominid and deeper mammalian history that also supports the evolution of our social behavior).<br /><br />The great irony is that human nature has been incorrectly framed for many decades. This is ironic in two ways:<br />(1) The first time behavioral scientists conducted studies on economic behavior, they invalidated the core assumptions of rational action -- because the rational actor model was created by mathematicians, not behavioral scientists; and<br />(2) Research on human semantics (that gives us insight into the psychological mechanisms that lead to framing effects) requires a different underlying philosophy than that of self-interest rationalism.<br /><br />It has been clear for decades now in various research fields ranging from psychology, physical anthropology, primate studies, neuroscience, linguistics, and more that tell us the "homo economicus" theory is bunk.<br /><br />In order to understand how dysfunctional theoretical models like this one have co-opted the governing dynamics of human communities, I recommend this <a href="http://www.cognitivepolicyworks.com/blog/2012/07/24/how-will-the-99-deal-with-70-million-psychopaths/" rel="nofollow">blog article</a> I wrote last year.<br /><br />If you are interested in discussing this topic further, I would be happy to arrange a call.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Joe Brewer<br />Director, Cognitive Policy WorksUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09427626175036863733noreply@blogger.com