Thursday, August 05, 2010

Self-Organization Illustrated


There is a Chinese restaurant in every town and city in Canada, the US, and sprinkled like salt all over the world.

Who can explain this phenomenon? How did this happen? Did they meet to decide? Are they following a command, "go into all the world and chop suey so people can chow mein"?

With no central, organizing, coordinating power at work -- or, is there (evil bwahaha)??!!

Points to ponder while entering a Chinese restaurant and emerging stuffed.

PS -- Thank God for Chinese food! Best Chinese dinner ever? A straightforward dish of chow mein at the Astor House Hotel in Shanghai.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And this has what to do with the scientific study of self-organisation?

I'm still waiting for the slightest glimmer of indication that you have any understanding whatsoever of that study. But maybe I'm setting the bar too high -- and you need to post a dozen or so threads on a subject before the idea occurs to you that maybe you should learn about it.

Anonymous said...

Genuine examples of Self-Organisation include such systems as BĂ©nard cells, Langmuir–Blodgett films, Protein Folding.

They DO NOT include Chinese restaurants or the components of a movie projector.

Suggesting that they are examples of self-organisation is a bit like suggesting that handing out samples of new bread or wine at the supermarket is an 'example' of the Eucharist. It is very very silly, and shows that the speaker has NO IDEA WHATSOEVER as to what they are talking about.

Get a clue.

BallBounces said...

http://www.cmol.nbi.dk/javaapp.php

Anonymous said...

Yes, 'Modeling self-organization of communication and topology in social networks' -- I still see no similarity to "Chinese restaurants or the components of a movie projector".

I would also note that the system in question meets the three prerequisites I suggested earlier.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"