Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Douglass C. North — Economics and Cognitive Science

...Therefore the central questions that confront economists in cognitive science are not only how human beings learn and meld beliefs and preferences to reach decisions and hence the choices that underlie economic theory but also how and why do they develop theories in the face of pure uncertainty, what makes those theories spread amongst a population or die out, and why do humans believe in them and act upon them? In the remainder of this essay I intend to explore these issues in the expectation that down the road cognitive science may give us some definitive answers that can serve as the basis for major breakthroughs in economics and social sciences generally. In section II I shall complicate the neo-classical model with additional constraints that arise with imperfect information and uncertainty; section III will explore these issues over time; section IV will examine the nature of ideologies; and the final section (V) will explore the challenges these issues pose for cognitive science.
Economics and Cognitive Science
by Douglass C. North | Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (co-recipient 1993) and Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences at Washington University

3 comments:

jrbarch said...

Even in the life of an atom there are so many forces and energies at work: inertia, mobility, rhythm; rotary, spiral-cyclic, driving forward motions; vibration, adaption, repulsion, friction; discrimination and ordered activity; magnetism and radiation; linking, union and form building and destruction; gravitation - and probably many more both recognised and unrecognised.

It seems obvious the human persona as a collection of atomic forms (physical, emotional, mental) should be complex (and yet house simplicity - human beings seek to be content). Also obvious why they often repel each other or are unable to understand one another, at least on the outside.

Nor should we rule out energies arising from beyond the world of forms.

My favourite (theoretical) synthesis of all of these is still 'Treatise on the Seven Rays' and 'Treatise on Cosmic Fire' Dwhal Kuhl (amanuensis A.A.Bailey).

PeterP said...

jbarch,

we know of 4 forces: weak, strong, electromagnetic and gravitational. You mix forces with their directions and outcomes. Take "cyclic". There is no cyclic force, but some interactions can result in cyclic motion, or rotary motion etc.

jrbarch said...

Well, maybe I could conceptualise it this way (?):

Energy is fractal, in that from one universal energy comes all others; dense matter builds itself into energy networks demonstrating the above mentioned phenomena. The genome is simply an effect.

'Psychology' could be explained in terms of energy impacts and complexes of diverse qualities.

Just musing ..... sorry, I just see parallels in the worlds of atoms and human personas!!