Transcript THE ROLE OF MODELS IN THE CONVERGENCE OF SCIENTIFIC …

THE ROLE OF MODELS
IN THE CONVERGENCE
OF SCIENTIFIC
KNOWLEDGE
Linda Weiser Friedman
Hershey H. Friedman
Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College
and the Graduate Center of CUNY
email: [email protected]
Business Program, Department of Economics
Brooklyn College, CUNY
email: [email protected]
INTRO TO MODELS: The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)
The following poem was based on a fable told in India many years ago…
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and
sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
A Model of Models?
Models in Architecture - blueprints

House

Car
Models in Architecture –
scale models

Housing complex
Models in Statistics

Regression Model
Models in Training Man-machine simulations

Flight simulator
Models in Psychology –
Virtual Reality

VR for Social Phobia
Models for the Creation of
Alternative Universes

Science fiction
Models in Art

Garden of Earthly Delights
Models in Art

Escher’s Relativity
Models in Math / Physics

Einstein’s Relativity
e  mc
2
Models in Chemistry

molecule scale model
What Do All These Models Have
in Common?

Abstraction [Black Box]

Information Hiding

A way of understanding our world
Definition

A model is a representation of the
real thing but not the thing itself
• This definition is not very articulate, but
it has the advantage of being
generalizable to models in many
different fields
Fashion Model?
…a representation
of the real thing
but not the thing itself…

A Model of Models?

First pass
Models
Physical
...
Mathematical
Static
...
Dynamic
Analytical
...
Numerical
...
System
Simulation
A Model of Models?

Second pass
A Model of Models?

Continuing …
concrete
abstract
mathematical
numerical
2-dimensional
3-dimensional
A Model of Models?

Continuing …
alternate
universe
abstract
mathematical
numerical
2-dim
3-dim
4-dim
mimetic
A Model of Models?
Discussion

The So-What Question…

Convergence of Knowledge

Modeling Across the Curriculum