tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post2945629525753311213..comments2024-03-13T08:32:53.348-06:00Comments on SafeGrowth: Solving the city with math?GSavillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17000359367472580777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post-64368611872864435032011-02-01T13:03:37.430-07:002011-02-01T13:03:37.430-07:00Excellent points, Greg. I couldn't have said i...Excellent points, Greg. I couldn't have said it better!<br /><br />I've just read Friedman's "The Next 100 Years" and Smith's "The World in 2050", futurists both. The former sees the world through geo-political and economic eyes and the latter through demographic and environmental eyes. It is remarkable how different they paint our future world. <br /><br />When West et al bring the physicist's eye to the future of the city, I can only conclude their stories will be equally one-sided and wrong. As you note, humans are complex and unpredictable: "Many dynamic individuals forming a force with a common purpose that results in a better quality of life for others"...<br /><br />That's the best vision for the future I've seen in awhile.<br /><br />Thanks.GSavillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17000359367472580777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post-64936389008980923872011-02-01T12:56:03.956-07:002011-02-01T12:56:03.956-07:00In the distant future I think we could be able to ...In the distant future I think we could be able to predict individual and mass human behavior, but we are a long way from that point. I am sure that going back 50 years no one would have believed that we would be predicting the weather based on all the dynamics involved but we have done so with progressive accuracy due to the collation of data over many years for trending combined with the scientific properties of nature. <br /> <br />Humans are biological machines which presents the likelihood that behaviors can be predicted. But at what price? And if you can predict the behavior of one you should be able to then predict the behaviors of many. As with the weather it will involve trending over many decades reflecting the various dynamics evolving of out countless environments and then the scientific characteristics of the human biological machine itself. <br /> <br />There would be a significant price to pay for this type of accurate measurement. Do we as humans for the sole purpose of predicting individual and mass behavior want to subject ourselves to 24 X7 monitoring for this purpose.<br /> <br />Sometimes it is the random behavior of individuals and masses that makes life interesting. If we as a race could predict with a reasonable level of accuracy the behavior of individuals and masses how boring that would be. I prefer the random gathering of many dynamic individuals forming a force with a common purpose that results in a better quality of life for others!!!! <br /> <br />Some of the most creative human beings on record have lived with various degrees of human frailties that in someway probably shaped their creative gifts.<br /><br />Greg MillsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com