Boundaries of science
gsmith | October 8, 2009
Below, Saleem Ali answers our final question.
The most productive interface between disciplines in the environmental sciences has occurred in understanding the value of ecosystem services. There has been a remarkable growth in the last five years in mainstream research within economics, physics, and ecology that shows how natural systems provide benefits that can be tangibly "valued." While some environmental ethicists, such as Mark Sagoff, have resisted the call to put numeric values on nature, there is little doubt that without having such clear numerical information, natural value will…
gsmith | October 7, 2009
Below, Lambros Malafouris answers our final question.
Judging from the experience I have gathered so far working in various cross-disciplinary projects, I have to say that there is no such thing as an "appropriate" or "inappropriate" approach; there is only what we may call "soft" and "hard" cross-disciplinary research. The former type is quite common; I would say even fashionable in many fields and countries, yet of little value. It simply means, in most cases, that you combine or add perspectives in order to study a phenomenon or answer a certain question. At best this will result in a…
gsmith | October 6, 2009Anthony Dunne's call for mass speculation (in political science, genetics, ethics, economics, pretty much every discipline) is founded on a refreshing optimism. Dunne: "Today we don't just need solutions, we also need dreams." He is right—designers that are too polite to take chances and postulate wild hypotheses are doomed to simply churn out next year's model. So Dunne's idealized designer functions kind of similar to a science-fiction author, an individual engaged in a projective practice that aspires to produce novelty and innovation rather than style. Ironically, in a recent article for…
gsmith | October 5, 2009
Below, Anthony Dunne answers our final question.
I can't think of any reasons why a cross-disciplinary approach would not be appropriate.â¨â¨
Design is a great catalyst for encouraging speculation in disciplines wary of moving away from how things are to how things could be, or even ought to be. I'd like to see a lot more research being done into the social, cultural, political, and even ethical impact of new "technologies, solutions, and insights" before they are implemented. Basically, more speculation: speculative political science, speculative genetics, speculative synthetic biology,…
gsmith | October 4, 2009
I have to admit that I've been dwelling on Fernando Esponda's comments on agent-based modelling and the video of Josh Epstein that I subsequently posted. First and foremost, this type of economic simulation is technically referred to as Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE). I've spent a bit of time researching ACE over the past few days and I've collected the following links for those interested in finding out more about this field.
The Scholarpedia entry on ACE identifies the four objectives of the discipline as empirical understanding, normative understanding, qualitative insight and…
gsmith | October 2, 2009Our Rev Minds have told us how they think the lens of science can help to solve global problems and speculated about the prospects for cross-disciplinary research. We posed the Revolutionary Minds the final question:
What cross-disciplinary approaches have you seen work for your field and why? When is a cross-disciplinary approach not appropriate?
Look for their answers to be landing here over the next four weeks.
gsmith | October 1, 2009
Below, Moshe Pritsker answers the second of our three questions.
Everything is cross-disciplinary today. New technologies developed in one area are very quickly adopted in other areas. Healthcare is a good example since every significant development in concepts or methods in any other field is inevitably to be tried in medicine.
gsmith | September 29, 2009I have to admit that I am at a loss as to how to follow up to Fernando Esponda's curiosity about how medical thinking could be applied to economics. Esponda: "Can the treatment of a disease be mapped in any meaningful way to the treatment of economic ailments? Think of abnormal growths, what is the equivalent of a biopsy for a tumor in an economic bubble?" These are difficult questions and I think in considering economics, identifying "ailments" implies deciding standards of "best practice" and even a consideration of ethics—what a slippery slope! So, rather than opening that can of worms I…
gsmith | September 27, 2009
Below, Fernando Esponda answers the second of our three questions.
Economics is ripe for a surgical intervention. Current economic theory is in need of an overhaul and the time is right for suggestions to be taken seriously.
There are several cross-disciplinary efforts that have been maturing in the background in complex adaptive systems labs across the world. I especially believe agent-based computer simulations are ready to become a more preeminent tool for exploring questions such as market regulation and efficiencies.
But beyond that, a different approach to address economic issues is…
gsmith | September 26, 2009
Below, Lambros Malafouris answers the second of our three questions.
In recent decades cross-disciplinary work has flourished in many research areas. One scientific field which I believe provides immense opportunities for productive and innovative research is that of the mind and brain sciences. Important changes brought about by the new technological breakthroughs in neuroscience have revolutionized our understanding of the human brain and opened up new avenues for fruitful cooperation with philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology of mind. Old problems can now be seen under new light, and…
gsmith | September 25, 2009
[Image: COMMON-Sense NET]
Josh Ruxin has eloquently outlined the complexities of how technology plays into resource and land management. Ruxin: "Information Communications Technology is needed to connect farmers to markets and provide timely information to optimize incomes and expand efficiencies in the marketplace." Managing the landscape is undoubtedly increasing in complexity, and it only follows given the opportunities afforded by remote sensing, GPS navigation and market-homestead connectivity.
Some further reading:
ICTs and Food Security is a recent report that catalogs developments…
gsmith | September 23, 2009
Below, Josh Ruxin answers the second of our three questions.
One of humankind's oldest conundrums--food security--has actually grown more complex as technology has improved, environmental degradation has increased, and the global population has soared. Â Further compounding the situation is climate change. Â Swirling together, this is the issue that during the oil spike of 2007 and 2008, and the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, thrust tens of millions and possibly hundreds of millions back into poverty. It's a troubling web of intersecting interests combined with the good and the…
gsmith | September 21, 2009Gladys Kalema-Zikusok has provided a concise, provocative list of concerns regarding sustainable development. I'd like to hone in one facet of her response to the second question, simply because it is new to me. Kalema-Zikusoka seems extremely attuned to the relationship between ecosystems and economics and I find the manner in which she outlines sustainable tourism fascinating. There is little doubt that tourism is a double-edged sword—a high volume of visitors can damage or diminish the very environs that attract foreign interest and business practice that does not nurture local…
gsmith | September 21, 2009
Below, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka answers the second of our three questions.
The problems I see as ripe for cross-disciplinary research are those where multidisciplinary approaches have potential to promote sustainable development alongside sustainable environments in developing countries, because even in the developed world, conservation and development are seen as competing forces, yet have even greater potential in the developed world. The fields I would choose to combine are those that independently affect sustainable environments and livelihoods. These include population, health,…
gsmith | September 18, 2009
Saleem Ali's anticipation of a convergence between ecology and engineering definitely resonated with some of the Rev Minds readers. His broad assessment of the state of the academy and sustainable architecture:University programs in environmental science and those in civil engineering and architecture are generally still quite separate in terms of administrative structures. Although the growth of "green buildings" has increased the market for more ecological design, most of these projects tend to be insular and speak more for branding and vanity of particular companies or households.
These…
gsmith | September 16, 2009
Below, Saleem Ali answers the second of our three questions.The connection between ecology and engineering will need to be strengthened in coming years to see how natural systems can help with some of our most challenging development issues. Foremost among these challenges will be to supply fresh drinking water to the world. Organisms are far more efficient at cleaning and purifying aquatic systems than most human technologies and we will need to focus on harnessing such efficiency. For example, plants or bacteria that can help with desalination as well as for more efficient treatment of…
gsmith | September 15, 2009
Below, Skylar Tibbits answers the second of our three questions.
Cross-disciplinary opportunities lie at the intersection of opposing scales, and applications. On the micro scale, computational designers provide means for massive calculation, insightful and imaginative possibilities with massively parallel speeds and an urge for visualizing large datasets with multivariable problems. On the macro scale, foreign policy and political design making may provide a means to massive datasets, multivariable problems with global applications for real-time feedback and insightful decision making.…
gsmith | September 14, 2009
Last week I shared a number of recommendations of original, well-founded contemporary projects to compliment comments by Michelle Borkin and Nick Matzke on data and visualization. I had intended to share some more this week but I became preoccupied with a debate that is taking place right now—hopefully I can provide a few points of entry into this dialog. Given that this post is about meandering discourse, please note the detail from Warren Sack's prescient Conversation Map (2000) on the left.
Over the last few weeks a boisterous scrum has broken out between several notable thinkers and…
gsmith | September 14, 2009
Below, John Wilbanks answers the second of our three questions.
Cross-disciplinary work is where the big stuff happens. Watson and Crick were in their own way cross-disciplinary (bringing together the phage and the chemical work of each). Climate change is one very obvious place where the work must be cross-disciplinary. You have a dizzying sea of fields from hydrology and earth sciences, to geospatial and weather, to economics and political science that need to be integrated to make good decisions, and understand the risk of bad ones. Batteries also strike me as a place ripe for two…
gsmith | September 11, 2009Michelle Borkin is astute in recognizing the manner in which information visualization can collapse the distinction between disciplines. Borkin notes that reading visual representations of star formation and human disease are not unlike exercises as MRI and telescope data are similar in terms of "format, size and noise." Similar overlaps occur in representing other fields and visualization is not necessarily tied to the standard operating procedure associated with a specific domain. To the visualization jockey, a network diagram is a network diagram - at least at a schematic level. If the…