The Co-evolution of Institutions and Technology

We propose a model of growth driven by the co-evolution of institutions and technology. To be consistent with Douglass North (1990, 1991, 1994), institutions are defined as a type of collective knowledge about a specific environment that can prescribe how to adapt general technology before the latter can be actually used. Institutions, then, are treated as a factor in the innovation process, and as such can be purposely accumulated. The simultaneous accumulation of institutions and technology are modeled as an evolutionary game whereby boundedly-rational .rms choose how much to allocate to ‘institutional spending’ vis-a-vis research expenditures, in anticipation of changes in monopoly pro.ts from technological innovation. Using Taylor and Jonker’s (1978) Replicator Dynamics to describe the evolution of such strategies, we are able to show how this transition process converges to the steady state model of Romer (1990)

Communicating Toward Personhood

Marshalling a mind-numbing array of data, Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, shows that on virtually every conceivable measure, civic participation, or what he refers to as “social capital,” is plummeting to levels not seen for almost 100 years. And we should care, Putnam argues, because connectivity is directly related to both individual and social wellbeing on a wide variety of measures. On the other hand, social capital of the “bonding kind” brings with it the ugly side effect of animosity toward outsiders. Given the increasing heterogeneity of our world, the goal therefore must be to enhance connectivity of the “bridging sort,” i.e., connecting across differences. This, in turn, requires that we first clarify what bridging communicative styles looks like. Examining communication as it might transpire in Kant’s kingdom of ends, through the perspective of Habermas’ “communicative action,” and within the scientific community, offers a compelling suggestion that there is a way of communicating such that, if adopted, one would come to view others as if they were persons, i.e., that a bridging communicative style facilitates a kind of bonding that sees through differences toward the commonality of personhood. This paper will briefly explore how communicating toward personhood might be promoted

On the Galoisian Structure of Heisenberg Indeterminacy Principle

We revisit Heisenberg indeterminacy principle in the light of the Galois-Grothendieck theory for the case of finite abelian Galois extensions. In this restricted framework, the Galois-Grothendieck duality between finite K-algebras split by a Galois extension L and finite Gal(L:K)-sets can be reformulated as a Pontryagin-like duality between two abelian groups. We then define a Galoisian quantum theory in which the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle between conjugate canonical variables can be understood as a form of Galoisian duality: the larger the group of automorphisms H (a subgroup of G) of the states in a G-set O = G/H, the smaller the ``conjugate'' observable algebra that can be consistently valuated on such states. We then argue that this Galois indeterminacy principle can be understood as a particular case of the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle formulated in terms of the notion of entropic indeterminacy. Finally, we argue that states endowed with a group of automorphisms H can be interpreted as squeezed coherent states, i.e. as states that minimize the Heisenberg indeterminacy relations

A New Load Transfer Model of Skin Friction for Super-long Pile Under Axially Load

In present investigation, a new load transfer model was proposed, in which the softening and strengthening of super-long pile skin friction was considered. The influence of parameters variation on the softening load transfer model was discussed in detail. The load transfer model proposed was verified by engineering results. The nonlinear iterative calculation method of the super-long piles was improved with considering the nonlinear compression model of concrete and the weight of the pile body. Comparing calculation results and the engineering measured data, it demonstrates that the relationship between pile skin friction and the relative displacement and the settlement results are generally in good agreement with the practical engineering results. The skin friction of super-long piles increases with the increase of the depth, while decreases with the increase of the depth near the end of the pile and it has an obvious downward trend. As the load continues to increase, the skin friction near the pile end increases significantly and shows a gradual expansion of the pattern. It completely reflects the softening and strengthening properties of pile skin friction

What probability probably isn't

Joyce and others have claimed that degrees of belief are estimates of truth-values and that the probability axioms are conditions of admissibility for these estimates with respect to a scoring rule penalising inaccuracy. In this paper I argue that the claim that the rules of probability are truth-directed in this way depends on an assumption which is both implausible and lacks any supporting evidence, strongly suggesting that the probability axioms have nothing intrinsically to do with truth-directedness