Comments on: The memory of crowds http://cultureby.com/2007/07/the-memory-of-c.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:43:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dino http://cultureby.com/2007/07/the-memory-of-c.html/comment-page-1#comment-2714 Dino Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:41:23 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=443#comment-2714 My head hasn't stopped spinning since seeing the photosynth demo. Simply incredible. My head hasn’t stopped spinning since seeing the photosynth demo. Simply incredible.

]]> By: Mike Arauz http://cultureby.com/2007/07/the-memory-of-c.html/comment-page-1#comment-2713 Mike Arauz Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:05:00 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=443#comment-2713 Great post. And it's not just the realization of a Collective Memory; I think this is one piece of the realization of a functional Collective Conscious. The concept that when one of us records an idea or experience, it can immediately be accessed everyone else. Great post.

And it’s not just the realization of a Collective Memory; I think this is one piece of the realization of a functional Collective Conscious. The concept that when one of us records an idea or experience, it can immediately be accessed everyone else.

]]> By: Peter http://cultureby.com/2007/07/the-memory-of-c.html/comment-page-1#comment-2712 Peter Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:02:07 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=443#comment-2712 Interesting post, Grant. You may also be interested in the recent work of Donald Mackenzie, professor of sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who has been studying the sociology of hedge fund operations. One of his findings is that the locus of decision-making in these funds is not a single, clever trader inside a company, or even a group of clever traders inside a company, but a dispersed network of clever traders, spread across different companies (who may even be competitors), together with their computer simulation tools. This leakage of mental capabilities from solipistic brains to networked communities is perhaps a defining theme of our (western) time. See: http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/mackenzie.html He has also studied the performative nature of economic theory -- the ability of economists to create the very reality they purport to describe. Interesting post, Grant.

You may also be interested in the recent work of Donald Mackenzie, professor of sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who has been studying the sociology of hedge fund operations. One of his findings is that the locus of decision-making in these funds is not a single, clever trader inside a company, or even a group of clever traders inside a company, but a dispersed network of clever traders, spread across different companies (who may even be competitors), together with their computer simulation tools. This leakage of mental capabilities from solipistic brains to networked communities is perhaps a defining theme of our (western) time. See:

http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/mackenzie.html

He has also studied the performative nature of economic theory — the ability of economists to create the very reality they purport to describe.

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