Nuno Carneiro

Este e um blogue simples. Sera bilingue, muito pessoal, e e, principalmente, um estimulo para escrever. Porque eu adoro escrever. This is a simple blog. It will be bilingual, personal, and, essentially it's a excuse for me to write. Because I love to write.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Models

In natural sciences, we make models to describe nature. From the start we know these models will fail: nature doesn't behave the way we want. We also know we can't force nature to behave the way our models predict it to behave. All we can do is to improve upon the models. And that's what we do. The better the model, the happier we are.

In Social Sciences, Politics and Philosophy there's a subtle difference: we can influence the way people behave and, throught a strong State, we can regulate the lives of the others greatly.

Hence the temptation: why to work hard on improving models, if you can force the people into behaving the way your models predict?

This, in short, is Socialism, Fascism, Nazism or any other dictatorship. Some guy, who thought he was very clever, came up with an ideology (which is nothing but a model) and now he wants society to behave in the way prescribed by his model, calling it the "right way" as opposed to a behaviour not taken into account by his model, which he calls the "wrong way".

This is why these ideologies always lead to murder, dictatorships and misery. This is why I support small Government and individual freedom. And this is why when I hear anyone talk about a new "idea for society", a new "idea for the World", I immediately leave the room heading to the nearest Pub.

posted by Nuno Carneiro # 5:28 PM

Comments:

Things aren't so simple, and I think you are confusing things a litle bit.

First, you talk about models like the ones used in physics, which indeed try to describe reality or phenomena of reality. Model of physics try to describe nature. The same happens, for example, in Economics, considered a social science, where people try to make models to capture the reality of an economy, from a given point of view, so that they can better understand what is going on, and to make certain predictions. Of course, I don't know exactly why, but the models of physics seem to be more accurate thant the ones used in Economics, but the idea is the same: the use of models to describe reality.

Then you jump to a completely different thing. Political ideology is like a model of organisation a society. Although, there is a connection with models used in science, it is not the same thing. Actually the aims behind the too are different. Models of organisation of a society try to address the problem of what is the best way to organise all those individuals that make a society. Given that we, humans, are social beings what are the best rules of organisation of a group of individuals so that we can all benefit from such organisation. This has to be, somehow, agreed by the individuals that make the society (or a group of them) and then enforced. That organisation has to be built by someone, ideally all of us. It is not there, so we can't make a model to capture what is there, but to make a model to rule the way a society is organised.

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