full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Nicolas Perony: Puppies! Now that I’ve got your attention, complexity theory

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So I built a model, a model of simulated meerkats crossing a simulated road. It's a simplistic model. Moving meerkats are like random particles whose unique rule is one of alignment. They simply move together. When these prcialtes get to the road, they ssene some kind of obstacle, and they bounce against it. The only difference between the doaminnt female, here in red, and the other iaddiunvlis, is that for her, the height of the otcbalse, which is in fact the risk peerceivd from the road, is just slightly hhiger, and this tiny difference in the individual's rule of movement is sufficient to explain what we observe, that the dominant female laeds her group to the road and then gives way to the others for them to cross first. George Box, who was an English statistician, once wrote, "All models are false, but some models are useful." And in fact, this model is obviously false, because in reality, merakets are anything but random particles. But it's also useful, because it tells us that eetxrme simplicity in movement rlues at the individual level can rsleut in a great deal of complexity at the level of the group. So again, that's simplifying complexity.

Open Cloze


So I built a model, a model of simulated meerkats crossing a simulated road. It's a simplistic model. Moving meerkats are like random particles whose unique rule is one of alignment. They simply move together. When these _________ get to the road, they _____ some kind of obstacle, and they bounce against it. The only difference between the ________ female, here in red, and the other ___________, is that for her, the height of the ________, which is in fact the risk _________ from the road, is just slightly ______, and this tiny difference in the individual's rule of movement is sufficient to explain what we observe, that the dominant female _____ her group to the road and then gives way to the others for them to cross first. George Box, who was an English statistician, once wrote, "All models are false, but some models are useful." And in fact, this model is obviously false, because in reality, ________ are anything but random particles. But it's also useful, because it tells us that _______ simplicity in movement _____ at the individual level can ______ in a great deal of complexity at the level of the group. So again, that's simplifying complexity.

Solution


  1. obstacle
  2. result
  3. individuals
  4. leads
  5. dominant
  6. perceived
  7. meerkats
  8. rules
  9. higher
  10. particles
  11. extreme
  12. sense

Original Text


So I built a model, a model of simulated meerkats crossing a simulated road. It's a simplistic model. Moving meerkats are like random particles whose unique rule is one of alignment. They simply move together. When these particles get to the road, they sense some kind of obstacle, and they bounce against it. The only difference between the dominant female, here in red, and the other individuals, is that for her, the height of the obstacle, which is in fact the risk perceived from the road, is just slightly higher, and this tiny difference in the individual's rule of movement is sufficient to explain what we observe, that the dominant female leads her group to the road and then gives way to the others for them to cross first. George Box, who was an English statistician, once wrote, "All models are false, but some models are useful." And in fact, this model is obviously false, because in reality, meerkats are anything but random particles. But it's also useful, because it tells us that extreme simplicity in movement rules at the individual level can result in a great deal of complexity at the level of the group. So again, that's simplifying complexity.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
social structure 4
dominant female 4
social complexity 3
extraordinary social 2
complex system 2
complex systems 2
individual rules 2
simple rules 2
create complicated 2
bat colony 2
great start 2


Important Words


  1. alignment
  2. bounce
  3. box
  4. built
  5. complexity
  6. cross
  7. crossing
  8. deal
  9. difference
  10. dominant
  11. english
  12. explain
  13. extreme
  14. fact
  15. false
  16. female
  17. george
  18. great
  19. group
  20. height
  21. higher
  22. individual
  23. individuals
  24. kind
  25. leads
  26. level
  27. meerkats
  28. model
  29. models
  30. move
  31. movement
  32. moving
  33. observe
  34. obstacle
  35. particles
  36. perceived
  37. random
  38. reality
  39. red
  40. result
  41. risk
  42. road
  43. rule
  44. rules
  45. sense
  46. simplicity
  47. simplifying
  48. simplistic
  49. simply
  50. simulated
  51. slightly
  52. statistician
  53. sufficient
  54. tells
  55. tiny
  56. unique
  57. wrote