The Sciences of the Artificial

All mathematics exhibits in its conclusions only what is already implicit in its premises,

Now no one in his right mind will satisfice if he can equally well optimize; no one will settle for good or better if he can have best. But that is not the way the problem usually poses itself in actual design situations.

Aspiration levels provide a computational mechanism for satisficing. An alternative satisfices if it meets aspirations along all dimensions. If no such alternative is found, search is undertaken for new alternatives. Meanwhile, aspirations along one or more dimensions drift down gradually until a satisfactory new alternative is found or some existi

Numbers are not the name of this game but rather representational structures that permit functional reasoning, however qualitative it may be.

But as knowledge grows, the role of the professional comes under questioning. Developments in technology give professionals the power to produce larger and broader effects at the same time that they become more clearly aware of the remote consequences of their prescriptions.

Moreover they did not postulate a new man to be produced by the new institutions but accepted as one of their design constraints the psychological characteristics of men and women as they knew them, their selfishness as well as their common sense.

For the question before us, the difference between local and global maxima is crucial. In the landscape of California every tiny hill is a local maximum of altitude, but only Mt. Whitney is a global maximum. For many purposes it makes a difference whether one finds oneself standing on Nob Hill or Mt. Whitney. Finding a local maximum is usually easy

The demonstration will become more convincing when one of these systems discovers something of interest that is novel not only to it but to the world.

We might be more optimistic if we recognized that we do not have to solve all of these problems. Our essential task—a big enough one to be sure—is simply to keep open the options for the future or perhaps even to broaden them a bit by creating new variety and new niches.