by ECB Watch
GEI encourages rebuttals and here’s one of Social fractals and corruption of America. FYI, I recently wrote two reviews exposing flawed analysis, this one, and this one.
The analogy under consideration, here, is that between fractals and social behavior. But even more basic aspects come under criticism. The header: “Social fractals and social control myths help explain the complete corruption of America.” contains an exaggerated premise. The claim: “Correspondent Kathy K. recently elucidated a powerful concept: social fractals.” fails to mention who Kathy K. is, what she is a correspondent of, and what her authority on the topic is. Already, the author has lost my trust. Click on graphic for large image of fractal fern.Here’s the author’s description of a fractal:“We typically think of fractals–structures that are scale-invariant–as features of Nature or finance. For example, a coastline has the same characteristically ragged appearance from 100 feet, 1,000 feet and 10,000 feet in altitude. It is scale-invariant, i.e. its characteristics remain constant whether it is viewed on a small, medium or large scale.”
How are we to talk about a topic (social behavior) in terms of another (fractals), if the latter is so poorly described? Conversely, if it is assumed that the reader knows enough about fractals, why not jump to the more interesting aspects about fractals?
It turns out, unfortunately, that if the author’s description of fractals was so poor, that’s because social fractals only seem to fit that description, maybe not even that:
“The concept of social fractals can be illustrated with a simple example. If the individuals in a family unit are all healthy, thrifty, honest, caring and responsible, then how could that family be dysfunctional, spendthrift, venal and dishonest? It is not possible to aggregate individuals into a family unit and not have that family manifest the self-same characteristics of the individuals. This is the essence of fractals.”
The essence of fractals, really?! Why not show us a plot then, so we can all appreciate its raggedness, and tell us what the fractal dimension is? Either social fractals don’t exist (deception), or this article missed its target completely.
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