The Politics of SimCity 4

Hmmm......Intresting

This post is over a year old and obviously not of major interest, but I'm adding this comment with a couple of links mostly for myself for further study.  This post reminds me of when I played shooter games and realized all that is actually happening is a mouse is being pointed at a moving hit box.  I think more is being read into the city simulator than what's actually there...  The term 'black box' is also used by programmers to define parameters wherein the inner-workings are developed and hard-coded.  To the programmers there is no longer a 'black box' once the coding is complete --all the inner workings are known.  But yes the human political world is always a gigantic black box full of disguises and tricks, and yes, mostly paranoia and conspiracy theorizing is entirely an appropriate response .  

Part of the enjoyment of using the city simulator is discovering the inner-workings according to the programmers, and one could enjoy studying the political world to discover its inner workings, but it seems both lead to a similar view of a brutal simplicity --something like an insect or bacteria colony.  So for a more fulfilling point of view one may study the physics and chemistry of the BIG 'black box' --the universe, and discover a complexity of form and dynamics vastly greater than anything either bugs or humans can know, act-upon or construct.  

For users of any computer simulation of anything the same message should be clear: These are works of fiction; and actual reality is always something far more complex.  I suppose at best a computer simulation could be called 'science-fiction' --or an interactive electronic entertainment. Think about it... millions of people all over the world right now are probably pointing a mouse at a hit box. Bacteria are probably exhibiting more complex behavior.

 

System Dynamics

System dynamics (SD) is an approach to understanding the nonlinear behaviour of complex systems over time using stocks, flows, internal feedback loops, table functions and time delays

A stock is the term for any entity that accumulates or depletes over time. A flow is the rate of change in a stock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_dynamics

Black Box

In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The term can be used to refer to many inner workings, such as the ones of a transistor, an engine, an algorithm, the human brain, or an institution or government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box

 

Uncertainty Quantification

Uncertainty quantification is the science of quantitative characterization and reduction of uncertainties in both computational and real world applications. It tries to determine how likely certain outcomes are if some aspects of the system are not exactly known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_quantification

 

Uncertainty Principle

In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle (also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities asserting a fundamental limit to the accuracy with which the values for certain pairs of physical quantities of a particle, such as position, x, and momentum, p, can be predicted from initial conditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The case for reducing existential risks

"So long as civilisation continues to exist, we’ll have the chance to solve all our other problems, and have a far better future. But if we go extinct, that’s it."

"If future generations could vote in our elections, then they’d vote overwhelmingly in favour of safer policies. Likewise, if future generations could send money back in time, they’d be willing to pay us huge amounts of money to reduce these risks."

https://80000hours.org/articles/existential-risks/