Herbert Simon quotes

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Herbert Alexander Simon. (1916 - 2001). American economist, political scientist, computer scientist, and educator whose primary interest was decision-making within organizations and is best known for the theories of "bounded rationality" and "satisficing".

Operational Research Restrictions

“The powerful algorithms associated with OR impose a strong mathematical structure on the decision problem. Their power is bought at the cost of shaping and squeezing the real-world problem to fit their computational requirements.”
Keywords: Power_quotes Algorithm_quotes Association_quotes Operation_quotes Research_quotes Strength_quotes Mathematics_quotes Structure_quotes Decision_quotes Problem_quotes Cost_quotes Buy_quotes Shape_quotes Squeeze_quotes World_quotes Fit_quotes Computation_quotes Requirements_quotes Real_quotes

Artificial Intelligence Satisfice

“The alternative methods provided by AI, most often in the form of heuristic search (selective search using rules of thumb), find decisions that are 'good enough', that satisfice.”
Keywords: Artificial_Intelligence_quotes Alternative_quotes Methodology_quotes Provide_quotes Form_quotes Heuristic_quotes Search_quotes Selection_quotes Rule_quotes Thumb_quotes Decision_quotes Find_quotes Good_quotes Satisfice_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Intelligence_quotes

Artificial Intelligence Judgment

“So-called judgment" turns out to be mainly a non-numerical heuristic search that draws upon information stored in large expert memories.”
Keywords: Judgment_quotes Turn_quotes Nonnumerical_quotes Numerical_quotes Heuristic_quotes Search_quotes Draw_quotes Information_quotes Storage_quotes Expert_quotes Memory_quotes

Human Limitations

“What a person cannot do he or she will not do, no matter how strong the urge to do it.”
Keywords: Human_quotes Person_quotes Do_quotes Strength_quotes Urge_quotes Capability_quotes

Satisficer

“The real economic actor is in fact a satisficer, a person who accepts 'good enough' alternatives, not because less is preferred to more but because there is no choice.”
Keywords: Reality_quotes Economics_quotes Actor_quotes Fact_quotes Satisfice_quotes Person_quotes Acceptance_quotes Good_quotes Alternative_quotes Choice_quotes Preference_quotes Enough_quotes

Psychology of Choice

“Research findings on the psychology of choice, indicate some properties a thermometer of satisfaction should have. First, unlike the utility function, it is not limited to positive values, but has a zero point (of minimal contentment). Above zero, various degrees of satisfaction are experienced, and below zero, various degrees of dissatisfaction. Second, if periodic readings are taken of people in relatively stable life circumstances, we only occasionally find temperatures very far from zero in either direction, and the divergent measurements tend to regress over time back toward the zero mark. Most people consistently register either slightly below zero (mild discontent) or a little above (moderate satisfaction). To deal with these phenomena, psychology employs the concept of aspiration level... Aspiration levels provide a computational mechanism for satisficing.”
Keywords: Research_quotes Find_quotes Psychology_quotes Choice_quotes Indication_quotes Property_quotes Thermometer_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Utility_quotes Limitation_quotes Positive_quotes Value_quotes Zero_quotes Point_quotes Minimum_quotes Content_quotes Degree_quotes Experience_quotes Dissatisfaction_quotes Period_quotes People_quotes Relative_quotes Stable_quotes Life_quotes Circumstance_quotes Occasional_quotes Temperature_quotes Far_quotes Direction_quotes Divergent_quotes Measurement_quotes Regression_quotes Time_quotes Consistency_quotes Register_quotes Discontent_quotes Moderation_quotes Deal_quotes Phenomena_quotes Employment_quotes Conception_quotes Aspiration_quotes Level_quotes Computation_quotes Mechanism_quotes Satisfice_quotes

Markets and Coordination

“Markets aim to coordinate the decisions and behavior of multitudes of economic actors to guarantee that the quantity of brussels sprouts shipped to market bears some reasonable relation to the quantity that consumers will buy and eat, and that the price at which brussels sprouts can be sold bears a reasonable relation to the cost of producing them. Any society that is not a subsistence economy, but has substantial specialization and division of labor, needs mechanisms to perform this coordinative function. Markets are only one, however, among the spectrum of mechanisms of coordination on which any society relies. [central planning, bargaining and negotiation, business, government, education, balloting procedures]”
Keywords: Market_quotes Aim_quotes Coordination_quotes Decision_quotes Behavior_quotes Multitude_quotes Economics_quotes Actor_quotes Guarantee_quotes Quantity_quotes Brussels_Sprount_quotes Market_quotes Reason_quotes Relational_quotes Consumer_quotes Buy_quotes Eat_quotes Price_quotes Sell_quotes Cost_quotes Production_quotes Society_quotes Subsistence_quotes Economy_quotes Substance_quotes Specialization_quotes Division_quotes Labor_quotes Mechanism_quotes Performance_quotes Function_quotes Spectrum_quotes Reliance_quotes Centralization_quotes Plan_quotes Bargin_quotes Negotiation_quotes Business_quotes Government_quotes Education_quotes Ballot_quotes Procedure_quotes

Markets and Voting

“We ordinarily describe capitalist societies as depending mostly on markets for coordination and socialist societies as depending mostly on hierarchic organizations and planning, but this is a gross oversimplification, for it ignores the uses of voting in democratic societies of either kind, and it ignores the great importance of large organizations in modern 'market' societies.”
Keywords: Ordinary_quotes Description_quotes Capitalism_quotes Society_quotes Dependence_quotes Market_quotes Coordination_quotes Socialism_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Organization_quotes Plan_quotes Simplification_quotes Ignorance_quotes Vote_quotes Democracy_quotes Importance_quotes Modern_quotes

Organization and Market Economy

“The economic units in capitalist societies are mostly business firms, which are themselves hierarchic organizations, some of enormous size, that make almost negligible use of markets in their internal functioning. Roughly eighty percent of the human economic activity in the American economy, usually regarded as almost the epitome of a "market" economy, takes place in the internal environments of business and other organizations and not in the external, between-organization environments of markets. To avoid misunderstanding, it would be appropriate to call such a society an organization-&-market economy; for in order to give an account of it we have to pay as much attention to organizations as to markets.”
Keywords: Economics_quotes Unit_quotes Capitalism_quotes Society_quotes Business_quotes Firm_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Organization_quotes Enormous_quotes Size_quotes Negligible_quotes Market_quotes Internal_quotes Function_quotes Human_quotes America_quotes Economy_quotes Epitome_quotes Environment_quotes External_quotes Understanding_quotes Appropriate_quotes Account_quotes Pay_quotes Attention_quotes

Invisible Hand

“In examining the processes of social coordination, economics has given top billing sometimes almost exclusive billing to the market mechanism. It is indeed a remarkable mechanism... The optimality theorems stretch credibility, so far as real-world markets are concerned, because they require substantive rationality of the kinds we found implausible in our examination of the theory of the firm. Markets populated by consumers and producers who satisfice instead of optimizing do not meet the conditions on which the theorems rest.”
Keywords: Examination_quotes Process_quotes Social_quotes Coordination_quotes Economics_quotes Top_quotes Bill_quotes Exclusive_quotes Market_quotes Mechanism_quotes Optimal_quotes Theory_quotes Stretch_quotes Credible_quotes Reality_quotes World_quotes Substance_quotes Rational_quotes Plausible_quotes Examination_quotes Firm_quotes Population_quotes Consumer_quotes Producer_quotes Satisfice_quotes Optimization_quotes Condition_quotes Invisible_quotes Hand_quotes

Game Theory

“Game theory's most valuable contribution has been to show that rationality is effectively undefinable when competitive actors have unlimited computational capabilities for outguessing each other, but that the problem does not arise as acutely in a world, like the real world, of bounded rationality.”
Keywords: Game_quotes Theory_quotes Value_quotes Contribution_quotes Rational_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Definition_quotes Competition_quotes Actor_quotes Unlimited_quotes Limitation_quotes Computation_quotes Capability_quotes Guess_quotes Problem_quotes Arise_quotes Acute_quotes World_quotes Reality_quotes Bounding_quotes Rational_quotes Undefinable_quotes Outguess_quotes

Decentralization

“Business organizations, like markets, are vast distributed computers whose decision processes are substantially decentralized.”
Keywords: Business_quotes Organization_quotes Market_quotes Vast_quotes Distributed_quotes Computer_quotes Decision_quotes Process_quotes Decentralization_quotes

Uncertainty

“In facing uncertainty, standardization and coordination, achieved through agreed-upon assumptions and specifications, may be more effective than prediction. Uncertainty calls for flexibility.”
Keywords: Uncertainty_quotes Standards_quotes Coordination_quotes Achievement_quotes Agreement_quotes Assumption_quotes Specification_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Prediction_quotes Flexibility_quotes

Bounded Rationality

“In a world of bounded rationality there are several ways to magnify the computing capabilities of individual human beings and enhance the possibilities of their collective survival and prosperity. With the combined use of markets and administrative hierarchies, the human species has enormously increased its capabilities for specialization and division of work.”
Keywords: World_quotes Bounding_quotes Rational_quotes Way_quotes Magnify_quotes Computation_quotes Capability_quotes Individual_quotes Human_quotes Enhancement_quotes Possibility_quotes Collective_quotes Survival_quotes Prosper_quotes Combination_quotes Market_quotes Administration_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Species_quotes Enormous_quotes Increasing_quotes Specialization_quotes Division_quotes Work_quotes

Intuition

“Intuition is a genuine enough phenomenon which can be explained rather simply: most intuitive leaps are acts of recognition.”
Keywords: Intuition_quotes Genuine_quotes Phenomena_quotes Explanation_quotes Leap_quotes Act_quotes Recognition_quotes Simplicity_quotes

Computer Programming as Data Structures

“When we write a computer program in any language except machine language, we are really not writing down processes but data structures. These data structures are then interpreted or compiled into processes, that is, into machine-language instructions that the computer can understand and execute. Nevertheless, for most purposes, it is convenient for us simply to ignore the translation step and to treat the computer programs in higher-level languages as representing processes.”
Keywords: Writing_quotes Programming_quotes Computer_quotes Program_quotes Language_quotes Exception_quotes Machine_quotes Process_quotes Data_quotes Structure_quotes Interpretation_quotes Compilation_quotes Instruction_quotes Understanding_quotes Execution_quotes Purpose_quotes Convenience_quotes Simplicity_quotes Ignore_quotes Translation_quotes Step_quotes Treat_quotes High_quotes Level_quotes Representation_quotes

Problem Solving and Understanding

“Efforts to solve a problem must be preceded by efforts to understand it.”
Keywords: Effort_quotes Solution_quotes Problem_quotes Precede_quotes Understanding_quotes

Understanding Problems

“Understanding problems in domains that have rich semantics requires prior knowledge of the domain.”
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Problem_quotes Domain_quotes Rich_quotes Semantic_quotes Requirements_quotes Prior_quotes Knowledge_quotes

Engineering and Design

“Historically and traditionally, it has been the task of the science disciplines to teach about natural things: how they are and how they work. It has been the task of engineering schools to teach about artificial things: how to make artifacts that have desired properties and how to design.”
Keywords: History_quotes Tradition_quotes Task_quotes Science_quotes Discipline_quotes Teaching_quotes Natural_quotes Work_quotes Engineering_quotes Artificial_quotes Artifact_quotes Desire_quotes Property_quotes Design_quotes School_quotes

Design and Analysis

“In view of the key role of design in professional activity, it is ironic that in this century the natural sciences almost drove the sciences of the artificial from professional school curricula, a development that peaked about two or three decades after the Second World War. Engineering schools gradually became schools of physics and mathematics; medical schools became schools of biological science; business schools became schools of finite mathematics. The use of adjectives like 'applied' concealed, but did not change, the fact. It simply meant that in the professional schools those topics were selected from mathematics and the natural sciences for emphasis which were thought to be most nearly relevant to professional practice. It did not mean that design continued to be taught, as distinguished from analysis.”
Keywords: View_quotes Key_quotes Role_quotes Design_quotes Professional_quotes Activity_quotes Irony_quotes Century_quotes Natural_quotes Science_quotes Drive_quotes Artificial_quotes School_quotes Curriculum_quotes Development_quotes Peak_quotes Decade_quotes World_quotes War_quotes Engineering_quotes Gradual_quotes Physics_quotes Mathematics_quotes Medical_quotes Biology_quotes Business_quotes Finite_quotes Applied_quotes Conceal_quotes Change_quotes Fact_quotes Simplicity_quotes Meaning_quotes Topic_quotes Selection_quotes Emphasis_quotes Thinking_quotes Near_quotes Relevance_quotes Practice_quotes Continue_quotes Teaching_quotes Analysis_quotes

Loss of Design Damage

“The damage to professional competence caused by the loss of design from professional curricula gradually gained recognition in engineering and medicine and to a lesser extent in business.”

Keywords: Damage_quotes Professional_quotes Competence_quotes Cause_quotes Loss_quotes Design_quotes Curriculum_quotes Gradual_quotes Gain_quotes Recognition_quotes Engineering_quotes Medical_quotes Business_quotes

How Things Ought to Be

“The natural sciences are concerned with how things are... Design, on the other hand, is concerned with how things ought to be.”
Keywords: Natural_quotes Science_quotes Concern_quotes Design_quotes Hand_quotes Concern_quotes Ought_quotes

Long Definition of Design

“The ‘inner environment' of the design problem is represented by a set of given alternatives of action. The alternatives may be given in extenso: more commonly they are specified in terms of command variables that have defined domains. The ‘outer environment' is represented by a set of parameters, which may be known with certainty or only in terms of a probability distribution. The goals for adaptation of inner to outer environment are defined by a utility function a function, usually scalar, of the command variables and environmental parameters perhaps supplemented by a number of constraints (inequalities, say, between functions of the command variables and environmental parameters). The optimization problem is to find an admissible set of values of the command variables, compatible with the constraints, that maximize the utility function for the given values of the environmental parameters. (In the probabilistic case we might say, 'maximize the expected value of the utility function,' for instance, instead of 'maximize the utility function.')”
Keywords: Inner_quotes Environment_quotes Design_quotes Problem_quotes Representation_quotes Set_quotes Alternative_quotes Action_quotes Extenso_quotes Common_quotes Specification_quotes Term_quotes Command_quotes Variable_quotes Definition_quotes Domain_quotes Outer_quotes Parameter_quotes Knowledge_quotes Certainty_quotes Probability_quotes Distribution_quotes Goal_quotes Adaptation_quotes Utility_quotes Function_quotes Scalar_quotes Supplement_quotes Number_quotes Constraint_quotes Maximum_quotes Value_quotes Compatibility_quotes Case_quotes Expectation_quotes Inequality_quotes Optimization_quotes Admissible_quotes

Not Just Optimization

“The subject of computational techniques need not be limited to optimization.”
Keywords: Subject_quotes Computation_quotes Technique_quotes Need_quotes Limitation_quotes Optimization_quotes

Top Down or Bottom Up

“Alternatives are also open, in organizing the design process, as to how far development of possible subsystems will be carried before the overall coordinating design is developed in detail, or vice-versa, how far the overall design should be carried before various components, or possible components, are developed. These alternatives of design are familiar to architects. They are familiar also to composers, who must decide how far the architectonics of a musical structure will be evolved before some of the component musical themes and other elements have been invented. Computer programmers face the same choices, between working downward from executive routines to subroutines or upward from component subroutines to a coordinating executive.”
Keywords: Alternative_quotes Open_quotes Organize_quotes Design_quotes Process_quotes Far_quotes Development_quotes Subsystem_quotes Carry_quotes Coordination_quotes Detail_quotes Vice-versa_quotes Overall_quotes Component_quotes Possibility_quotes Familiar_quotes Composer_quotes Decision_quotes Architectonic_quotes Music_quotes Theme_quotes Element_quotes Invention_quotes Computer_quotes Programmer_quotes Face_quotes Choice_quotes Work_quotes Downward_quotes Executive_quotes Routine_quotes Subroutine_quotes Upward_quotes Structure_quotes Evolve_quotes

Solving via Representation

“Solving a problem simply means representing it so as to make the solution transparent.”
Keywords: Solution_quotes Problem_quotes Simplicity_quotes Meaning_quotes Representation_quotes Transparency_quotes

Data for Planning

“The quality of design is likely to depend heavily on the quality of the data available. The task is not to design without data but to incorporate assessments of the quality of the data, or its lack of quality, in the design process itself.”
Keywords: Quality_quotes Design_quotes Dependency_quotes Heavy_quotes Data_quotes Task_quotes Incorporate_quotes Assessment_quotes Lack_quotes Process_quotes

Predictions and Design

“Since the consequences of design lie in the future, it would seem that forecasting is an unavoidable part of every design process. If that is true, it is cause for pessimism about design, for the record in forecasting even such 'simple' variables as population is dismal. If there is any way to design without forecasts, we should seize on it.”
Keywords: Consequence_quotes Design_quotes Future_quotes Forecast_quotes Unavoidable_quotes Part_quotes Process_quotes True_quotes Cause_quotes Pessimism_quotes Record_quotes Simplicity_quotes Variable_quotes Population_quotes Dismal_quotes Seize_quotes

Design without Final Goals

“In the discussion of discovery processes. We saw there that search guided by only the most general heuristics of ‘interestingness’ or novelty is a fully realizable activity. This kind of search, which provides the mechanism for scientific discovery, may also provide the most suitable model of the social design process.”
Keywords: Discussion_quotes Discovery_quotes Process_quotes Search_quotes Guide_quotes Generality_quotes Heuristic_quotes Interest_quotes Novelty_quotes Full_quotes Realizable_quotes Activity_quotes Kind_quotes Provide_quotes Mechanism_quotes Science_quotes Suitability_quotes Model_quotes Social_quotes Design_quotes

Design Paradox

“A paradoxical, but perhaps realistic, view of design goals is that their function is to motivate activity which in turn will generate new goals.”
Keywords: Paradox_quotes Realism_quotes View_quotes Design_quotes Goal_quotes Function_quotes Motivation_quotes Activity_quotes Turn_quotes Generation_quotes
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