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It is often said that history repeats itself, could it be that the state of human society can be represented as a periodic signal, and if it could, how might the waveform behave.
If it is a real system in nature, must it be dampened in a way such that the state of human society (its highs and lows) varies along with its periodicity ( does it ring out, resonate, etc...)
I personally feel it could not exist as simply periodic (believing it is a natural phenomenon) assuming that in the natural world systems are dampened in some way.
If we could start to map this waveform, we could then decompose it into its harmonics ( Fourier analysis ) and might these harmonics, be each humans individual contribution to the history of humanity (their individual histories), where it all boils down to a finite number of individual waves added together created our cohesive history of humanity. Could social networking be a data-mine for such analysis?
Any thoughts on the matter? I realize it isn't exactly science ( but it doesn't seem altogether to absurd for a scientific forum), so I was hoping we could just talk about it in a philosophical sense with scientists, or whoever. After all, I feel we are all apart of the wave of the future.
Originally posted by joe shmoSounds a lot like the science fiction agent of Isaac Asimov, in his 'foundation' series which he used an analysis like that called Psycodynamics or something like that.
It is often said that history repeats itself, could it be that the state of human society can be represented as a periodic signal, and if it could, how might the waveform behave.
If it is a real system in nature, must it be dampened in a way such that the state of human society (its highs and lows) varies along with its periodicity ( does it ring out, re ...[text shortened]... ense with scientists, or whoever. After all, I feel we are all apart of the wave of the future.
I think some things could be charted out, like responses to famine and such but I don't think it would be like an every 220 year cycle kind of thing.
It might be more amenable to wavelet analysis.
I just came across this little known deal he pulled:
http://io9.com/5887014/meet-thiotimoline-the-chemical-compound-isaac-asimov-invented-to-spoof-boring-science-writing
He was a seriously smart dude!
Originally posted by joe shmoIts the sort of statement that is guaranteed to come true. It is always possible, for almost any event in history, to find some prior event with something in common and then say 'well history repeated itself'. In many cases, there will be many things in common.
It is often said that history repeats itself,....
..could it be that the state of human society can be represented as a periodic signal, and if it could, how might the waveform behave.
Although it is trivial to find events that have happened before, it would be much harder to find a periodic pattern. This is only likely to be the case in systems where such periodicity arises from the system - eg the stock market.
But I think you would find a lot of different systems interact to make up human society, and humans are not really one single society, so you have different societies interacting. So rather than a single wave form, you will have a highly complicated wave almost indistinguishable from white noise.
The population is growing, wealth is increasing, knowledge is increasing, family sizes are falling, culture is changing to a more peaceful society, etc. So there are significant long term trends.
If we could start to map this waveform, we could then decompose it into its harmonics ( Fourier analysis )
Much easier to start in the other direction and identify the inputs and see how they create the wave.
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Originally posted by twhiteheadWhat would make you so certain that the waveform would be non deterministic? Does the fact a wave is complicated guarantee it to be non deterministic? Or is it non deterministic because of the "percieved free will" of its constituent waves?
Its the sort of statement that is guaranteed to come true. It is always possible, for almost any event in history, to find some prior event with something in common and then say 'well history repeated itself'. In many cases, there will be many things in common.
[b]..could it be that the state of human society can be represented as a periodic signal, an ...[text shortened]... easier to start in the other direction and identify the inputs and see how they create the wave.