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Physicists Intervene To Understand Problems of Society
2009 May 9tags:Communication,Economic Recovery,Economy,Education,Energy,Physics,Stock Market,Technology,TED,Wall Street,War    by Mitch Chester When one hears the word “Physicist,” connotations of isolatedscientists dealing with mysterious forces and physical phenomenainvolving matter come to mind. But just like the elements andconcepts these specialists usually study, the worlds they explore arerapidly expanding into comprehending human behavior, includingeconomics and the complex forces that affect us all. Welcome to“Econophysics” which deals with “statistical mechanics.” This field of study is rather new…it started in the 1990’s, and you are likely to hear a lot about it in the coming years…and ways it can improve
 your 
life.Take the physicists who are
studying how to predict future economiccatastrophes.
According to the April edition of 
Portfolio 
(which likesome forms of matter has now disappeared)
 ,
scientists are laboring tosupplement the work ofeconomists to study the intricacies of economic behavior to foresee future financial crisis. The magazine reports physicists can build and study a complete model of the economy torecognize dynamic economic interactions which might help us avertfuture recessions by studying early warning signs. Their work isalready being pursued in understanding the regulation of energymarkets in Illinois.But that’s not all. Computational and socio-physicists are also
exploring warfare models and civil conflicts
and are detecting patterns of  behavior that map and suggest military and casualty trends.
(See Gourley TED video above).
The results of this ground breaking butcontroversial scientific research may someday help policy makers
avert war 
, not just study and react to it.There are reports econophysicists have even probed such varied problems as cardiac patterns, stock price fluctuations and earthquake predictions. Might they someday help save you, a loved one or your business?In a September, 2005 article published by
Physics Today
, the authors comment that “an emerging body of work by physicists addressingquestions of economic organization and function suggests new approaches to economics and a broadening of the scope of physics.” Books,ournals and conferences have sprung up to discuss this new endeavor. Just look at the publications on
Scribd 
right now for proof. Spreadingquickly as a serious field of study, the
Physics Today
article reports that “physics departments worldwide are granting PhD theses for researchin economics.” On oneUniversity websitestudying econophysics, the question is asked, “What is the flagship achievement of economics,apart from its recurrent inability to predict and avert crisis, including the worldwide credit crunch?” Indeed, physics may be the missingelement to help us get a better grip on the dynamics of money.Clearly, this work is seen as outside the mainstream…but from a layperson’s perspective, it seems rational to delve into this science in an effortto better understand finance and behavior. Why not? The growing art of combining concepts and models of physics with economics andhuman behavior is intriguing. Why should we look with tunnel vision to understand the failure of Wall Street by confining our search to thework product of the very same economists and bankers who helped create our present near-depression? If we broaden our scrutiny of eventsy employing the work different technical disciplines, we mightbe able to better appreciate, and avoid, future negative events.
 
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It is the real-time interaction of experts within different disciplines that can solve many of today’s vexing problems. No longer need we studyeconomics with just economists. We are not limited to understanding the psychology ofinternational and national human conflict by restrictingourselves to the political scientists. Psychologists should not work alone in understanding brain behavior. By introducing mathematicians,those who study the physical sciences and other forensic investigators of complex systems, we can better chart, and prepare for, the rush of events that make up today’s evolving fabric of future human history.The message here:
Collaboration among disciplines is animperative.
 Last year some friends and I sponsored an affordable housing design course at an internationally acclaimed School of Architecture. Thiscourse added a twist, however. We brought in engineers to work with the architects to collaborate on selection of the best physical materials touse in the production of real world affordable living units. The first meeting was amazing…the engineering professors had never worked withtheir counterparts in the architecture department and were thrilled at the opportunity. All they needed to do was
talk 
with each other. Theresult was exponentially more productive than if the architectural students worked in a vacuum just on paper and excluded other mindsets andideas. The revelation that the two departments had never collaborated before 2008 was, to say the least, shockingly sad, however. That course proved interdisciplinary collaboration can, and does work, but is under utilized.Assembling groups of scientists from many different disciplines, includingstatistical physicists, to attack key problems which society once onlylooked at from a one-dimensional perspective is, perhaps, the warp speedwormhole we need for significant problem solving. It’s
social science
at anew level. It’s just like the “social networking” we you and I are engagedin on
WordPress, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace
and
Scribd 
, but at moretechnical levels.
We need to open our minds to new explanations.
 
Noproblem is too hard to tackle if we infuse unconventional approachesto create solutions. Go physicists. Go scientists. Go
Gourley
.
 Let’s create
shared emergence of collaboration in this age of intricatechallenges.
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