Monday, February 21, 2011

and while we're at it ...

We could use to manage responses from stakeholders to our Facebook Tern and Plover management game.

Visualizing future risk

Now this is way cool. I want to do this with my Tern and Plover predictions for the Platte and Missouri Rivers.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The anthropocene 1


The anthropocene 1, originally uploaded by atiretoo.

When I look at eastern Nebraska's landscapes, my dominant feeling is anguish - for the loss of what was, and the failure of what is to provide for the future.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A better oath

I tweaked the oath for ecological modelers. It doesn't matter if we're relevant as long as we're trying to move forward.

Friday, February 4, 2011

An oath to do no harm

I recently posted a checklist to prevent illicit use of quantitative tools. In the same spirit, I offer the following Hippocratic Oath for Ecological Modelers:

  • I will remember that I didn't make the world and that it doesn't satisfy my equations.

  • Though I will use models boldly to estimate value extinction risk, I will not be overly impressed by mathematics.

  • I will never sacrifice reality for elegance without explaining why I have done so.

  • Nor will I give the people who use my model false comfort about its accuracy. Instead, I will make explicit its assumptions and oversights.

  • I understand that my work may have enormous trivial effects on society and the economy, many of them beyond my comprehension, but I will continue to try to be relevantbut I will continue to advance my science anyway.

This is adapted from Emmanuel Derman and Paul Wilmott’s oath for economic modelers. See if you can spot my modifications. I tried to be subtle.