20 Quotes by John L. Casti

What distinguishes a mathematical model from, say, a poem, a song, a portrait or any other kind of “model,” is that the mathematical model is an image or picture of reality painted with logical symbols instead of with words, sounds or watercolors.

The global financial system consists of firms in the financial services sector – banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and the like – and various governmental agencies who are charged with regulating these firms.

I believe is that we can forecast the “changing landscape of context,” and thus get insight into when we are entering the danger zone of an X-event.

The process of globalization has now interconnected almost everything ranging from financial markets to transport networks to communication systems in a huge system that no one really understands.

The unfolding time for the end of globalization or a worldwide deflation is much longer, certainly measured in years, if not decades.

My own guess is that quite quickly the machine intelligence will start dreaming machine dreams and thinking machine thoughts, both of which would totally incomprehensible to us. This would then lead to each species, we and the machines, moving off on to its own separate life trajectory.

Reality is a wave function traveling both backward and forward in time.

Trying to solve the problem by creating more debt is analogous to trying to stop being an alcoholic by going on a bender down at the corner bar.

Once the reality sets in of a superhuman intelligence being in control of every aspect of the infrastructures we rely upon for everyday life, we will simply have to try to come to an accommodation with that entity.