
Jay W. Forrester, a pioneer in computer models, has died - sew
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/technology/jay-forrester-dead.html
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n00b101
"He recalled in 2011 that he once asked students in an engineering class if
they understood how the feedback mechanism in a toilet’s water tank maintained
the water level.

“I asked them, ‘How many of you have ever taken the lid off a toilet tank to
see how it works?’” he recalled. “None of them had. How do you get to M.I.T.
without having ever looked inside a toilet tank?”"

This is really surprising. Then again, this is not the first time I've
glimpsed the possibility that attendnce at a prestigious school is a very
noisy signal.

~~~
ghaff
There was a generation of engineering professors at MIT (and I'm sure
elsewhere) like Forrester, Doc Edgerton, Doc Draper, etc. who represented a
sort of hands on experimentation who I suspect would not have become faculty
in a later era. Which I consider rather unfortunate.

~~~
wglass
I remember that! I had the pleasure of being asked that very question by
Professor Forrester around 1990. (though I could answer in the affirmative).

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sweetjesus
more memorably (ha ha you'll see what I did there) for the majority of people
here, Jay Forrester invented core memory which revolutionized computers of
that generation. Prior to core, memory schemes were bizarre and klugy, like
storing information on the screen of a cathode ray tube, detectable when you
scan across it again; or sonic vibrations in mercury which you wait to emerge
from the other end.

Primary memory is still called core by old timers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-
core_memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory)

~~~
cma
>Primary memory is still called core by old timers.

Plus we still call them core dumps and have .core files

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jonbarker
A great book by one of his proteges, Donella Meadows:
[https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-
Meadows/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-
Meadows/dp/1603580557)

~~~
widowlark
This book changed my life. After reading this, I had an insatiable need to
learn more about systems and dynamic systems interactions - a passion that led
me to getting my macroeconomics degree today.

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peter303
People used his models without understanding the mathematical solutions. Most
of his models had links with first order difference equations with exponential
solutions. Hence most factors went to infinity or zero if you ran then long
enough. Worse was the Club of Rome projections which predicted the end of
civilization by year 2000.

~~~
subtenante
Forrester was himself very involved in the Meadows report. Forrester wrote
"World dynamics" which is the system dynamics basis for the Meadows report.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World3)

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nkassis
I learned recently that Will Wright was apparently influenced by Forrester and
it lead to the creation of SimCity. Here a cool article about it.
[http://www.filfre.net/2016/06/simcity-part-1-will-wrights-
ci...](http://www.filfre.net/2016/06/simcity-part-1-will-wrights-city-in-a-
box/)

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gumby
It's not uncommon for influential scientists in different fields to have
similar names, but when I was a student I was astonished that there were
several with the unusual (to me) name "Jay Forrester". Eventually I figured
out that they were all the same person!

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shaunxcode
If you have not stumbled upon DYNAMO before it is quentesential forrester
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DYNAMO_(programming_language...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DYNAMO_\(programming_language\))

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AlbertoGP
If you want some context on the significance and influence of his work
modeling systems through the concept of feedback loops, I recommend the second
part of Adam Curtis' "All watched over by machines of loving grace":

"The use and abuse of vegetational concepts"
[https://vimeo.com/groups/96331/videos/80799352](https://vimeo.com/groups/96331/videos/80799352)

Jump to minute 6:00 to watch the part about Jay Forrester, including an
interview with him.

