Ventana software support forum

This is to respond to Arlen Wolperts comment on the implications of
my comment on the quality of my own models.

Firstly, it is not for me to judge the quality of my own work; my
academic peers would do this. Given that the models have been published
in a number of learned journals and the two books I have written are well
received, I have no reasons to complain.

As for the implementation of the policy guidelines, it would not be prudent
to press for this for any new piece of knowledge, which after all is only
another view of the complex reality from a different vantage. I think a
bit of humility for the knowledge artifacts we create would facilitate the
search for truth and this will make the world a much better place to live
since it would provide room for reflection without any pressures. Given
enough time in such an environment, there is a good chance that we come
closer to truth.

Let me add that I greatly appreciate Arlens kind words about my work and
that I would continue the work in the academic niche I have selected for
its intrinsic value to me, rather than for any extrinsic rewards. But,
this attitude might very much be a part of my Eastern origin.

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Although I would not have time to continue this discussion much longer, I
wish to add a comments on points 2 and 3 of Wolperts messaege:

The fact is that the north-south intellectual devide evident from the
logic of Wolperts conclusions is far more dangerous than the perceived
repression in the developing countries. The learned designs of
development policy design orginating from the north have often had
disasterous implications for the the developing countries in which they
were implemented. This is because the models they were based on lacked
experiencial information, which incidentally is the cornerstone of SD
modeling. I am glad the subject of north-south intellectual divide is now
being openly discussed in the academic cirlces and a respectable body of
literature is developing on it. This should also moderate the kind of
initiatives proposed by Wolpert.

I view our SD work as a humble endeavor in science. Our primary
responsibility is to add value and not push ahead for a revolution. It is
practice with this attitude by our colleagues that has won acceptance of
SD as a serious discipline. I believe our pactice must be disciplined by
science rather than an endeavor to reinvent science and I view all kinds
of pushes to sell to be overbearing and harmful for our field.

Khalid Saeed
saeed@ait.ac.th