Given Don's personal knowledge of Simon, I am afraid what he says will end up the final word, esp for the PhD students here in this list.  But I want to say that there is a lot more than computer science in the Sciences of the Artificial, and worry if Don's own reading itself risks being reductionistic. It is about design, perhaps not graphic design or of everyday things, but social planning, even educational curriculums, etc.  Fair enough: I think we'll have to concede that in Simon there's an overdose of scientism, esp logical positivism (even though he renounced that, and a little late in life?) , and the Sciences in the 3rd ed is a little like Rome, with one civilization awkwardly piled into of another, and the basis for the first ill fitted for (but forcedly fitted) holding up the newer insights an dtrajectories of thought.  Even so, I myself find the earlier versions disappointing and the 3rd edition rather stimulating.  There's a strong eutrapelian thread in the 3rd edition, and fair enough the scienitism will forever be a poor ground, and new grounds need to be located, but there's an exciting vision of the evolutionary moving towards new discoveries of ideas, which precisely sits uneasily with his earlier, as Don pointed out, means-end kind of analysis (because under positivism, the ends are mere given preferences, there's no debate about these, and only the means can be discussed).  There's a delightful liberalism in Simon's theory of design (even though I am not sure if he would have thought of himself a liberal), the opening up of new ideas, consequences, preferences, etc (most of which is previously unplanned for).  The Sciences is still an exciting text for further semiosis. Do not throw it away!
J

-----Original Message-----


His book "Sciences of the Artificial" was NOT about design: it was primarily about computer science. He argued that most science dealt with the real world. Computer science dealt with the the artificial world that it itself had created.  Yes, he talked about design, but as an information processing activity.

I was extremely impressed with the first edition of the book. it was short and succinct.  A few years ago i decided to reread it but could not find my copy. So i bought the latest edition (third). I was greatly disappointed.
He rambled on and on and, to me, showed a lack of knowledge of the real work going on in design.  The book serves as a warning to authors: beware of revising a well-known book. (A fear I have about my soon to be published revision of a well-known book: did I follow in Simon's footsteps and make it worse?)

Herb was brilliant He changed the face of economic theory. He was instrumental in transforming Psychology into a real science. He is one of the co founders of the discipline known today as Artificial Intelligence (AI). His work with Newell was greatly influential.

But I also believe his powerful methods led him astray. His views are too narrow. He inspired a number of workers (including me) to go on to push his approaches far beyond what he approved of. Ideas march on, and oftentimes the fundamental ideas develop the foundations for their own overthrow.

So yes, honor Simon.  But do not thereby always follow in his footsteps. To do so would irritate him above all: he wanted people to think, to develop new ways of thinking. If his work leads to people developing new approaches that overthrow some of his approaches, he would be pleased.

Don
--
Don Norman
Nielsen Norman Group, IDEO Fellow
[log in to unmask]   www.jnd.org http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/
Book: "Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded<http://amzn.to/ZOMyys>"
(DOET2). Pub date: November 2013
Course: Udacity On-Line course based on
DOET2<https://www.udacity.com/course/design101> (free).
Nov 2013.


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