Living Earth Simulator Aims To Simulate Everything

H3xx writes "An international group of scientists is aiming to create a simulator — nicknamed The Living Earth Simulator — that will collect data from billions of sources and use it to replicate everything happening on Earth, from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or congestion on highways. The project aims to advance the scientific understanding of what is taking place on the planet, encapsulating the human actions that shape societies and the environmental forces that define the physical world. Perhaps this is Asimov's concept of Psychohistory come to fruition."

Comments

Re:Everything?

[dbIII]

It entirely depends on what level of detail you want as to whether the model is valid or not. Consider the attached image of myself as an example - it's highly accurate for that level of detail :)

Re:more

[cHALiTO]

But, it'll simulate everything, then it will also simulate itself, running the simulation, and so on. Looks like a recursive simulation :)

Uncertainty Reigns

[thethibs]

The big problem with this is that most of the world's and humanity's interesting systems are chaotic. You may get lucky and find an attractor or two.

In any case, simulation can show you plausible futures, but they'll have no predictive value. The outputs will be little more than cybernetic speculative fiction.

On the other hand, there's no explaining chaos to a politician, or to a scientist who believes that more data and higher resolution are all that's needed to clear up the confusion; the grant money will keep flowing.