David Segal’s “The X Factor of Economics,” NYT, Sunday, October 17, 2010, Week in Review, concludes that standard economic models don’t account for one critical factor.
Economics can be dressed up in mathematical garb, with after the fact precision, but the X factor causes it to lack before the fact precision. Precision? Seems like an inadequate term for a profession that can’t agree on what has happened, is in fact happening, much less what is about to happen.
But in any event, the X factor? That would be us, people.
People who gleefully buy, save, work, rest and generally live our lives without any regard for theories of economic behavior.
The same people who live without any regard for theories of semantics.
People are the X factor in information systems.
Just a caution to take into account when evaluating information, metadata or semantic systems.