Re: Re: Gregnews: US report proves EP lies

[paul@wolfbone.ath.cx]

> This NEW BRANCH of science has experienced remarkable growth in recent
> years. 

> To fight such patents in Europe is to fight the progress of a new
> science in Europe.

Hmmm...

Econophysics is a very interesting branch of condensed matter physics ;-) and 
very respectable too: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d15a/d1520.pdf but - ;
as anyone who knows something about modern physics could tell you - however 
close the mathematical analogies it doesn't mean it /is/ thermodynamics:

> The movement and exchange of such goods is little different than
> the movement and exchange of energy in interacting particle systems. In
> both cases, thermodynamics ignores the microscopic interactions and focuses
> instead on macroscopic properties. It is not surprising then that
> physicists are successfully able to apply this physics to financial
> markets (indeed, Wall Street hires tons of physicists).

or that its applications are anything like those of mathematically analagous 
fields and it certainly does not follow that:

> a good way to promote the disclosure of new, useful applications of
> a science is with patents.

I think we should at least wait until the econophysical models themselves 
tell us that they ought to be patentable.