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The Nature of Noise

  • Conference paper
Epistemological Aspects of Computer Simulation in the Social Sciences (EPOS 2006)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5466))

Abstract

The idea of noise is now widespread in many fields of study. However to a large extent the use of this term is unexamined. It has become part of the practice of science without entering to a significant extent as part of its explicit theory. Here I try to produce a clearer and more coherent account of the term. I start with a picture of noise from electrical engineering. I then generalise this to the widest conception: that of noise as what is unwanted. A closely related conception is noise as what is unexplained. A particular case of this later usage is where a source of randomness can be used to stand-in for this residual. I argue that noise and randomness are not the same. I explore the possible relation between noise and context, and propose a new conception of noise: namely that noise is what can result from an extra-contextual signal. I finish with an application of the analysis of noise to the relation of determinism and randomness.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Policy Modelling, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

    Bruce Edmonds

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  1. Bruce Edmonds
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, University of Brescia, San Faustino 74/b, 25122, Brescia, Italy

    Flaminio Squazzoni

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Edmonds, B. (2009). The Nature of Noise. In: Squazzoni, F. (eds) Epistemological Aspects of Computer Simulation in the Social Sciences. EPOS 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5466. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01109-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01109-2_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-01108-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-01109-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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