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Herbert A. Simon

60 quotes

“The criterion of efficiency dictates that choice of alternatives which produces the largest result for the given application of resources.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1945, p. 179); As cited in: Harry M. Johnson (1966) Sociology: A Systematic Introduction. p. 287.
“If there were no limits to human rationality administrative theory would be barren. It would consist of the single precept: Always select that alternative, among those available, which will lead to the most complete achievement of your goals.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1945, p. 240); As cited in:
“The techniques of the practitioner are usually called 'synthetic'. He designs by organizing known principles and devices into larger systems.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1945, p. 353); As cited in: Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences (2009) p. 425.
“Most of the propositions that make up the body of administrative theory today share, unfortunately, this defect of proverbs. For almost every principle one can find an equally plausible and acceptable contradictory principle.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon, Herbert A. "The proverbs of administration." Public Administration Review 6.1 (1946): 53-67.
“Broadly stated, the task is to replace the global rationality of economic man with a kind of rational behavior that is compatible with the access to information and the computational capacities that are actually possessed by organisms, including man, in the kinds of environments in which such organisms exist.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1955) "A behavioral model of rational choice", The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 69 (1); As cited in: Gustavo Barros (2010, p. 462).
“Over Christmas, Allen Newell and I created a thinking machine.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1956) quoted on CMU Libraries: Problem Solving Research
“It is not my aim to surprise or shock you – but the simplest way I can summarize is to say that there are now in the world machines that think, that learn and that create. Moreover, their ability to do these things is going to increase rapidly until – in a visible future – the range of problems they can handle will be coextensive with the range to which the human mind has been applied.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Newell & Simon (1958), quoted in AI, by Daniel Crevier
“Before we can establish any immutable 'principles' of administration, we must be able to describe, in words, exactly how an administrative organization looks and exactly how it works.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world you perceive is drastically simplified model of the real world.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whereas economic man maximizes - selects the best alternative from among all those available to him, his cousin, administrative man, satisfices - looks for a course of action that is satisfactory or "good enough.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economic man deals with the "real world" in all its complexity. Administrative man recognizes that the world he perceives is a drastic simplified model... He makes his choices using a simple picture of the situation that takes into account just a few of the factors that he regards as most relevant and crucial.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. xxix; As cited in: Jesper Simonsen (1994) Administrative Behavior: How Organizations can be Understood in Terms of Decision Processes. Roskilde Universitet.
“A major task in organizing is to determine, first, where the knowledge is located that can provide the various kinds of factual premises that decisions require.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before a science can develop principles, it must possess concepts. Before a law of gravitation could be formulated, it was necessary to have the notions of “acceleration” and “weight.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first task of administrative theory is to develop a set of concepts that will permit the description, in terms relevant to the theory, of administrative situations. These concepts, to be scientifically useful, must be operational; that is, their meanings must correspond to empirically observable facts or situations.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the process of decision those alternatives are chosen which are considered to be appropriate means of reaching desired ends. Ends themselves, however, are often merely instrumental to more final objectives. We are thus led to the conception of a series, or hierarchy, of ends. Rationality has to do with the construction of means-ends chains of this kind.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fact that goals may be dependent for their force on other more distant ends leads to the arrangement of these goals in a hierarchy - each level to be considered as an end relative to the levels below it and as a mean to the levels above it.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The function of knowledge in the decision-making process is to determine which consequences follow upon which of the alternative strategies. It is the task of knowledge to select from the whole class of possible consequences a more limited subclass, or even (ideally) a single set of consequences correlated with each strategy.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is impossible for the behavior of a single, isolated individual to reach a high degree of rationality. The number of alternatives he must explore is so great, the information he would need to evaluate them so vast that even an approximation to objective rationality is hard to conceive. Individual choice takes place in rationality is hard to conceive... Actual behavior falls short in at least three ways, of objective rationality:”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“# Rationality requires a complete knowledge and anticipation of the consequences that will follow on each choice. In fact, knowledge of consequences is always fragmentary”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“#Since these questions lie in the future, imagination must supply the lack of experienced feeling in attaching value to them. But values can be only imperfectly anticipated.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“# Rationality requires a choice among all possible alternative behaviors. In actual behavior, only a very few of all these possible alternatives come to mind.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 79; As cited in: Terry Winograd, ‎Fernando Flores (1986) Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. p. 21.
“Roughly speaking, rationality is concerned with the selection of preferred behavior alternatives in terms of some system of values, whereby the consequences of behavior can be evaluated.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Organizations and institutions permit stable expectations to be formed by each member of the group as to the behavior of the other members under specified conditions.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Organizations and institutions provide the general stimuli and attention-directors that channelize the behaviors of the members of the group, and that provide those members with the intermediate objectives that stimulate action.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The behaviour of individuals is the tool with which the organisation achieves its targets.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In order to survive, the organization must have an objective that appeals to its customers, so that they will make the contributions necessary to sustain it. Hence, organization objectives are constantly adapted to conform to the changing values of customers, or to secure new groups of customers in place of customers who have dropped away. The organization may also undertake special activities to induce acceptance of its objectives by customers - advertising, missionary work, and propaganda of all sorts.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The principle of bounded rationality [is] the capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world — or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In these two essays [the papers of 1955 and 1956] the focus is upon ways of simplifying the choice problem to bring it within the power of human computation... The key to the simplification of the choice process in both cases is the replacement of the goal of maximizing with the goal of satisficing, of finding a course of action that is ‘good enough’. I have tried, in these two essays, to show why this substitution is an essential step in the application of the principle of bounded rationality.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 204‑5; As cited in: Gustavo Barros (2010) "Herbert A. Simon and the concept of rationality: boundaries and procedures." Revista de Economia Política 30.3. p. 461.
“Administration is not unlike play-acting. The task of the good actor is to know and play his role, although different roles may differ greatly in content. The effectiveness of the performance will depend on the effectiveness of the play and the effectiveness with which it is played. The effectiveness of the administrative process will vary with the effectiveness of the organization and the effectiveness with which its members play their parts.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 252; As cited in: Herbert Simon (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial. page xii.
“If by motivation we mean whatever it is that causes someone to follow a particular course of action, then every action is motivated — by definition. But in most human behavior the relation between motives and action is not simple; it is mediated by a whole chain of events and surrounding conditions. We observe a man scratching his arm. His motive (or goal)? To relieve an itch.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Decision making processes are aimed at finding courses of action that are feasible or satisfactory in the light of multiple goals and constraints.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the time of its initial publication, Public Administration helped to define this field of study and practice by introducing two major new emphases: an orientation toward human behavior and human relations in organizations, and an emphasis on the interaction between administration, politics, and policy. Without neglecting more traditional concerns with organization structure, Simon, Thompson, and Smithburg viewed administration in its behavioral and political contexts. The viewpoints they express still are at the center of public administration's concerns.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Book abstract, 1991
“By public administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of the executive branches of national, state, and local governments; independent boards and commissions set up by the congress and state legislatures; government corporations, and certain agencies of a specialized character. Specifically excluded are judicial and legislative agencies within the government and nongovernmental administration.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The function of knowledge in the decision-making process is to determine which consequences follow upon which of the alternative strategies.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world—or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 198; Cited in: P. Slovic (1972) From Shakespeare to Simon: Speculations - And Some Evidence About Man's Ability to Process Information. Oregon Research Institute Monograph, 1972. p. 1.
“The first consequence of the principle of bounded rationality is that the intended rationality of an actor requires him to construct a simplified model of the real situation in order to deal with it. He behaves rationally with respect to this model, and such behavior is not even approximately optimal with respect to the real world. To predict his behavior we must understand the way in which this simplified model is constructed, and its construction will certainly be related to his psychological properties as a perceiving, thinking, and learning animal.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 198; Cited in P. Slovic (1972, p. 2).
“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon, H. A. (1971) "Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World" in: Martin Greenberger, Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest, Baltimore. MD: The Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 40–41.
“We are organization watchers in our role as citizens. Increasing attention has been ﬁxed in recent years upon the functioning of society’s organizations: its large corporations and its governments. Hence this could also be described as a book for Everyman–for it proposes a way of thinking about organizational issues that concern us all.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Definition of design = Everyone designs who devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones. The intellectual activity that produces material artifacts is no different fundamentally from the one that prescribes remedies for a sick patient or the one that devises a new sales plan for a company or a social welfare policy for a state.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“During and after World War II, a large number of academic economists were exposed directly to business life, and had more or less extensive opportunities to observe how decisions were actually made in business organizations. Moreover, those who became active in the development of the new management science were faced with the necessity of developing decision-making procedures that could actually be applied in practical situations. Surely these trends would be conducive to moving the basic assumptions of economic rationality in the direction of greater realism.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In Administrative Behavior, bounded rationality is largely characterized as a residual category — rationality is bounded when it falls short of omniscience. And the failures of omniscience are largely failures of knowing all the alternatives, uncertainty about relevant exogenous events, and inability to calculate consequences. There was needed a more positive and formal characterization of the mechanisms of choice under conditions of bounded rationality... Two concepts are central to the characterization: search and satisficing.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 502; As cited in Barros (2010, p. 464-5).
“We need to augment and amend the existing body of classical and neoclassical economic theory to achieve a more realistic picture of economic process.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Herbert A. Simon (1986) in Preface to: Gilad & Kaish (eds.), Handbook of Behavioral Economics, p. xvi.
“Modem mainstream economic theory bravely assumes that people make their decisions in such a way as to maximize their utility. Accepting this assumption enables economics to predict a great deal of behavior (correctly or incorrectly) without ever making empirical studies of human actors.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1990) "Invariants of Human Behavior" in: Annu. Rev. Psychol. 41: p. 6.
“Organizations are systems of coordinated action among individuals and groups whose preferences, information, interests, or knowledge differ. Organization theories describe the delicate conversion of conflict into cooperation, the mobilization of resources, and the coordination of effort that facilitate the joint survival of an organization and its members.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Simon (1993. p. 2); Cited in Mario Catalani, ‎Giuseppe F. Clerico (1996) Decision making structures. p. 1.
“If we want a theory explaining how people play billiards, we do not want a theory of perfect billiard balls; we want a theory of what heuristics a human billiard player uses in order to plan and make a (often not quite accurate) shot. These heuristics and actions do not involve solving the differential equations of the billiard board; they involve rules of thumb and it is these practice guides to action we are trying to discover in order to explain the behavior.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Empirically Based Microeconomics (1997), p. 173
“In view of the dramatic effects that alternative representations may produce on search and recognition processes, it may seem surprising that the differential effects on inference appear less strong. Inference is largely independent of representation if the information content of the two sets of inference rules [one operating on diagrams and the other operating on verbal statements] is equivalent—i.e. the two sets are isomorphs as they are in our examples”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 71, as cited in: Bauer, Malcolm I., and Philip N. Johnson-Laird. "How diagrams can improve reasoning." Psychological Science 4.6 (1993): 372-378.
“[Even Darwin’s] natural selection only predicts that survivors will be fit enough, that is, fitter than their losing competitors; it postulates satisficing, not optimizing.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 166; As cited in Ronald J. Baker (2010, p. 122).
“Computers were within my sphere of attention, but only computers used as number crunchers. In spite of the "giant brain" metaphor, there is little suggestion in this 1950 talk that the most important application of computers might lie in imitating intelligence symbolically, not numerically.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true line is not between “hard” natural science and “soft” social sciences, but between precise science limited to highly abstract and simple phenomena in the laboratory and inexact science and technology dealing with complex problems in the real world.”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source