So intuitively we have a tendency to make models of everything around us. And now we are encouraged to smash those abstractions to pieces, so we can find better ones. Does that sum it up?
Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
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Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#12I'd say "fiddliness" is a characteristic of happiness and focused work. If you overlook most details you are basically just 'doing stuff to get objectives done', which is meager imho. Getting acquainted with detail takes us away from the vast sameness that we experience when we are just running on automatic and helps us cherish and savor each moment as complexity unfurls.
I think you really hit on something here. Anytime I'm working on a hobby of mine, I like to actively get into the weeds (figuratively, occasionally literally). It's in exploring and learning about the depth of the unknown that I find the most enjoyment.
I learned to love talking to strangers when I realized the richness and variety of human experience is so vast that no one person can feel or experience everything another person can in their lifetime. In retrospect, it's amazing I had to realize this at all, but we all start out self-absorbed.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#13Super interesting!
I feel like most programmers have it easy. For the most part the first step of a program is "take the universe and project it to some fixed structure". The entire universe of complexity gone.
The box has to be the right shape, but even if it's not things can mostly work.
You forget to account for wind and suddenly your New York skyscraper is falling over. Forget a field in your database and you just have a slightly busted thing.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#14Having never done any carpentry nor googled the answer, the first thing that's coming to mind is to place the board at the angle you want, then use a straight edge (like a level) extended out from the floor of the upper story to trace a line on the board. Cut the board, then flip it over so that cut side is on the bottom, and then repeat the process to cut the top.
Edit: I guess my first line will read as a disclaimer if I'm wrong (aka missing an important detail!) or a brag if I'm right; it's intended as the former!
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#15Something I've noticed now that we're all communicating online in written form: a lack of people saying "I don't know" It seems that everybody knows everything. Whatever the issue, a little bit of Googling and suddenly you know all there is to know. Even more wondrous, no matter what position you take on anything, some more search engine Kung Fu and you can find a hundred people willing to support you with arguments,…
Well. People still don't know, but now they have enough information to seem as-if they do.
Understanding is not a matter of a google. It's a decade of relevant experience.
You might beat the PhD to the factoid phrase, but when you come to employ the fact in the relevant problem you won't even know where to begin or even what it really meant.
People aren't exercising their ability to distinguish parroting from understanding, as-if intellectual work is just different forms of trivial pursuit.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#16I'd say "fiddliness" is a characteristic of happiness and focused work. If you overlook most details you are basically just 'doing stuff to get objectives done', which is meager imho. Getting acquainted with detail takes us away from the vast sameness that we experience when we are just running on automatic and helps us cherish and savor each moment as complexity unfurls.
I think you really hit on something here. Anytime I'm working on a hobby of mine, I like to actively get into the weeds (figuratively, occasionally literally). It's in exploring and learning about the depth of the unknown that I find the most enjoyment. I learned to love talking to strangers when I realized the richness and variety of human experience is so vast that no one person can feel or experience everything an…
It's probably when you're into those small universes, chasing down detail, that you are most happy and comfortable, even tho you might not be at that specific time your most productive self. After all, when 'flow' happens, We are not really caring about the passage of time, right? ;)
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#17There's something of a connection here to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Two examples come to mind: 1. The narrator thinks it's important to have in your toolset hammers of multiple hardness, because your hammer should be softer than whatever material you're hammering on at the time. At least, that's how I remember it; I might well be wrong about -- well, about the DETAILS of that example. Please correct…
From memory, the student in (2) was female. That has been one of the parts that really struck home with me as well - Change Your Perspective and then Look Again.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#18Something I've noticed now that we're all communicating online in written form: a lack of people saying "I don't know" It seems that everybody knows everything. Whatever the issue, a little bit of Googling and suddenly you know all there is to know. Even more wondrous, no matter what position you take on anything, some more search engine Kung Fu and you can find a hundred people willing to support you with arguments,…
Maybe it's just an impression based on the fact that people who do not know do not care to write it. I don't know :)
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#19Something I've noticed now that we're all communicating online in written form: a lack of people saying "I don't know" It seems that everybody knows everything. Whatever the issue, a little bit of Googling and suddenly you know all there is to know. Even more wondrous, no matter what position you take on anything, some more search engine Kung Fu and you can find a hundred people willing to support you with arguments,…
Reminds me of the recent results in education where those told how bright they are then go on to do worse in tests.
Re: Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017)
#20Something I've noticed now that we're all communicating online in written form: a lack of people saying "I don't know" It seems that everybody knows everything. Whatever the issue, a little bit of Googling and suddenly you know all there is to know. Even more wondrous, no matter what position you take on anything, some more search engine Kung Fu and you can find a hundred people willing to support you with arguments,…
Well. People still don't know, but now they have enough information to seem as-if they do. Understanding is not a matter of a google. It's a decade of relevant experience. You might beat the PhD to the factoid phrase, but when you come to employ the fact in the relevant problem you won't even know where to begin or even what it really meant. People aren't exercising their ability to distinguish parroting from underst…
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