[FRIAM] the arc of socioeconomics, personal and public: was VPN server

[Frank Wimberly]

"I argue that this mental model is a figment of your imagination..."

In other words, a mental model.

Frank

Frank Wimberly
Phone (505) 670-9918

On Apr 22, 2017 9:48 AM, "┣glen┫" <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:

> Excellent! Thanks for providing some concrete context.  I now realize you
> are focusing on a describable subset of the amorphous cloud of the word
> "model".  Progress in the argument is impossible without that.  And I'll
> try to avoid the endless caveats, qualifiers, and prefixes for the
> ambiguous term by using what i've argued elsewhere (in the papers I've
> helped publish) are standard English words, namely "analog" and "measure".
>
> When you talk about the analogs you made out of basswood, these are
> fundamentally different from whatever cluster of concepts we might
> arbitrarily carve out of your nervous system and call a "mental model".  I
> argue that this "mental model" is a figment of your imagination.  What is
> real is the analog (starting with a block of wood) and your sensorimotor
> manifold driven by your nervous system.  That entire collection, system,
> including the block of wood, the knives, sandpaper, etc. includes little,
> tiny measures.  These are quite distinguishable from your "Lufkin tape
> measure", which is, itself much more than a measure (or not really a
> measure at all).  That "Lufkin tape measure" is an analog.  The way you
> measure things with it is by analogy.  You take the analog and set it
> alongside another (non-mental, concrete) object.  That analogical reasoning
> process is what we call "taking a measurement".
>
> You do the exact same thing when you pick the block of wood up into your
> hand.  You "get a feeling for" the block of wood by analogy with your hand
> (and the distance between your eyeballs, etc).  That act: picking up,
> holding, turning over, the block of wood _is_ measuring.  You're "taking
> measure" of the block (and the rest of the context, including the tools you
> will choose).  And the measures involved are analogical
> reasoning/comparisons between parts of your body and the thing being
> measured.
>
> We call both measures and analogs "models" in our sloppy language.  But it
> should be clear that measures are much more primitive and fundamental than
> the overwhelming majority of other things we call "model".  Similarly,
> analogs are often called "concrete models", like your basswood boat or
> Redfish's sand table.  Sure, we _could_ call these "concrete models".  But
> why would we unless we were trapped in a word salad tossing argument with a
> bunch of philosophers?  We have other words that are more specific and
> useful like "analog".  And when we compare and contrast our analogs with
> their referents, then we are _measuring_ the less familiar via the more
> familiar.
>
>
> On 04/21/2017 06:40 PM, Vladimyr wrote:
> > Glen, making you nauseous was not my intention.
> > So some models use Rigid Metrics
> > others seem to be    Pattern Comparisons
> > and then there are   Neural Models
> >
> > I have  been labouring for some time on another which was once thought
> by myself to be
> > a machine motion algorithm but when graphically displayed looked
> extraordinarily like a sea creature.
> > So some appeared to have petal structures so I applied some desperate
> measures and named them in my mind
> > as belonging to a class of creatures having a integer number of
> petals.0.. 48 before the computer balked in protest.
> > These were in every case peculiar rectangular matrices, having some
> properties of networks. So applying colors only
> > to edges produced some spectacular transformations not imagined in 2D
> spreadsheets.
> > I constructed a hallucination and named it a Mental Model. By Jacking it
> up to 4D since now it grows, these phantoms
> > plague my sleep and friendships. I am converting them to 3D .obj files
> and intend to print one when it is not writhing before my eyes.
> >
> > The printer imposes dimensions for the first time due to the containment
> box, design envelope. This is a trivial Scaling Problem, so it seems.
> >
> > Once many years ago I designed boats and started with Half Models in
> basswood. Then lifted (lofted) the lines to paper so it would
> > fit in my shop and out the doors. So those models existed in my mind
> before any sawdust fell to the floor.
> > I tried to teach this approach with mixed success. Students thought I
> had plans secreted away, I did read many but rarely used them.
> >
> > I think the act of carving the little half models was a procedure
> familiar to sculptors Where the artist's intentions shape the medium and
> > he is guided by heuristics back checking reality with mental imagery
> until satisfied. Much later does the Lufkin tape Measure show up.
> > In my case a  Digital Caliper. Indeed I cheated often, first surface
> mirrors and black glue lines that served as grid lines and more.
> >
> > But measurement was not as important as students imagined. It was my
> assumption it would fall into place of its own accord.
> > Scale and proportion might be aesthetics but seem very powerful early on.
> >
> > My daughter hated writing because she obsessed over page margins and
> font sizes and type.
> > I suggested blank paper and a pencil and was accused of being
> insensitive.
> > My own son always wanted to build things but I always demanded a sketch
> first, he never complied so he now sells things made by others.
> >
> > By the time I finished a little wooden half model of a boat the bulk of
> design work was over and only then did my crew go to work.
> > So where was the Model that drove all this effort,,,
> >
> > I gather you are suggesting that we get used to specifying the type of
> Model with a prefix, not a bad idea, just imagine the chaos if we only
> > used the term Ball to describe all sports.
>
> --
> ␦glen?
>
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