From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Mon Aug 28 2006 - 09:25:13 MDT
On 8/28/06, Joshua Fox <joshua@joshuafox.com> wrote:
> The last discussion has indeed generated more heat than light. I'd
> recommend, in addition to the reduction of ad hominem's from all sides, the
> application of Rekcorc's law: the use of unnecessarily polite language --
> unnecessary for denotative content, but useful for greasing the wheels of
> discourse.
Joshua makes a valuable point regarding the use of Rekcorc's Rule or
its inverse -- whichever seems most effective within the proximate
context.
This comment relates to the original topic of this thread (mental
models, heuristics and biases) in the sense that a characteristic of
intelligence, at least in natural systems, is that it tends to exploit
specific pathways of action/response in regard to specific
environmental stimuli. Increasingly effective intelligence, at least
in nature, is increasingly non-general in its approach to problems and
bears more resemblance to a layered toolbox of finely crafted tools
than a hypothetical pure intellect.
- Jef
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