From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2008-04-18T14:12:55+09:00
Subject: Re: Ada vs Ruby

Eleanor McHugh wrote:
> On 17 Apr 2008, at 04:16, Tom Cloyd wrote:
>> My thanks to the core contributors to this fascinating thread. It's 
>> stretched me well past my boundaries on several points, but also 
>> clarified some key learning I've picked from my own field (psychology 
>> & psychotherapy).
>>
>> For me, the take-away here (and this is not at all news to me) is 
>> that valid formal approaches to reliability are efficient (at least 
>> at times) and powerful, and should definitely be used - WHEN WE HAVE 
>> THEM. The problem is that they all stop short of the full spectrum of 
>> reality in which our processes must survive. Thus we must leave 
>> ultimately the comfort of deduction and dive into dragon realm of 
>> inferential processes. Ultimately, there simply is not substitute, or 
>> adequate simulation of, reality. Sigh.
>
> That's the new physics for you ;)
>
>
> Ellie
>
> Eleanor McHugh
> Games With Brains
> http://slides.games-with-brains.net
> ----
> raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason
>
>
>
>
Well, yes. And it's also classical Zen Buddhism - we kill the Buddha we 
meet on the road to avoid being distracted from the road. All 
idealizations and representations fail, and we must endeavor not to be 
taken in. When formalisms are complete enough not to fail, they become 
clones - copies, not representations. Psychologically, this is why 
thinking too much betrays the thinker. The dialectic between 
representation (formalism) and reality is ongoing and unavoidable, if 
one wishes to minimize crashes of all sorts.

What utterly fascinates me is that this clearly seems to be true in 
cockpits AND people's love lives. That makes it a very good truth 
indeed. My earlier expressed appreciation derives precisely from  my 
delight at seeing the same truth I know well in my home environment 
emerging here in a very different (for me) environment. "Delight" is the 
precisely correct description of my reaction to seeing this, although it 
does not well represent the reality of that reaction. (!)

t.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
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