Noticing Noticing: Learning to Learn

     Learning anything from juggling, climbing a rock, cooking a meal, engineering a building, reading a book, speaking a foreign language, or playing an instrument all have something in common. They are all things a person does not know how to do innately, and they can all be learned through proper exposure and experience. While any skill and/or body of knowledge has its' own particularities, underlying pattern in the way a person comes to comprehend and wield it.

     Understanding the general process of learning can help us on any specific journey to knowledge acquisition. Primarily, knowing that learning is a multi-step process helps one stay content and focused at any particular interval. Previously, I would find myself getting frustrated and wasting time when I hit a rough patch, slowing my progress. Also if I didn't simply see what was going on from the onset, I was more likely to negatively judge the topic and lose interest in it completely. In short, understanding the process has given me the capability to withhold judgement about my own abilities while progressing more quickly and consistently.

     Many have explained this process with a varying number of steps. Here is a synthesized version that helps me approach any subject. As usual, I would like to start with a general pattern before jumping into the specifics.

     The critical stages of learning can be characterized by the following:

1) Being oblivious to the topic (Unaware)

2) Noticing

3) Intellectually/Conceptually understanding the topic

4) Internalizing the concepts through application/practice
5) Repeat step 2-4, noticing and internalizing more nuanced aspects of the activity on each cycle
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..some time later..
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6) Mastery

     Children are perfect examples to view this process because much of what they are learning, we "adults" already "know," and can therefore relate to the progression more thoroughly. My favorite illustration of this process was the first one that was shown to me so let's start there.

     Tying shoes is a skill that most of us come to master over time. We repeat it so often that we all achieve a high level of fluency eventually. Toddlers however may still have a long way to go on their shoe tying journey. Let us, then, take a look at Tommy the toddler. Tommy uses Velcro shoes, and they suit him just fine. In fact, Tommy is currently 1) Oblivious to the fact that shoes come any other way. He is far too distracted by the many other novelties the world constantly presents him. One day, during a walk, Tommy's dad stops, bends down, and begins playing with his shoes. Tommy implicitly knew that both him and his dad wore shoes but now he has 2) Noticed a key distinction. Dad's shoes have laces that work quite differently than Tommy's own. Obviously, Tommy, who admires his father, is sparked with a desire to learn this new skill. (Generally speaking, this desire to learn the skill could be considered a hidden step between stages 2 and 3 because without it, no one ever continues forward.)

     Next comes the process of acquiring the skill. Tommy's dad teaches him a nice poem, as sort of a mental crutch, "loop, swoop, and pull". This helps Tommy 3) Conceptually understand the process of tying shoes. At this stage, Tommy understands in his head what needs to happen, more or less, but does not always have success. So from now on, Tommy wears shoes with laces. Everyday, he ties his own shoes which allows him to 4) Internalize the process through application, or by "building muscle memory." 5) Then the process starts to repeat again. By practicing everday, he starts 2) noticing things that he was 1) oblivious to. For instance, 3) Tommy starts to understand that shoes still fall off if the laces aren't pulled tight or if the knot sits loosely over the tongue of the shoe. So he 4) practices getting his laces snug each time he ties them.  Over the years, he may go on noticing little subtleties of tying different types of shoes or laces (step 5). Now, at 18, Tommy can throw his shoes on, his hands precisely tying a double knot, while he's looking up, yelling at a friend "Hey, wait for me!" This could be considered as some sort of 6) Mastery of shoe laces.

     When looking closely, one may notice that the process is less linear than it is like a spiral staircase. In this sense, mastery is not so much a destination as it is everything above a certain level on the climb. One can never completely dominate a subject because (like the second type of infinity) it is literally impossible to know everything about any one thing. One can simply more thoroughly understand it, comprehending the variables. Perhaps even one day utilizing that skill on a new endeavor.
     Everyone wants to become a master, however, the most crucial stage in the learning process is moving from 1 to 2. Becoming aware of a topic, or the variables specific to a topic, is necessary before any sort of meaningful, useful, understanding or application takes place.
     This is where I will leave the topic for today, but I will certainly return to this subject in the future. Thank you for joining me here and please don't hesitate to drop a comment if you feel so inclined!

There's a Method to the Madness (Continued)

     So if chaos to order and chaos from order is such a basic pattern, where do we see it in the real world? Well, we can see it repeated in almost every aspect of the universe. On an atomic level, it's happening constantly around us. For example if we take a hypothetical space and fill it with lots of different elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, other elements, and sufficient energy, we wouldn't be surprised to find an increasing amount of water showing up over time. At first not much, but eventually more water molecules would begin to form and gather creating pools, slowing down over time as there became less independent hydrogen and oxygen to use, until the majority of the water that could possibly form did so. As more water gathered together, some of the elements might start floating around in the water. The water now becoming the setting for other interactions to take place. Water molecules are much more complex than the individual elements of which they are made.

     If there were other elements present in the original setting (pre-water), they too may have come together to form more complex molecules. Perhaps these molecules would now be floating around the water. These become the new variables drifting around. As they float about, they will certainly run into each other and perhaps create something more complex still such as different proteins. Once enough proteins have formed, they too may run into each other forming something more complex still. And you guessed it, these more complex things may interact to become something even more complicated. If they get large enough, maybe something smaller will begin forming on them as well. They would then be the new setting for another branch of the order/chaos circle and a variable in a larger one at the same time. At each step the product of the previous stage becomes the basic building block for the following. As time progresses and the number of interactions increases, the organization of the system becomes increasingly precise or at the very least, specific.

     Even people's ideas/thoughts, on an individual and societal level, seem to progress this way. Obviously it's impossible to know exactly what was going on in the minds of different people throughout history and even in the present. Many of us aren't even sure of what's going on up there in our own minds. However, if anything could indicate what a person or people think, it would have to be their actions. So perhaps we will be able to identify the chaos/order circle in this context as well.

    Now I'm not an expert in biology or anthropology or history or anything of the sort, so what I want to do is a thought experiment using a very general understanding of human progress, in hopes of better understanding the chaos/order loop. At some point in human history, our ancestors started using basic tools such as rocks that were found. At that time, there was probably a large scale of variability with activities like hunting. Even when one found an animal (such as a deer), it would certainly escape some percentage of the time. For argument sake lets say at this specific moment in our thought experiment the deer gets away 70% of the time (pretty chaotic for the hungry hunters one might say.) As tools and hunting techniques (both things that stem from ideas of the people) became more precise, that percentage started to drop. The invention of spears ups the likely hood of a kill at close range, enhanced techniques allows people to more consistently get in range. These tools and skills remove many of the variables in the hunting game, making it more "orderly". Maybe reducing the probability of escape for the deer down to 10% or less. Perhaps eventually even killing multiple animals on every outing. With this much order, why would chaos ever return? The problem would be when human's became too good at hunting, reducing the population of the deer while simultaneously increasing the people population.

    Now order could no longer continue in the same way. Things got chaotic again as different groups of hunting people ran into each other while chasing food. Perhaps fights ensued leaving some people to go hungry. In any case, the variables in the food game started to appear again. Now that there's so little food and so much competition between people, maybe we're back to eating only 70% of the time. There was a silver lining however, because people were starting to understand how they could manipulate things in the world (like with tools) to make things easier. This sort of thinking became the basis for the push into agriculture. Some people figured out how to manipulate plants and less intelligent animals like tools for their own benefit. It turns out that this type of organization around agriculture was pretty efficient and now people did not have to fight as much as before. Fighting certainly occurred, but principally a new era of order emerged, one that we might refer to as society.

     Societies easily demonstrate this process of order and chaos time and time again all the way to the present, and likely into the future. Once we start organizing in societies we have to consider that different groups of people began progressing down different lines of chaos/order. For example, only some of the people figured out agriculture and things became orderly for a while. Eventually some of the especially good hunters, the one's who pushed all the others away from hunting, might have stumbled upon one of these agricultural settlements (which would seem food rich to nomad hunters). Hunting people would probably be more advanced in the ways of confrontation seeing as they still hunted regularly. They would cause chaos in the settlements, taking food by force. This chaos would cause a new order to be necessary. Maybe organizing people into farmers for food, and guards to protect the farmers and food. This causes chaos for nomads when they can't eat. This may cause the nomads to organize with other groups, or more sneakily so they could overcome the settlements again, causing chaos. This may lead to cities building and organizing wall structures to keep the nomads out. Once walled towns or even cities begin to appear, the chaos/order pattern repeats as the people develop increasingly more specific/precise ideas about what's fair or just, throwing society into chaos until it can be ordered in accordance to the new ideas.

    A few other quick examples where one may notice this pattern is 1) this blog, as I stumble through my varying thoughts they seem round about. Over time, in weeks, months, or even years they will become increasingly organized. Its even possible that they become the basis for a book, simple cartoon drawings, a play, a thesis or simply a lens through which I can view the world around me. 2) Any business or organization/event. At first it is very chaotic, until it is better understood. Then once it's boiled down to the necessities, one can super organize it into a true production. With businesses we see this in the form of expansion. A store starts with one, only sort of organized location. It improves its performance and organization, and if successful enough becomes two. Each unit organized the same way, however the boss feels more chaos learning to organize two places at once. When that is better organized, maybe three or four more locations will come to exist quickly, and the process continues. 3) Any sports team/dancers/acrobats or group activity. Playing charades with friends a few weeks ago I noticed at first, the topics varied greatly. People had a hard time coming up with good subjects. Performers were awkward and unsure as well. Over time, the topics became more relevant, performers more concise and turns went increasingly quick. It started chaotic and as we all got better, an order started to develop.

     There must be countless other instances of this, so if anyone has any examples of chaos to order that they notice, and would like to share, I would love to hear of it. Before entering this topic, I was unaware of how chaotic it was going to be. I see now that it may be necessary for me to return to this idea at a later date to more concisely organize it. Thank you, again, to anyone who has made it with me this far. I am honored by your time spent here more than I can possible convey.

There's a Method to the Madness

     As chaotic as this world can be at times, there are certainly some fundamental patterns that we can observe. The sun rises in the East, sets in the West; life begins, develops, and eventually yields a new round of life to start over; tides rise and fall twice each day. One of the most fundamental patterns is the tendency for things to move from chaos to order, then from the new order begins a new round of chaos on a more precise level.      

     What starts the pattern, order or chaos, seems to be a chicken or the egg type of question. For that reason, thinking about it as a continuous circle may be helpful. That being said, let's start with chaos since that's where the most action can be observed. Chaos, in all cases, seems to have a sort of expiration date or duration. That is easy enough to conceive seeing as nothing lasts forever, even great stars collapse when their energy is exhausted. At the beginning of chaos, there is the highest likelihood for maximum level of disorder. Amidst all the chaos, there are always certain interactions that can occur that will create slightly more stable structures and remove some of the variables from the mess. This is probably because even extremely unlikely events are all but guaranteed to occur when the timeline is drawn out long enough. As time moves forward, these more permanent, lasting, stable structures continue to absorb an increasing amount of the randomness.
   

     It's important to note that whatever characteristic defined the chaos never completely goes away. What it does do is continually approach a specific limit that it never quite reaches (similar to the second type of infinity discussed previously- http://world-centric.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-infinity-and-beyond.html). In any case, the changes that were occurring continue at a decreasing, more stable, rate. This stability, or order, becomes the basis for a new round of chaos, constructed of the more specifically organized structures that emerged. From here, the pattern repeats. These larger structures become the new variables in their own realm of chaos, interactions happen that unite them, removing some of the chaos, this happens at a decreasing rate. From these larger structures begins to emerge an overall order, and those larger structures become the basic unit for the next round of ordering, and the process repeats.

     Tomorrow I will expand on this idea with some specific examples of the phenomena. Thank you again to those who have stuck it out to here. If there are ever any questions, doubts, or even people just wanting to play devil's advocate, please raise your question. This blog is very much based on observation so if someone observes something that doesn't fit the scheme, it is necessary for me to incorporate into my superstructure of ideas. Thanks again.

Two Infinity and beyond

   A few days back, a particularly relevant idea was presented to me by a good friend who tends to present me with relevant ideas. The topic at hand was infinity however the explanation was really quite simple. For the purposes of this discussion we will explore two ways of considering the idea of infinity.

     First, there is the idea with which we are most familiar. If there is a number line, it is simply moving forever in either the positive or negative direction. Conceivably, one never runs into a limit when counting in either direction, thus arriving at infinity or negative infinity.

      The second type of infinity is more like looking at the number line strictly between the numbers 0 and 1. Between 0 and 1, it's possible to make an infinite number of divisions, mathematically and theoretically speaking. For example you could divide the line at .01 or .011 or .0111 or .01111 or .011111. The point being, it is possible to add an additional 1 an infinite number of times, at any point between those two numbers. Each number refers to a slightly different point on the number line. When an additional 1 is added in the next decimal point to the right, we are zeroing in on a more specific spot, however it can always be made more specific by adding an additional 1 to the end.

     For me, the most relevant application of these two types of infinity is in the way a person's mind comes to  understand the world around them. For example, there are an infinite number of physical items that a person could know about including everything from rocks, water, trees, animals, tables, houses, computers, sports, artistic creations, cars, food, buildings, stars, planets, solar systems, galaxies and ultimately (I'm going to suggest) an infinite number of other things. There are also things that are less tangible and sometimes purely intellectual such as languages, mathematics, philosophy, opinions, dances, music, and other bodies of knowledge that could also be counted as things in this sense. Whether talking about psychical material items or ideas, the universe constantly produces more on its approach to infinity. This would be an application of the fist type of infinity.

    The second type can be understood in the way that there is an infinite amount of information to know about any one of those previously mentioned items. For example no matter how much a person cares about and wishes to learn about dogs, they can never truly know everything. The most knowledgable person in the world about dogs would still lack the knowledge of how many hairs their own dog presently possesses, how much blood, the number of breaths taken that day, or any number of other ridiculously precise pieces of information. Any item could be broken down in this fashion, but could never be completely understood because there is no limit of information in regards to any particular item.

     Lastly, there is almost a third type of infinity (which could actually fit in with the second type) that comes from those first two put together. With every additional thing that comes to exist, ideas or physical things, comes an additional relationship between that new thing and everything that already was. For example, when a new discovery in chemistry is made, it must then be observed how it relates, or doesn't, to all previous findings. This third type is sort of like adding an exponent of infinity to the number of things that were being counted.

     Hopefully this general take on infinity will help me explore other more specific topics later such as precision, learning, and awareness.

Super Structure of Ideas

    In our increasingly intricate and organized existences here on planet Earth, innumerable theories and ideas come to be every day. Most of them are extremely specific to certain activities, sports, arts, economics, social interactions, animal interactions, food, health, and/or any other topic someone can fathom. As influential as any one of these individual branches of thought are, what interests me are the larger scale ideas that seem to affect all of the sub categories in one way or another. These patterns that repeat regardless of the specific branch of thought or activity give a certain universality, or context, to all the smaller occurrences. This blog space certainly will not be dedicated exclusively to those ideas. However, seeing as these subtle super structures influence all the particularities, in my opinion, they merit some exploration. I have found that as I better recognize these larger scale patterns, it becomes increasingly easier for me to understand and learn about specific subjects that affect me and that I affect in turn.

     This post is purposefully lacking specific examples of this phenomena. It is meant to create a general framework one could use to better understand topics that I will later expand upon. Some of those topics include but are not limited to the following: Chaos to order, Learning and precision, Awareness, Vision, and Epiphanies.

    Lastly, thank you to anyone taking time to explore this space with me. My hope is that through exploring and documenting some specific branches of thought of mine, I will continue to notice some of the larger super structures that were always there, influencing me from the beginning. Again, Thank You.

Mosaic of Mind

It's apparent to me

Ideas seem to be 

the most powerful thing in the world

Guiding our minds

and changing in time,

always in a constant swirl

Capturing them 

in a font or ink pen

like a snapshot frozen time

Allows others to view

What we thought that we knew

before we continued to climb

Fore each thought is leaf on a many branch tree,

each branch a structure of mind,

The mind, is then, the tree itself

The forest is mankind

Looking too close at any one leaf,

on a branch that continues to grow,

May leave the observer in disbelief

of what the tree has to show

Some leafs seem too rough,

when looked at alone,

to be very pretty at all

Its not always enough

away from limb,

insignificantly small

but catching a glimpse
of all the small points,
helps see past the debris

to the branch that supports

the leaf where it sits,
and better interpret the tree

So to any wonderers
wandering around
unsure of what there's to find

Remember each leaf
is just one fine dot

in this growing Mosaic of Mind