17. Then, we sail westward against the wind and the current.
This blog is (half-)written to encourage learner-readers contribution to fill in details and make up the big picture. In facts most pages are merely rough and partial sketches. We may say that the whole thing is like a map to a pirate stash. [I have the (only?) original map but I made copies -- not accurately ;) so that we can all look for the treasure.]
We have talked about and around learning, thinking, and creating. We have praised experiential learning (using common senses) and asked for tangible skills at end of any course in education. We have looked at various learning concepts and techniques from unusual viewpoints and we restated many common principles in peculiar terms. Why?
Have you ever been given a bag of 400 jigsaw puzzle pieces without the complete picture to play? [I did learn so many ways to look at and to fit in things with that bag of challenges.] We can build up some well-fit groups of pieces by trying pieces, we can see some possible connections between groups by orientating and matching partial pictures, colours and so on. After certain parts of a structure emerge, we can see that we are on our way to solving the puzzle. From there on it is only a matter of confirming the [theory] picture by fitting all the pieces together.
Why this blog says it is about 'group genius' and we have not talked about this at all?
A group genius is a particular complex system of ordinary and different agents, each agent does what it can do to serve the system and to allow other agents to do what they can too. We have claimed without a proof that the combined result of the whole system is greater than the sum of results of individual agents had they acted alone -- non-cooperatively. Because, we can see that well-organized structures (ropes, buildings, wetlands,...) and societies (of ants, bees, human, forests, reefs, ...) can attain great feats. We note that interactions are necessary for cooperation. Repeated and sustained interactions bring about orientation and recognition of characters, positions and roles in relations. By adapting to expected roles, we become organized. By taking our roles and positions seriously, we share and cooperate then enjoy the greater dividend achievable by cooperation. But, unfortunately in this blog, we have not sustained enough interactions to show a greater value of cooperation.
This is of course disappointing but genius and cooperation are very rare. We don't find them hanging out at market stalls.
Life is like that, sometimes. So, we prod on, learning and thinking.
We have here and there somewhat computer talks like 'model', pattern recognition, 'IF ... THEN' and so on. What is that about?
Please forgive me for my 'shop talks'. Information Technology is my playground. The underlying theme is this. Right now, we are using networked computers, mobile phones, online memory and many collaborative systems (social networking). There is another kind of cooperation and geniuses that are emerging in the marketplace. Soon, we can be permanently connected to groups of computers and people (and hopefully) working cooperatively with computer-assisted senses, human-assisted thinking machines and vast online memory or knowledge on our finger tips. [Yes we can] Imagine that!
Let us sum up what we have learned by responding to a simple but hypothetical sailing challenge. It is a simple matter to go from A to B on a road. To go from island A to island B by sailing presents many factors that affect planning and execution of the journey. We will assume the we have a 5-metre sail boat ready at island A port. The islands A and B are in the Gulf of Thailand and only 20 nautical miles apart. B is westward. Between the island there is a tidal current going north or south at 5-10 knots depending on tides. The wind direction and speed also depend on temperature and time of day for example at 05:00 hour local time (Thailand Standard Time) the wind is light (3-5 knots) from the north. The wind gets stronger and turns eastward as the sun climbs up. The sea also gets choppier (with bigger waves) during the hot part of the day...
We would spoil all the fun if we give all 'data'. So there! Find more clues, get on board and 'full sail ahead' ;).
ความเห็น (2)
Then, we sail westward against the wind and the current?
ภาษาของการร่วมมือ ยังไม่เข้าเนื้อเข้าน้ำดี
"against" (ต่อต้าน) ในชื่อตอน แสดงว่า เป็น การมัดมือ มากกว่า
... we sail westward "with" the wind and the current...
ขอบคุณมากครับ
ในแวดวงของ สหะการะ (co-operation) ชื่อตอนนี้ที่ถูกต้องมากกว่า คือ
Then, we sail westward with (not against/into/using) the wind and the current ;-)
ถ้าเลือกคำจาก
against => in opposing way [ต้าน, สู้ -- warlike manner]
into => toward [เข้าหา] / entering [เข้าใน]
using => [ใช้ -- master-slave relationship]
with => in the same way [ไปกับ -- friendly manner] / together [ร่วมกับ, ด้วยกัน]
You are right of course, language is a reflection of our thinking: when we think of working our through some difficult issues where there are factors not supporting our goal, we think of overcoming obstacles. Straight away, we use a warlike language to describe non-suppoters. We have a long way to go before we can free ourselves of such habit.
I thank you for reminding me of this inconsistency. We are not fighting to become cooperative geniuses. We are working with real-world things and in time we will see how we can naturally (ordinarily) work with things which may not be what we wish them to be.