[Back to QI/i MAIN page] [The IconoPlex Planet (ground floor)] [^^Is That Jazz?] [^^^^www.archive.org]Q/T - i: Methods - exploring ways and means
On this page: {Intro} {Linear Processing} (structured) {Non-Linear Processing} {Random} {} {The Four-corners Method} {} {} -[Programming]- (see hal) {} {} {} {} {} {} {}
Linear Processing
(as well as Structured) In this section: {} {Juxtaposition of Opposites} (go to the opposite) {} {}Juxtaposition of Opposites
(go to the opposite) See also: {The Four-corners Method} (below)
Non-Linear Processing
See also: {Structure/Random} (below)
Structure/Random
In order to think, you have to have somethng to think about. - Dr. Squib (one of my old chem profs) In this section: {} {Blogging} {Notebooks/journalling} {} {} {} {} {}
Blogging
There is no right or wrong way to blog. I usually use blogging as a diary (the way that *classically* "journalling" used to mean). See also: {Notebooks/journalling} (below) My almost daily blog: -[MySpace.com/frankleeding]- (i think you have to logon to it to be able to read it; alas - bureacracy :( Group blogs can be used in PRODUCTIONS (eg, plays, manufacturing, etc) to let people INFORMALLY or FORMALLY bring ideas into the "thing".
Structure/Random: Notebooks/journalling
It all seems very simple, right: You just pick up a guitar and strum it and voila! you're a metal-head!!!! So, the structure bit is pretty straight forward you have to "pay the price" by painfully learning stuff. As Betty Edwards (Drawing on the Artist Within) puts it: Everything is easy, once you get past the first 5000 mistakes. The thing is to not treat that "learning curve" as the enemy. That's why journalling and/or keeping a notebook is SOOOO important. It allows you to write down what you're doing right now and how you view stuff. I started using the large 9x12 sketch books and used them for EVERTHING. So, on one set of pages are my sketches from drawing class, on the next set are notes from Journalism 102 (notes on advertising). And then the next pages are math notes, etc. And now, that i look back over them i can use them as spring boards for totally new ideas. And of course, i used at the time to STUDY for my classes. Cool, huh? So, by FORCING OURSELVES TO BE STRUCTURED, we can later use that in as a RANDOM IDEA GENERATOR. And of course, we "own" all of the ideas to begin with.The Four-corners Method
Also known as: "Fier-eckig" (German, "rectangular"; literally "four-cornered") The "EV Box" (evolutionary box) method. One of the simplest ways to break from one mode of thinking to another is of course "go the to opposite". However, what happens if there are TWO variables? This (from a purely linear mathematical perspective) gives us TWO CROSS-PRODUCTS: (toss a coin + choose a gender) Gender M F H (H, M) (H, F) Coin T (T, M) (T, F) Which is the classical "game matrix" or "payout matrix". If this is a game (either zero-sum or non-zero-sum) we can associate a "winning ammount" with each "probablility trial outcome". See for examples, Feller, Volume 1. or any book on games or gambling. What about the following "experiment" (toss a coin + match "rock, scissors, paper") Match RSP R S P H (H, R) (H, S) (H, P) Coin T (T, R) (T, S) (H, P) This method is some-what geometric (tecnnically a matrix) representation of a two-variable "game" or "experiment". Note that in this case the table is both COMPLETE and EXHAUSTIVE. See also: "Cybernetics" by Norbert Weiner. For THREE VARIABLES, we can have three sheets of paper with the results as a 2-d matrix on each one and then each sheet representing the different values of the third variable; eg, choose one of three colours (Black, White, Green) - i've chosen BWG so that they clearly will NOT contradict/confuse our other choices - in reality we'd have to be a bit more "sophisticated" than just a single letter or symbol. The "probability space" (or sample space actually) would look something like this: (H, R, B) (H, R, W) (H, R, G) (H, S, B) (H, S, W) (H, S, G) (H, P, B) (H, P, W) (H, P, G) (T, R, B) (T, R, W) etc Note that we can specify a "free variable" (also known as a "don't care state" or "independent variable" or even an UNKNOWN/UNKNOWABLE/HIDDEN variable) by a "*" eg, we might (in a dark room not be able to see the colour of the paper, thus, we end up with RESULTS like this: (H, R, *) (H, S, *) (H, P, *) (T, R, *) (T, S, *) (T, P, *) Note that is EQUIVALENT to the previous case, even though we might not know the value of the third variable. In some cases we might be able to assign it a probability or value (pay out value) better than the "blind luck" value of 50%. Refer to programming languages such as Prolog/Prologue, and SQL. Also refer to the so-called "Drake Equation" in the SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intellegence) Thus, in a sense the EV BOX method allows us to at the very least make a linear problem out of any problem even if it is non-linear. We are of course, (as the RSP "matching game shows) are NOT limited to binary or even n-ary (3-way, 4-way) choices. Using a diagram borrowed from quantum mechanics and the spin/charges on molecules or atoms, we might map the sex of humans in the following way: ____ (pure hemaphrodite) ____ ____ _____ _____ ________ ____ ______ "pure" ____ "pure" Male _____ _____ Female ____ ____ ____ (pure neuter) In reality, humans are always at least 2% the other sex - even the supposed case of "pure males" and "pure females". Refer to "Jurassic Park, I" (film/book) by Steven Spielberg / Michael Crichton "As Nature Made Him" by John Colapinto "The Naked Ape" and "Man Watching" by Desmond MorrisLinks