Though there is an “established” baseline of knowledge, it can be destabilized with other newer intellectual discoveries. e.g. Newton, Einstein, to Neils-Bohr, to String theory protagonists. Each represents a perspective on the part of the Universe they have investigated. The “Universe” is that aspect of the perceived “environment” they can analyze and conclude ideal internalized components.
To put this in perspective, for the average layman. Each and every one of us is making a number of “mental” models about the world around us based on the information we have available. Further, to survive in this world we must interpret our surroundings via the instruments available to us (sight, hearing, olfactory, touch, …). Given that sampling we formulate our own “Universe” within our heads.
To help reinforce our models we often bounce them off of friends or fellow practitioners (implicitly or explicitly) to confirm (upgrade) or (downgrade) model errors. Socialization is very important for modelers to expand and help guide the global model within the entire human “ego” cosmos (“ego”: for the want of a better word).
From that, its easy to conclude we are each performing the same mental exercises as Einstein. That is, we take what is tangible to our person and extrapolate from the building or joining of the perceived (mentally modeled) components. That is, our model of what ‘is’, can help to build the models of what ‘could be’.
Conclusion
If we sample incorrect or insufficient data/information, we can end up with dramatically poor models. Dramatic, in that the creation process collapses into a learning process. Learning at the time of making a new perceptual product can have catastrophic consequences (e.g. Software projects). This is and will always be part of life within the interpretation process for more and more complex models. Models of environment or tools for use in that environment.
Note: This “information” can, in itself, be perceived as a model. The model being ‘we, as separate individuals, are each an Einstein’ with the potential to accomplish so much based on what we have in our reach (actual, virtual or conceptual). This ‘model’ may be provable or it may be incomplete for any proof to help it become true. However, it’s no different than assuming 1.000000000000001+1.000000 = 2.0 in the binary world; the resolution of the representation may make it true at certain precision levels. Just as Newton is right at one level and Einstein at another, etc.
Copyright Evan Fraser 2014. Title and ideas copyrighted to the author; you may use the ideas but must ask permission and give credit to this author.
Adaptive Intelligence 