3 ms·

Upvote for hysteresis.

by phodo 10y ago

phodo 10y ago
Perhaps I need to explain my comment above "Upvote for Hysteresis", given the downvotes. It was a quick comment that might have come across as flippant, so I will explain: I was first introduced to the concept of hysteresis as an EE undergrad. As I went on to grad school, which was heavily economics-based, I took a course in system dynamics at mit [1]. In the intro class, the prof said: "system dynamics will change your mental model of the world" (and it did) [2]. As we went through the course, I realized that while many of the concepts in the course were econ-based, in reality were similar to my EE / mathematics concepts (capacitor=time delays, etc.) For me, systems dynamics showed me that concepts in one discipline could be applied to a completely different discipline with great effectiveness. In doing further economics work, I was immersed in many other mental models. My friends and I would use these economics-based mental models - many of which are in the OP article - to communicate in an efficient manner at school and when we were out on the town, almost like a shortcut way to speak and efficiently organize thoughts / explain a given situation. By the time I re-entered the workforce, post-grad school - working in the venture world - I was regularly and subconsciously thinking/communicating in terms of these econ-models. But, a big aha happened when one day I heard one of the partners at my firm use the term "hysteresis", not to describe a hardware company we were looking at, but to describe a very specific management-related situation with one of the entrepreneurs we were speaking with. And I understood exactly what he meant by that term, as it applied to this management situation. Aha! It turned out that my EE world provided me with a whole toolbox of mental models - just like econ - that I can not only use to express myself, but also to be understood! (fair enough: this was the valley, where most people I dealt with were engineers). It was one of those moments when I realized what I had learnt many moons ago had direct applicability to what I was currently doing but in a completely different context. Seeing "hysteresis" in the parent's post brought back memories to that realization and its backstory, thus my comment. [1] this is a close enough comp for the Systems Dynamics course mentioned above - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-871-introduction-to-system-dynamics-fall-2013/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-871... [2] An example is "stocks and flows", a way to view things as static or dynamic. This was used effectively in a cybersecurity market map / competitive analysis many years later.

Upvote for hysteresis.

by phodo 10y ago

Upvote for hysteresis.

phodo 10y ago

Perhaps I need to explain my comment above "Upvote for Hysteresis", given the downvotes. It was a quick comment that might have come across as flippant, so I will explain: I was first introduced to the concept of hysteresis as an EE undergrad. As I went on to grad school, which was heavily economics-based, I took a course in system dynamics at mit [1]. In the intro class, the prof said: "system dynamics will change your mental model of the world" (and it did) [2]. As we went through the course, I realized that while many of the concepts in the course were econ-based, in reality were similar to my EE / mathematics concepts (capacitor=time delays, etc.) For me, systems dynamics showed me that concepts in one discipline could be applied to a completely different discipline with great effectiveness. In doing further economics work, I was immersed in many other mental models. My friends and I would use these economics-based mental models - many of which are in the OP article - to communicate in an efficient manner at school and when we were out on the town, almost like a shortcut way to speak and efficiently organize thoughts / explain a given situation. By the time I re-entered the workforce, post-grad school - working in the venture world - I was regularly and subconsciously thinking/communicating in terms of these econ-models. But, a big aha happened when one day I heard one of the partners at my firm use the term "hysteresis", not to describe a hardware company we were looking at, but to describe a very specific management-related situation with one of the entrepreneurs we were speaking with. And I understood exactly what he meant by that term, as it applied to this management situation. Aha! It turned out that my EE world provided me with a whole toolbox of mental models - just like econ - that I can not only use to express myself, but also to be understood! (fair enough: this was the valley, where most people I dealt with were engineers). It was one of those moments when I realized what I had learnt many moons ago had direct applicability to what I was currently doing but in a completely different context. Seeing "hysteresis" in the parent's post brought back memories to that realization and its backstory, thus my comment. [1] this is a close enough comp for the Systems Dynamics course mentioned above - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-871-introduction-to-system-dynamics-fall-2013/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-871... [2] An example is "stocks and flows", a way to view things as static or dynamic. This was used effectively in a cybersecurity market map / competitive analysis many years later.