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Ha! Fair on my answers not being too concrete or coherent, either. Was why that was my "stab." I don't have a firm grasp on the idea, myself. My examples wer

by taeric 4y ago

Ha! Fair on my answers not being too concrete or coherent, either. Was why that was my "stab." I don't have a firm grasp on the idea, myself. My examples were trying to build on my other post bringing in Ender's Game as a neat take. (No, I didn't link those correctly.) I also should have pushed back to your terms. I think it is surprisingly useful to constantly ask what that sentence would mean in different situations. Such that I plan on doing just that for the next few days. Specifically, what did you mean to synthesize new ideas? Would love to have success getting my kids to try this. I love your narrative there, as it shows how rapid the progression can go. At least, that is my current read.

Jtsummers 4y ago
What I wrote was "Synthesizing the new information (from observing) with prior information", not new ideas. Synthesize means "combine into a coherent whole" (among other things, but this is the definition I intended; it's the one programmers ought to become familiar with since we "synthesize" solutions to problems by combining existing and new programs and possible physical components into a whole, our field is fundamentally synthetic). Here it's the act of combining information into a more coherent and accurate model: Present observations, past observations (part of your prior knowledge), and previous training and whatever else (the rest of your prior knowledge). All of that gives you your present orientation, your position, in either a literal or figurative sense. And then there's your "opponent" (if there's not one, OODA may not be the right mental model to use). In your observations of your opponent and repeated orientation you are building up a model of them, synthesis again. You start with any prior knowledge (have you encountered this opponent before?) or an assumption (maybe a worst case, or estimate based on sizing them up). Then you engage, and in the engagement you observe and determine their real capabilities, which feeds into orientation for rendering a more accurate model of the opponent. Orientation is taking the existing knowledge, adding new knowledge or information, rendering a better model (hopefully). Then you decide based on that model, act on that decision, and observe. Of course it's not actually linear, all of this is happening at the same time, or can be. You don't stop observing while you orient, decide, or act. And you don't stop acting while you observe, orient, or decide.

by taeric 4y ago

Jtsummers 4y ago

What I wrote was "Synthesizing the new information (from observing) with prior information", not new ideas. Synthesize means "combine into a coherent whole" (among other things, but this is the definition I intended; it's the one programmers ought to become familiar with since we "synthesize" solutions to problems by combining existing and new programs and possible physical components into a whole, our field is fundamentally synthetic). Here it's the act of combining information into a more coherent and accurate model: Present observations, past observations (part of your prior knowledge), and previous training and whatever else (the rest of your prior knowledge). All of that gives you your present orientation, your position, in either a literal or figurative sense. And then there's your "opponent" (if there's not one, OODA may not be the right mental model to use). In your observations of your opponent and repeated orientation you are building up a model of them, synthesis again. You start with any prior knowledge (have you encountered this opponent before?) or an assumption (maybe a worst case, or estimate based on sizing them up). Then you engage, and in the engagement you observe and determine their real capabilities, which feeds into orientation for rendering a more accurate model of the opponent. Orientation is taking the existing knowledge, adding new knowledge or information, rendering a better model (hopefully). Then you decide based on that model, act on that decision, and observe. Of course it's not actually linear, all of this is happening at the same time, or can be. You don't stop observing while you orient, decide, or act. And you don't stop acting while you observe, orient, or decide.