Although I am not a good student, I am an especially poor student of that which does not work. I have just been looking over some papers I found using a search on the terms 'multi level reasoning'. One which was the most interesting concerned dealing with children who had difficulties with concrete learning. But I also found another paper that used some of the same buzz words that I would use and at first I was very interested. As I read a little, I became less interested. I found that the author or authors used abstract notations (like mathematical or functional notations) but I had an overwhelming sense that there was something wrong with their use of formal notation. I finally figured it out. They were formalizing a system that was produced only in their imagination. Well, all good formal systems start with the imagination, but here, they were not building a solution to a mathematical problem or an explanation of some set of experiments and they were not using formal notation to summarize their experiences using the methodology they had thought up, they were formalizing something that they had never tried with any actual experiments or with only the most nominal thought experiments.
I have nothing against discussing your more imaginative ideas, but I really wonder how useful it is to express yourself using formal notation as if a fantasy constituted a mathematical proof or an apt description derived from some number of actual computational experiments. I think this is a poor use of formal notation and it represents an immature understanding of why formal notation can be so effective when used well. Jim Bromer ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=8660244-6e7fb59c Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
