On IT Certifications, Job Interviews, and Epistemology

filters out individuals with incomplete experience

imagine instead of recalling the landscape of the territory they are heading into

type of map - in the head/in the hand

asking for hands-on experience is practical only because the feedback provided by the context is essential, but could not be covered (duck,water) by theoretical instructions & recipes

dexterity in operating machinery/using tools

tools can be virtual

abacus

people count faster by imagining an abacus

Broca area & tool use

projecting attributes of the process of making tools onto grammar, and back, to create objects and systems of objects because, since having been modeled on it, grammar follows rules of physical processes

fascination with invariants

our knowledge about everything is indirect

e.g. compare smells

cat pee vs swimming pool

qualia

create an internal alphabet

like in compression algorithms

use someone else's alphabet?

still need a point of reference to relate

infinite regress - everything is like something else

e.g.

ammonia is to chlorine as grey-blue is to pinkish-blue

like in the immune system, there will be a record, an imprint from the trait

smell, shape, look, sound, temperature, vibration

e.g. cooking an omelette

simultaneous recognition of that trait via multiple modalities awakens modes of behaviour and attitudes associated with each modality

End of History illusion

people lacking experiential data from the context have to tax their brains harder because they are planning in multiple directions instead of recalling

can increasing our processing capacity allow us to replace experience

we can create more accurate simulations

already having the data will always be faster than having to compute or mine it

Chinese Room

having the data doesn't mean understanding how to apply it

is arriving at a conclusion by oneself more valuable than learning it from an external source?

feeling of advantage

I know that I know, but you don't know that I know because I came to it on my own

feeling of ownership

the process of arriving to that conclusion will be long forgotten, and only the idea of private knowledge will remain

king has no clothes

I know, but I don't know that you know, and I don't know whether you know that I know

shortcut to mastery

could there be an experience vaccine?

it's exactly like the other experience, except that it's completely different

seeing parallels to similar processes

hence fascination with invariants

Pi

they also affect real, ongoing processes in other domains

social interactions

biology, physics, chemistry

DNA

evolution

holons

math

cognition from most basic to more complex

truth, morals, beauty == it, we, I

brain can passively & effortlessly assimilate, consolidate new information (and skills) if it receives immediate feedback

the difficulty we experience in learning

thrifty brain resists spending energy

incentivizing us to always look for more optimal solutions

information formatting and interpreting

analyze and compare to all previously stored data

then highlight the most salient associations, and archive rest

requires focus & quick access to information

mirror neurons (imagination?) allow us to imagine what it would be like applying theory

Emergent Design

learn through play

it's possible to learn about EI w/out practice

difficult/impossible to learn EI w/out practice

Self awareness

Self regulation

Social skill

Empathy

Motivation

learn acting vs learn about acting

priests vs prophets

default network vs task network

learn about Aikido vs learn Aikido

cat pee smelling like chlorine instead of ammonia

the discrepancy, the idea that this is unnatural is the experiential knowledge

Mathematical Archangel

Broad's Knowledge Argument

applies everywhere else too