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http://www.xkcd.com/530/
There seems to be something wrong about the way certain "really clever"
people think. As if they think of complex solutions before investigating
simple ones.
I think devising a solution to a problem is basically a search of the
problem-space. And that space is pretty huge, so it must be some kind of
heuristic search. I hypothesize that certain people just have a slightly
faulty heuristic. ;-)
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Invisible wrote:
> http://www.xkcd.com/530/
>
> There seems to be something wrong about the way certain "really clever"
> people think. As if they think of complex solutions before investigating
> simple ones.
>
> I think devising a solution to a problem is basically a search of the
> problem-space. And that space is pretty huge, so it must be some kind of
> heuristic search. I hypothesize that certain people just have a slightly
> faulty heuristic. ;-)
Reminds me of an incident with my wife and I and a toaster:
We have these pastries, toaster strudels, Essentially a flaky version of
a pop-tart. I had been laying them horizontally because that seemed to
be the most stable and logical arrangement for the pastries. Except when
the toaster finishes, and they pop up, they're inaccessible without
burning your fingers. So, I devised a method using a plastic fork (I'm
smart enough to know you don't go sticking metal forks into toasters)
which worked well for me.
Then my wife prepares my breakfast one morning. Or, at least, starts it.
I hear the toaster pop, and go to retrieve my breakfast to find that the
pastries are conveniently sticking out of the top.
...
You mean you can actually put them in vertically, and they actually
toast fully and evenly without falling over, AND they can be retrieved
without tools?
<facepalm/>
--
~Mike
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On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:03:53 +0000, Invisible wrote:
> I think devising a solution to a problem is basically a search of the
> problem-space. And that space is pretty huge, so it must be some kind of
> heuristic search. I hypothesize that certain people just have a slightly
> faulty heuristic. ;-)
I think you might be right. We should engage people from this forum to
identify the faulty heuristic - we may not find the simplest answer, but
we will find the most interesting answers. :-)
Jim
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"Invisible" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
news:49705b89$1@news.povray.org...
> I think devising a solution to a problem is basically a search of the
> problem-space. And that space is pretty huge, so it must be some kind of
> heuristic search. I hypothesize that certain people just have a slightly
> faulty heuristic. ;-)
I think Scott Adams put the fundamental problem with problem solving nicely
in a Dilbert cartoon, but if I'm afraid that if I try finding a link to it,
with my faulty heuristics, it will be in the very last place I look before
finding it, if at all.
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On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:39:37 -0700, somebody wrote:
> "Invisible" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
> news:49705b89$1@news.povray.org...
>
>> I think devising a solution to a problem is basically a search of the
>> problem-space. And that space is pretty huge, so it must be some kind
>> of heuristic search. I hypothesize that certain people just have a
>> slightly faulty heuristic. ;-)
>
> I think Scott Adams put the fundamental problem with problem solving
> nicely in a Dilbert cartoon, but if I'm afraid that if I try finding a
> link to it, with my faulty heuristics, it will be in the very last place
> I look before finding it, if at all.
You keep looking once you've found it?
When searching for something, most people stop once they find it - hence
it's in the last place they looked. ;-)
Jim
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> There seems to be something wrong about the way certain "really clever"
> people think. As if they think of complex solutions before investigating
> simple ones.
Like the person who tried to fix a faulty light switch, before testing the
bulb.
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