Rigid methodology (was: Deutsch's way of thinking IS methodical)
Rami Rustom
> On Dec 28, 10:29 am, Elliot Temple <c...@curi.us> wrote:
>> On Dec 21, 2011, at 8:19 AM, Rami Rustom wrote:
>>
>> > It was suggested in a TCS article that Deutsch's way of thinking is
>> > not methodical.
>>
>> Specifically:
>>
>> http://www.takingchildrenseriously.com/node/95
>>
>> > SL: But as a scientist don't you need to be free of distractions and work methodically?
>>
>> > DD: In my experience, scientific progress is never methodical. The answer to the question never comes from the route that one first thinks of. It never comes from even the hundredth route that one would have planned in advance. The conversation one has in the tea room is more important than the seminar that one is ostensibly attending. The paper that one comes across accidentally in the library is more important than the one that one went there to fetch.
>>
>> > Likewise, thinking that the research might be impeded by being ‘distracted’ suggests that there is some correct state of mind that you could be in that is not ‘distracted’ – the state of mind which will lead to the answer, as opposed to the ‘distracted’ one, which won't. But actually, since, as I said, scientific progress is very untidy and involves lots of back-tracking and it often involves going in a direction which one would have initially thought irrelevant, being ‘distracted’ is actually part of the very stuff of discovery, provided that one is distracted by things that seem to make sense.
>>
>> So, to clarify, *intentionally* not methodical.
>>
>> > But I disagree. He follows his intuition. He follows
>> > is trains of thought. He does not try to control them nor does he try
>> > to prevent changing from one train to another. And he does what he can
>> > to eliminate the external (and probably internal) things that impede
>> > these trains of thought.
>>
>> Methodical means *not* doing what you describe. It means doing something else instead: "done according to a systematic or established form of procedure"
>>
>> Methodical means planning stuff out in advance and carefully proceeding in an organized way.
>
> I think I know what you're saying so let me confirm. You mean that the
> term *methodical*, as used in Deutsch's argument, suggests that future
> work is planned. And the way I used the term, Deutsch's way of working
> *is* methodical but that there is no planning of future work. So I
> think Deutsch was saying that there isn't a method so that others
> wouldn't confused the idea of a method with the misconception that a
> method necessarily means that there is planning of future work.
I think most people's idea of methodology is too rigid.
My way of flagging problems by adding them to my task list is a
methodology, but I don't follow rigid requirements about when or where
or how I will solve the problems. The only requirement is that I do it
when/where/how I want to, and that I don't delete the task until I
complete it or decide not to do it anymore. Why do I only do it when I
want to? Because any other time/place/way is not the opportune time to
solve the problem. I must be in a state of mind that allows me to put
my attention towards creating a solution.
All the not-so-fun work that I have I prefer to do in the morning
right after my coffee. I leave the fun stuff for the rest of the day.
This is much less stressful because I feel like my work is done and
the rest of the day is free. BTW, I started this method in 1st grade
[or what ever grade they started to give us homework in]. I would do
my homework immediately after coming home from school so that I didn't
have to think about it for the rest of the night.
-- Rami