The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1213  Thursday, 19 June 2003

From:           D Bloom <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Monday, 16 Jun 2003 10:07:02 -0500
Subject: 14.1200 Re: Crux Challenge
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.1200 Re: Crux Challenge

Larry Weiss on poker:

>. . . what you are seeing is rapid computing of all the factors, not
>disregard of rational factors.  A pro can calculate so quickly that even
>he isn't aware he is doing it.  When you can see the wheels turning, he
>is off his game.

This is very like what I tell my students about writing analytical
papers: don't imagine for a second that they aren't planning / outlining
their papers just because they sit down at the keyboard and rip into it.
Some people are able to do no more than this and get A's -- given a high
degree of giftedness in analytical and verbal  skill, and the short
paper that is typical for "freshman comp." But with lesser skills, more
obvious planning is required; and even with great skill the longer (and
therefore deeper, and more extensively researched) the paper, the more
it has to be planned, and
then re-planned when re-written

The human computer is capable of quite remarkable achievements --
without much obvious thought. I once spent part of a dull baseball game
sketching out in my mind how you could build a robot to catch even a
"lazy" fly ball.  Millions of men and boys throughout America, the
Caribbean, and the Far East (including myself) could do this without
great effort, but a machine that could calculate and re-calculate the
speed and trajectory of the ball and make the changes of position
necessary to place the catching implement at the right place at the
right time would be hugely expensive.

As with other sports skills you program your brain to perform these
exceedingly complex processes through constant repetition and then do
them without obvious thought. But your brain is working very hard and
well.

What's really scary is to realize that driving a car is much the same,
and then remember that any number of the people coming at you are
stupid, crazy, drunk, dozing off, or arguing with their ex-spouses on
their cell phones.

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