Thinking about it some more, for me perpetual motion machine design is a special case of noticing I am confused. Specifically, that I hold the contradictory beliefs, “perpetual motion machines are to an incredibly high level of certainty impossible” and “my current understanding of [branch of physics] suggests I could build a perpetual motion machine”. Then the perpetual motion machine design functions as a formal, step-by-step analysis so I can identify exactly where I think I’m breaking one of the laws of physics. Similarly, if I can’t even formulate a design, not only am I confused but my understanding is too vague to apply to specific circumstances.
Thinking about it some more, for me perpetual motion machine design is a special case of noticing I am confused. Specifically, that I hold the contradictory beliefs, “perpetual motion machines are to an incredibly high level of certainty impossible” and “my current understanding of [branch of physics] suggests I could build a perpetual motion machine”. Then the perpetual motion machine design functions as a formal, step-by-step analysis so I can identify exactly where I think I’m breaking one of the laws of physics. Similarly, if I can’t even formulate a design, not only am I confused but my understanding is too vague to apply to specific circumstances.