Interesting. I think I have a different approach, which is closer to
Find the true name of the thing—a word that makes the situation more understandable, more recognizable, by clarifying the core structure of the thing.
True name doesn’t necessary mean a literal description of the core structure of the thing, though “sum-threshold” is such a literal description. “Anastomosis / anabranching (attack)” is metaphorical, but the point is, it’s a metaphor for the core structure of the thing.
i think that goes into optimising for b in my taxonomy above. how easy is it to recall the structure of the thing once you’ve recalled the word for the thing? these are just considerations, and the optimal naming strat varies by situs ig. 🍵
I think I have a couple other specific considerations:
By getting ahold of the structure better, the structure can be better analyzed on its own terms. Drawing out implications, resolving inconsistencies, refactoring, finding non-obvious structural analogies or examples that I wouldn’t find by ever actually being in the situation randomly.
By getting ahold of the structure better, the structure can be better used in the abstract within other thinking that wants to think in related regions (“at a similar level of abstraction”).
Values (goal-pursuits, etc.) tend to want to flow through elements in all regions; they aren’t just about the phenomenal presentation of situations. So I want to understand and name the real structure, so values can flow through the real structure more easily.
And a general consideration, which is like: I don’t have good reason to think I see all the sorts of considerations going into good words / concepts / language, and I’ve previously thought I had understood much of the reasons only to then discover further important ones. Therefore I should treat as Not Yet Replaceable the sense I have of “naming the core structure”, like how you want to write “elegant” code even without a specific reason. I want to step further into the inner regions of the Thing(s) at hand.
cool third point! i may hv oversold the point in my first comment. i too try to name things according to their thingness, but not exclusively.
to make a caricature of my research loop, i could describe it as
trying to find patterns that puzzle me (foraging),
distilling the pattern to its core structure and storing it in RemNote (catabolic pathway),
mentally trying to find new ways to apply the pattern
ie, propagating it, installing hooks (which I call isthmuses) into plausibly-related contexts such that new cryptically-related observations are more likely to trigger an insight (metaphor), allowing me to generalise further or discover smth i need to refactor
going abt business as usual, repeating 1-3 until unfolding branch meets unfolding branch from the other side, indicating i might hv found a profitable generalisation
an important consideration re keeping isthmuses alive enough to trigger connections: i don’t want to hv memorised this specific instantiation of the pattern so it’s crystal clear. if it fits neatly into a slot and it’s comfortable w its assigned niche, it’s unlikely to trigger in novel situations. imprecision/fuzziness is good when the concept is still in exploratory phase (and not primarily tool-stage).
fix everything
loop is often bottlenecked by the high cost of refactoring anything. i rly wish i could find a general algorithm/strategy for refactoring complex systems like this, or a clever approach to building that minimises/eliminates the need.
the optimal conlang isn’t a new set of words. it’s a new set of practices for naming things, unnaming things, generalising & specialising, communal decision-processes for resolving conflicts, neat meta-structures that minimise cost of refactoring (somehow), enabling eager contributors w minimal overhead & risk of degeneration, etc.
the optimal conlang isn’t a new set of words. it’s a new set of practices for naming things, unnaming things, generalising & specialising, communal decision-processes for resolving conflicts, neat meta-structures that minimise cost of refactoring (somehow), enabling eager contributors w minimal overhead & risk of degeneration, etc.
Interesting. I think I have a different approach, which is closer to
True name doesn’t necessary mean a literal description of the core structure of the thing, though “sum-threshold” is such a literal description. “Anastomosis / anabranching (attack)” is metaphorical, but the point is, it’s a metaphor for the core structure of the thing.
i think that goes into optimising for b in my taxonomy above. how easy is it to recall the structure of the thing once you’ve recalled the word for the thing? these are just considerations, and the optimal naming strat varies by situs ig. 🍵
I think I have a couple other specific considerations:
By getting ahold of the structure better, the structure can be better analyzed on its own terms. Drawing out implications, resolving inconsistencies, refactoring, finding non-obvious structural analogies or examples that I wouldn’t find by ever actually being in the situation randomly.
By getting ahold of the structure better, the structure can be better used in the abstract within other thinking that wants to think in related regions (“at a similar level of abstraction”).
Values (goal-pursuits, etc.) tend to want to flow through elements in all regions; they aren’t just about the phenomenal presentation of situations. So I want to understand and name the real structure, so values can flow through the real structure more easily.
And a general consideration, which is like: I don’t have good reason to think I see all the sorts of considerations going into good words / concepts / language, and I’ve previously thought I had understood much of the reasons only to then discover further important ones. Therefore I should treat as Not Yet Replaceable the sense I have of “naming the core structure”, like how you want to write “elegant” code even without a specific reason. I want to step further into the inner regions of the Thing(s) at hand.
cool third point! i may hv oversold the point in my first comment. i too try to name things according to their thingness, but not exclusively.
to make a caricature of my research loop, i could describe it as
trying to find patterns that puzzle me (foraging),
distilling the pattern to its core structure and storing it in RemNote (catabolic pathway),
mentally trying to find new ways to apply the pattern
ie, propagating it, installing hooks (which I call isthmuses) into plausibly-related contexts such that new cryptically-related observations are more likely to trigger an insight (metaphor), allowing me to generalise further or discover smth i need to refactor
going abt business as usual, repeating 1-3 until unfolding branch meets unfolding branch from the other side, indicating i might hv found a profitable generalisation
an important consideration re keeping isthmuses alive enough to trigger connections: i don’t want to hv memorised this specific instantiation of the pattern so it’s crystal clear. if it fits neatly into a slot and it’s comfortable w its assigned niche, it’s unlikely to trigger in novel situations. imprecision/fuzziness is good when the concept is still in exploratory phase (and not primarily tool-stage).
fix everything
loop is often bottlenecked by the high cost of refactoring anything. i rly wish i could find a general algorithm/strategy for refactoring complex systems like this, or a clever approach to building that minimises/eliminates the need.
the optimal conlang isn’t a new set of words. it’s a new set of practices for naming things, unnaming things, generalising & specialising, communal decision-processes for resolving conflicts, neat meta-structures that minimise cost of refactoring (somehow), enabling eager contributors w minimal overhead & risk of degeneration, etc.
Absolutely.