Yes, and them right after that you agreed that in other circumstances, asking for the definition is the right move for going down the ladder of abstraction… So, this was an example for someone applying specificity unthinkingly instead of understanding the ladder of abstraction and when it’s useful.
Another example is at a conference, discussing different types of forecasting, being derailed by someone asking how the specific algorithms we were talking about would be used, not realizing that we hadn’t explored the abstract solution space of forecasting enough yet to answer that, and that it would derail the conversation.
I can keep giving examples like this btw, and we can go through them one by one, or we can use abstraction and talk about them as a group phenomena.
Another example is at a conference, discussing different types of forecasting, being derailed by someone asking how the specific algorithms we were talking about would be used, not realizing that we hadn’t explored the abstract solution space of forecasting enough yet to answer that, and that it would derail the conversation.
I’d be interested to understand the discussion in more detail and whether over-zealous specificity is really a cause of harm here. Because it seems to me like spending a minute to get a sense of how specifically a certain algorithm might be used could add value to the discussion.
I can keep giving examples like this btw, and we can go through them one by one, or we can use abstraction and talk about them as a group phenomena.
I consider the above example to be the only valid example you’ve given, and it’s still an unclear one to me, so I think the best next step is either to clarify and improve on this one example or to provide another better example.
Yes, and them right after that you agreed that in other circumstances, asking for the definition is the right move for going down the ladder of abstraction… So, this was an example for someone applying specificity unthinkingly instead of understanding the ladder of abstraction and when it’s useful.
Another example is at a conference, discussing different types of forecasting, being derailed by someone asking how the specific algorithms we were talking about would be used, not realizing that we hadn’t explored the abstract solution space of forecasting enough yet to answer that, and that it would derail the conversation.
I can keep giving examples like this btw, and we can go through them one by one, or we can use abstraction and talk about them as a group phenomena.
I’d be interested to understand the discussion in more detail and whether over-zealous specificity is really a cause of harm here. Because it seems to me like spending a minute to get a sense of how specifically a certain algorithm might be used could add value to the discussion.
I consider the above example to be the only valid example you’ve given, and it’s still an unclear one to me, so I think the best next step is either to clarify and improve on this one example or to provide another better example.