Klarinet Archive - Posting 000151.txt from 1994/05

From: "Jay Heiser, Product Manager, Govt Systems" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re Fobes comments on intuition and creativity (on Magic)
Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 14:26:21 -0400

-->From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>

-->In every technical community, artisans, craftsmen, and technical experts
-->often hold the belief that what they do is part science and part black
-->magic, and that the black magic part of their work is not really explainable
-->but purely intuitive. It is the presence of that intuition that
distinguishes
-->between the real expert and the common technician.
-->
-->Clark Fobes has suggested that this same phenomenon is required in, for
-->example, mouthpiece making.
-->
-->Just an opinion, but it has been my experience that this kind of talk
-->demonstrates a lack of knowledge more than the presence of intuition and is
-->used as an excuse for things that are unable to be described, either because
-->insufficient theory exists to describe it, or it cannot be so described by
-->theory, so intuition and often fanciful suggestions are offered to explain
it.
-->

to parapharase Arthur C. Clarke
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
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Garden Status:
First harvest: spinach, lettuce
Beans sprouting, tomatos still under plastic