Article 8 \u2014 The Genius of Abstraction<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abstraction allows humans to manipulate things that do not physically exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numbers are abstractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Countries are abstractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corporations are abstractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algorithms are abstractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A genius of abstraction would move effortlessly between levels of conceptual representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suppose someone encounters a hundred different problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people may memorize solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An abstract thinker asks what all one hundred problems have in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result is a general principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That principle can then solve thousands of future problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one reason abstraction is so powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A sophisticated thinker might reason simultaneously at several levels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Physical level:<\/strong> What objects are present?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Functional level:<\/strong> What are they doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mathematical level:<\/strong> What relationships describe them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n System level:<\/strong> How do those relationships interact?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philosophical level:<\/strong> Why does the system exist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving between levels becomes a cognitive superpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abstraction can also disconnect thought from reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A beautiful theory can fail when confronted with physical constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The genius must therefore repeatedly descend from abstraction into observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reality remains the final test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article 8 \u2014 The Genius of Abstraction Abstraction allows humans to manipulate things that do not physically exist. Numbers are abstractions. Countries are abstractions. Corporations are abstractions. Algorithms are abstractions. A genius of abstraction would move effortlessly between levels of conceptual representation. Seeing the General Rule Suppose someone encounters a hundred different problems. Most people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutantgenius.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Risk of Excessive Abstraction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n