Rules of thumb are not intuition ... but applying them requires intuition... unlike applying rigorous methods...
However even the most rigorous science requires rules of thumb (hence intuition) to do the problem set-up before the calculations start... ben On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Mark Waser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Engineering should *NEVER* involve intuition. Engineering does not > require > > > exact answers as long as you have error bars but the second that you > revert > > > to intuition and guesses, it is *NOT* engineering anymore. > > > > > > > Well, we may be using the word "intuition" differently. > > > > Given your examples, we are. > > > > > > I'll give a very simple example of intuition, based on the only > > Not too interesting, but rigorous. > > > > Yeah. Generally if it's rigorous, it's not considered intuition. > > > > However, one wouldn't bother to use this formula if the soil was too > different > > in composition from the soil around Vegas. So in reality the civil > > engineer uses > > some intuition to decide whether the soil is close enough to the right > > kind of soil, > > to use our formula. > > > > Now this *could* be made more rigorous, too ... in principle ... but in > practice > > it isn't. > > > > I would have phrased this as "The civil engineer uses some simple rules of > thumb . . . . " which tend to be pretty well established and where they do > and do not apply also tend to be pretty well established to. I've never > really heard the word intuition used to describe this. > > > > And so, maybe some houses fall down ;-) > > But not many do. The combination of rigorous formulas applying to > restrictive > > cases, together with intuition telling you where to apply what formulas, > works > > OK. > > > > Yeah, you seem to be using the word intuition where I use the words "rules > of thumb". An interesting distinction and one that we probably should both > remember . . . . > > > ------------------------------------------- > agi > Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > http://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC Director of Research, SIAI [EMAIL PROTECTED] "If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms." -- Henry Miller ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: http://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=101455710-f059c4 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
