<Bob Clark (940510.1422 EDT)>
Mary Powers (9404.29) Subject: DME; More on Prozac
But Bill wasn't talking about the DME. He was talking about
principles and strategies.
To me, he appeared to be talking about "predicting." That was his
announced topic. As he described this process, it occurred to me
that it resembled a sub-section of the operation of the DME. Bill
certainly did not say so.
In retrospect, I do not think this a good representation of the
DME. Rather, it seems to me that Bill's description of (trend
analysis and extrapolation) belonged to the Program Level. But I'll
readily agree that concepts of "principles" and "strategies" are
pertinent to trend analysis and extrapolation.
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I am intrigued by your concern with my motivations. As you would
expect, those are not the motivations I perceive. Thus:
It seems to me that you are defending the concept of a DME against
the idea that its functions are already included in the workings of
the hierarchy. I can see that if you agreed that this is so, it
would be a disappointment to you - it would mean that you haven't
really come up with something new and important.
Also:
I get the idea that either you have a very limited idea of what
principle and program levels cover - or predicting and deciding are
so important to you they require a special entity to account for the
phenomena.
The concept of the DME arises from the observation that situations
sometimes occur that have not been programmed in advance.
The DME is only required in the event that existing knowledge
(present time) is unable to provide a pre-selected answer or adequate
program. Most of the time, existing programs, principles, etc are
adequate or more than adequate. But an unusual event may call for
revision of existing programs, or creation of new ones. How is this
done? I can conceive complex generalized programs designed to take
care of some situations. These, too, of course, are learned
abilities. Considering the process of extrapolation, this is fine --
for those who know how. There are many who have not yet learned
these concepts and methods. They still need to make their decisions
-- and use whatever they have learned as best they can. Otherwise,
they can only act randomly: the reorganization function.
How are decisions made when the learned systems are inadequate? Are
not the learned systems used as far as possible? These would
primarily, but not exclusively, use the program and principle levels
as far as possible.
I have yet to see an alternative answer for this question. As a
matter of fact, the DME is defined in terms of answering this
question. Either the learned systems can handle the situation,
perhaps with the support of the DME, or the reorganization function
begins its random action.
If this is "defense" of the DME concept, so be it.
If my "motivation" is trying to "come up with something new and
important," that's not all bad. Whether this is or is not my
motivation, is really not important. If my suggestions are not
helpful -- forget them. If you can use them, be my guest.
My life as a research scientist has always been directed toward the
finding and solution of problems. This has been my life-long
orientation.
I won some -- I lost some.
Regards, Bob Clark