From Tom Bourbon [931115.1624]
Hal:
I must say too that I think we can all afford to be a little more
ambitious than figuring out simple problems of how to perambulate
around the house. Let's get real. There are flesh-and-blood, tough
problems of conflict and wars over terms of control all around us, and
I'm still looking at how PCT grapples with something that begs to be
done--like giving children enough control to escape ritual abuse.
Hal, I'm sorry that our discussions of simple problems, like walking through
the bedroom in the dark, disturb your sense of the important. You have
been hanging out on this net for a while. I'm sure you already know PCT
modelers are interested in quite a few problems that many people consider
irrelevant and trivial. We want to develop working models -- models that
behave by themselves, not appealing, seemingly plausible descriptions. We
care about many of the same larger issues as you, but the criteria we set
for ourselves demand that if our models do not work for the seemingly simple
and the apparently trivial, then we must remain mute on the larger issues.
Until later,
Tom