I won't mix in the discussion about suitcases and weight, but I will offer
up another example I used to use to illustrate the notion of "set" (as in a
predisposition).
Back in the old days, when I was a boy, a supposedly common prank was to
take a glass milk bottle from the ice box (and, no, I don't mean
refrigerator), pour out the milk, dry out the empty bottle, fill it up with
whitewash, let it set for a while, then pour out the whitewash and put the
bottle back in the ice box. The bottle looked full of milk but was quite
empty. Those reaching in and grasping it invariably lifted it bang up
against the top of the ice box. A half-full bottle (real or phoney)
resulted in a different effect.
Might this suggest that kinaesthetic reference conditions might be set based
on visual perceptions tied to kinaesthetic memories?
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Senior Consultant
The Distance Consulting Company
nickols@worldnet.att.net
[From Rick Marken (971001.1545)]
Fred Nickols (971001) --
The bottle looked full of milk but was quite empty. Those
reaching in and grasping it invariably lifted it bang up
against the top of the ice box.
Another example of this kind of "set" is the "Levels of
Control" demo at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken/ControlDemo/Levels.html
Here the "set" is for the relationship between mouse and
cursor movement.
Might this suggest that kinaesthetic reference conditions might
be set based on visual perceptions tied to kinaesthetic memories?
Yes. Sure does. And in most cases these settings are reasonably
appropriate. But when they are not (as in the suitcase and milk
bottle cases under discussion) they are rather quickly revised
(indicating that there is control of perception, as usual).
The "Levels of control" demo is worth doing because it shows
that behavior can appear to be model based (during the runaway
phase after the polarity reversal it looks like the behavior
continues "open loop" on the basis of a now incorrect model of
the physical relationship between mouse and cursor) when, in fact,
it is not. The behavior in the "Levels" demo is just good old
control of perception.
Second best
Rick
ยทยทยท
----
Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken
[From Bruce Gregory (971007.1050 EDT)]
Hans Blom, 971007c
Fred,
>Back in the old days, when I was a boy, a supposedly common prank
>was to take a glass milk bottle from the ice box (and, no, I don't
>mean refrigerator), pour out the milk, dry out the empty bottle,
>fill it up with whitewash, let it set for a while, then pour out the
>whitewash and put the bottle back in the ice box. The bottle looked
>full of milk but was quite empty. Those reaching in and grasping it
>invariably lifted it bang up against the top of the ice box. A
>half-full bottle (real or phoney) resulted in a different effect.
Great tale!
And a compelling demonstration that model-based controlling
isn't control 
n'th Best
