MNoBody
Well-Known Member
[taken from a website i was recently reading through.
It seems relevant for a general topic for discussion.]
“By the time you understand the rules of a complex game, you will no longer be able to explain those rules to anyone who does not already understand the game.”
—Hoyle’s Law (apocryphal attribution)
“What Hoyle’s Law says to a game theorist working in simulation
is that a discussion of a complex system or situation—a ‘game’ in the parlance—
requires a shared vocabulary of terms,
a mutual comprehension of goals not clear from the outside,
a concept of the limits on action set by assumed and thus normally unstated rules,
and an understanding of the system’s environment.
Only after a person absorbs all that data will an explanation of the game itself be comprehensible
—but the background data is so complex,
and contains so much contextual and implied information about the game,
that by the time one absorbs it, the explanation is no longer needed.
This phenomenon holds true in everything from political theory to nuclear engineering,
from the etiquette of poker or the rules of baseball,
to the pecking order at a High Purple Compulsory Volunteers’ Celibate Orgy.
”It can be demonstrated mathematically
that the ultimate goal of complex action is generally the most difficult thing to ascertain.
An outsider will not be aware of obstacles or of subsidiary goals,
and will not at first be able to discern between
action taken to avoid or resolve problems,
and action taken to move toward the goal.
The observer will not, perhaps, even be able to comprehend what the goal is.
“To state the converse, it is possible—indeed quite normal—
for an outsider to watch actions guided by an unstated rule set
and not be able to make heads or tails of what seem to be utterly inexplicable actions.
This is why we don’t understand the Charonians,
and why it is doubtful they would understand us
—if their rule set even allowed them to be aware of us.“
(ed note: in other words, if you do not know how to play Magic the Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons, ask a small child to explain and see how few sentences it takes for you to become totally lost and confused.)
[If you want i can post the site link ...if anyone is interested]
It seems relevant for a general topic for discussion.]
“By the time you understand the rules of a complex game, you will no longer be able to explain those rules to anyone who does not already understand the game.”
—Hoyle’s Law (apocryphal attribution)
“What Hoyle’s Law says to a game theorist working in simulation
is that a discussion of a complex system or situation—a ‘game’ in the parlance—
requires a shared vocabulary of terms,
a mutual comprehension of goals not clear from the outside,
a concept of the limits on action set by assumed and thus normally unstated rules,
and an understanding of the system’s environment.
Only after a person absorbs all that data will an explanation of the game itself be comprehensible
—but the background data is so complex,
and contains so much contextual and implied information about the game,
that by the time one absorbs it, the explanation is no longer needed.
This phenomenon holds true in everything from political theory to nuclear engineering,
from the etiquette of poker or the rules of baseball,
to the pecking order at a High Purple Compulsory Volunteers’ Celibate Orgy.
”It can be demonstrated mathematically
that the ultimate goal of complex action is generally the most difficult thing to ascertain.
An outsider will not be aware of obstacles or of subsidiary goals,
and will not at first be able to discern between
action taken to avoid or resolve problems,
and action taken to move toward the goal.
The observer will not, perhaps, even be able to comprehend what the goal is.
“To state the converse, it is possible—indeed quite normal—
for an outsider to watch actions guided by an unstated rule set
and not be able to make heads or tails of what seem to be utterly inexplicable actions.
This is why we don’t understand the Charonians,
and why it is doubtful they would understand us
—if their rule set even allowed them to be aware of us.“
(ed note: in other words, if you do not know how to play Magic the Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons, ask a small child to explain and see how few sentences it takes for you to become totally lost and confused.)
[If you want i can post the site link ...if anyone is interested]