Part of Reference frames and Explaining the power of systems thinking practices using reference frames.


Mental reference frames of concepts have at most seven "features"? It seems to me that the overall density of the concept graph, and thus the speed and the quality of thinking can be improved by increasing the number of reference frames attached to every concept. As Hawkins wrote, the brain can handle this easily: a single cortical column can learn and store hundreds of reference frames. (This doesn't imply that cortical columns responsible for abstract thinking are dedicated to a single concept each: I think Hawkins didn't assert this in the book.)

In "Systems thinking", Levenchuk introduces several types of relationships that people usually don't think about: functional-part-of, constructive-part-of, spatial-part-of, cost-part-of, sub-alpha-of. Use them in system breakdowns to increase the density of the concept graph in your mind.

Systems thinkers should also deliberately seek new types of relationships relevant to a particular project (system, area of research), document them, and build system breakdowns (i. e., reference frames) using these new dimensions.


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