Personal Empowerment
Don't let anyone steal your identity!
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In the introduction to his novel, Prey, Michael Crichton says:
The notion that the world around us is continuously evolving is a platitude; we rarely grasp its full implications.
True enough. The variability of its species admits to an enormous potential for change, and our own ability to keep up with the changes is severely limited. Even to survive we need to further empower ourselves significantly. We need to find new and better power tools. This means more and better knowledge.
Such power can be obtained by working to acquire resources to exercise it. This is the sense of acquiring power through practical knowledge -- knowing how to get things done. A good example is in knowing the basics of money and how to acquire it. It means being a good manager.
I use the term 'manager' in the broadest sense here, to include directing your own behavior as well as that of others when needed. Every action you take has to be managed. You must observe occurrences and engage muscle groups to do what's required. Both take direct and personal management.
There is also the sense of power derived from knowing what's worth striving for. This is generally referred to as wisdom, a term that seems to have lost its positive value in the modern world. Empowerment in this sense is the ability to make intelligent decisions, leading to worthwhile goals. We seem to be living through an age of hedonism, with the pleasure principle as our guide. Quality of life can only be degraded if the goals we strive for are demeaning and degrading.
The purpose of study and training is to learn to improve our skills. One of the essentials of this process is to eliminate mistakes in performing the skills. (See group-based training.) Since there are many more ways to perform skills incorrectly than there are to do them correctly, this can be a formidable task, and it behooves us to conduct more diagnostic studies to try (indirectly) to optimize the skills. Here we use computers and computer simulation to facilitate the process. Observation produces the desired information. Guided practice, with feedback, lets you learn how to use the information.
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This search engine helps you obtain resources to build real-world representations that let you conduct diagnostic studies and experiments in the science of skills. Think of The Cave as a learning station, or a reading room and bookstore that can provide materials to help you learn about skills and in some ways to help you perform skills. It contributes to your practical knowledge by helping you become more efficient in getting things done -- attaining a higher probability of success in reaching your goals, of getting from state A to state B.
Attaining a probability of success of 1.0 in reaching our goals can only be considered an unreachable goal, or an ideal. Unfortunately we know too little about almost every aspect of our problems. I feel as if we are inside a large ball grinding our way out in circles, at each step in getting answers having to depend on issues that themselves haven't been answered. It's like the blind leading the blind, or a multiple catch-22. Hopefully, simulation can cut through the Gordian knot of paradoxes and lead us out of the ball.
The study of skills in realistic representations of real-world contexts encourages you to evaluate alternative approaches to skill production and in that way draw out their real-world outcomes. Observing the consequences helps you estimate the effectiveness of skills -- not just the efficiency in reaching goals, but also the worth of the goals. Simulations can therefore help you acquire both knowledge and wisdom.
It isn't enough just to know about skills, though. As important as this is, it is only a preliminary step in the process of developing skills. We also need controlled experience, like simulation-based training.
In learning to fly an airplane, for example, you need time at the controls. But who would be a passenger on a plane piloted by someone having only book knowledge of flight operations?
Again, who would choose to have a gall bladder removed by someone with no medical experience?
Would you be prepared to pay good money to a novice carpenter to build your dream house? Or even have an inexperienced driver take you downtown?
The traditional way to gain experience is to use mentors -- people who serve as guides. We've also developed apprenticeships. We have trade schools, particularly for crafts like carpentry, electronics, or computer maintenance. In medicine we use teaching hospitals. Most businesses employ raw recruits who go through an apprenticeship, or on-the-job training (OJT).
Occasionally, though, we use what I consider to be a more meaningful approach to skills learning, using real-world simulation. Airline pilots, for one, receive this type of training. This type of experience can bridge the gap between book learning and real-world experience. It provides experience for even the most hazardous situations and yet doesn't threaten anyone. It is this type of experience in its many possible forms that I advocate and support, and for which I provide study materials, in my book and on this Web site.
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Your computer can be enhanced by connecting it to the Internet. It is this condition that makes the Web valuable. It puts the world's wealth of ideas at your fingertips and lets you update your understanding of the latest ideas, discoveries, and achievements, all of which contribute to your empowerment. But you have to develop the skills to use it effectively.
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