[ExI] "increasingly coherent over increasing context"

Lee Corbin lcorbin at rawbw.com
Fri Sep 26 15:50:49 UTC 2008


Jef writes

> Lee wrote:
> 
>> Jef writes
>>
>>> Can anyone here suggest a simple term meaning "increasingly coherent
>>> over increasing context" with regard to this property corresponding
>>> with the expected competence of an agent's model of effective
>>> interaction with its environment?  It seems such a fundamental and
>>> generally applicable concept, similarly appropriate to philosophy of
>>> science, but I get a **lot** of email offlist from people saying they
>>> tend to get lost after about the second "increasingly" whenever I try
>>> to express lexically, concepts better expressed mathematically.
>>
>> I would suggest avoiding reliance on any staple phrase...
> 
> Thanks Lee for your advice on effective prose, and I have no doubt
> that varying my wording, coming at the topic from various angles, and
> above all -- examples -- would help.  On the other hand, consider the
> vast literature surrounding the extremely simple core of Buddhist
> enlightenment and how few persons make the necessary conceptual leap.

Yes, the value of what you say (and I'm far from being a total 
skeptic for reasons that appear below) may still be a stretch
for people just either due to their difficulty or their basic
unfamiliarity with certain ways of looking at it.

> Or consider the sheer volume of Eliezer's near-daily essays, most of
> which graze this conceptual space, chipping away but not yet fully
> exposing the elegant synthesis of the subjective and objective
> essential to a coherent metaethics. A few years ago I began to outline
> a persuasively comprehensive text, and very quickly confronted an
> explosion of possible backgrounds and points of view that would have
> to be accommodated.

That had to benefit you, quite apart from learning how difficult 
your aim may be.

> I came to realize that given available time and
> bandwidth for online textual interaction, I would have to be content
> with merely planting seeds and watching for the rare germination.

And hope.
 
> But back to my request to the list, my question was not so much about
> rhetorical technique or devices, but to the question of whether we
> already have a term for "increasingly coherent over increasing
> context", and if not, why not?  Feel free to neologize.

I did try hard, and didn't come up with anything better than what
others later said. I could see that what I was coming up with (and
what they came up with) didn't quite fill the bill[1]. 

Here goes again. [Lee in as near as he comes to deep thought
for about as long as he is able to concentrate on any particular
thing these days]. Well, after 45 seconds, I have this:

       "wider applicability" can replace the "increasing context" 
        or "wider reference".

The "increasingly coherent" can be replaced by

        "growing synthesis" or "expanding synthesis" 

The result: we get "improved synthesis over wider applicability",
or "expanding synthesis over increasing context", or "enhanced
synthesis over wider reference".  [Especially as systems interact
more, and the light cones of any one system become larger.]
If you switch back and forth between three or four phrases
that seem mostly equivalent to you, many fewer people will
be annoyed. Particular words stick in our brains, with both
good and bad effects and affects.

But still, extra practice explaining what you mean by using entirely
different words, analogies, and examples, will cause your prose
to become more effective, and to become clearer. Moreover,
while engaging in that activity, it's quite possible that you will
understand not only how your ideas may be explained more
simply and directly, but you may come to understand them
better too. I have benefited enormously by explaining what I
think to this list, aware of the vast and cool and sympathetic
minds liable to read and perhaps comment.

It may even be that as people here, including me, have tried to
suggest alternate phrasing, it became clear to you that they were
not really understanding the idea. For example, I'm only 80%
certain that my suggestions---whatever their literary merit or
lack of merit---actually capture what you mean.

Lee




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