[ExI] Did Hugo de Garis leave the field?

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, May 04, 2011 at 08:44:37AM +0100, BillK wrote:

> I think your definition of paradigm shift is too restrictive. You are

Beats watering down, though.

Paradigm changes can be paraphrased as when the rules
of the game change. In the history of the Earth,
it was the formation of the Earth, then the advent
of life on Earth, then advent of intelligent life.
In case of us, it's when we first become people,
then after we invented agriculture and tapped
animal and phytobiomass, and the second time it
was the shift from phytobiomass and animal power to
fossil energy and machine power.

> almost making it mean the same as Singularity. You are out on your own

The Singularity is just a shrinking event horizon of
predictability. Just as with regular spacetime singularities
you don't see anything out of ordinary when you fall in
and pass through the event horizont. No need to wax
rhapsodic, and conjure burning bushes. It's just business
as usual, only more so.

> with this usage, In current language use 'paradigm shift' means almost
> any significant change in general thought patterns or ways of working.
> (Though if you work in Marketing, a new soap powder is called a
> 'paradigm shift').
> 
> Wikipedia has a good article, discussing the origin of the term and
> current usage.
> <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Paradigm_shift>

I knew that would mention Kuhn, even before I looked.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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