Designing the test

Good things come to those that are patient. Sometimes the karma will overcome the dogma - at other times the dogma wins. I was reviewing my links and i noticed A Pox was back, looking at the same challenges that we face here - from a different perspective.

In framing the question, Adem suggests that we are about to face an essay question. We have gotten through the multiple choice stage - and find all the offered answers wanting. Given the instinct for self-preservation and the fact that nobody really knows any other way - my guess is that we have absolutely no chance of passing the test under the current conditions.

We need to start by asking ourselves a few questions about our study habits - to make certain that we prepare ourselves to address the question in terms that we can understand - that can be understood in translation - and that speak truth in a form that can be immediately grasped as such. The co-opting of the english language for the purpose of advertising useless gadgets means that we had better start our test with a matching section - to get us all speaking on the same page.

Next we need a short true/false section - to probe the myths that are commonly held - and to see what is agreed upon. The basis for explanation works much better when it can be related by analogy - nature tends to duplicate function in a myriad of forms - to ensure that the function always takes place. When one mechanism gets trashed, it goes down and other replacement mechanisms step in to take its place. Systems function best when paying attention to the small details - and recognizing when things are misaligned at the earliest possible instant. Built in redunduncy has been co-opted in economics by efficiency of scale - the next system will have to address this misdirection of labor efforts.

Section three of our test has to do with calculations - what are we measuring and is the response to the measurement rational. What is the range of error in the calculations - and how much uncertainty have we allowed? The closer you attempt to measure, the more you affect the measurement - does your heart palpitate in a doctors office? How to count is a skill we teach our pre-schoolers, and we let them think that they know how to do it without reinforcement as they grow through school. This section reminds us, people - get the numbers straight.

Section four is short answer. You either speak the language or you don't and you have to be able to fill in the blanks with the proper concepts. We can argue what proper is all day - it means having a mastery of the working basics in the field of endeavor. If you demonstrate that other people can follow your logic and you can follow theirs - then this section becomes a snap.

Now we get to the essay. But instead of a single topic - the approach is more like which apple can you pick off the tree. Each area of knowledge has their own questions that people are pursuing - although the focus of much of our research is on consumable entities. If we focus on applying the field of our individual expertise into a different field of our interest, then we can advance both cause and effect at the same time - and learn while teaching and taking our test. Each short essay can focus on building a brick for the foundation of vetting the information that we call our knowledge base. Perhaps we can start the mortar mixing for a foundation based on truth, for its own sake.

So there is my test - which can be used in any form to pursue any interest - as long as the clear perspective is true. I am an ONRRI scientist (ONRRI - Oregon Natural Resources Research Institute) - let's start prepping for this exam.