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BGonline.org Forums
Reasons: Malcolm Davis' view and some chaos theory
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Reasons: Malcolm Davis' view and some chaos theory (Klaus Evers)
Date: Saturday, 29 May 2010, at 1:35 a.m.
Klaus Evers:
Basically, I don't know what I am doing and I know it.
Yes! I think what you are saying here applies to almost every human endeavor when one is pushing the limits of one's ability. When we make a serious attack on a new problem, whether in art or science or sport or whatever, we usually don't fully understand what we're doing.
Nevertheless, it's still important in backgammon to concoct "reasons." Isolated facts are infinitely harder to remember than (seemingly) meaningful patterns. We'll play better backgammon if we abide by a set of rules of thumb (as long as the rules of thumb are halfway sensible) than by playing completely haphazardly. What we have to remember is that these "rules" should be treated as mnemonics to help us remember lots of information that would otherwise be too hard to remember; the rules aren't "true" and are always subject to revision. Testing variants of a new and unfamiliar position is important so that we can formulate the most efficient new mnemonic, that introduces fewer errors than it eliminates.
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