
A collection of abstract patterns - poat
https://github.com/perspectivesonatheme/patterns
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wskinner
The first thing this reminds me of is
[http://tvtropes.org/](http://tvtropes.org/). The subject matter may be a
little different, but the idea is the same: cataloging and indexing conceptual
information that is relevant to humans.

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gavinpc
> Controlled defects > ... > hpv vaccine: from a parent's perspective, it can
> admit that their kid needs to be protected from something that the parent
> prohibits; it's an admission of weakness of their authority

Interesting example. Could vaccines themselves be considered an example of
controlled defects?

 _edit_ : I also notice the "Streisand effect" is listed here. If memory
serves, that is about an attempt to forbid the distribution of a photo of her
luxurious beachfront home—which thus became a much bigger story. But at first
I thought it was about her declining any kind of rhinoplasty to avoid
tampering with her voice ( _edit_ which is hearsay). Certainly there are many
"corrective" surgeries which only call much more attention than the original
"defect."

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poat
That does indeed fit, using the interpretation that introducing a pathogen in
a controlled manner has its own risks, but may prevent the relatively severe
effects of an infection. I'll add it as an example in the next push.

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fatdog
These are fairly standard concepts for architects. Engineers deconstruct
problems into implementations. Architects abstract problems into the rules
that govern them. Both arrive in similar places, but usually for different
reasons.

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poat
The dichotomy I usually use is between science and engineering. Science is
about breaking systems down into components. Engineering is about composing
components into systems. This project is very much on the science side of
that. It doesn't propose any courses of action or anything. And yes, most of
the concepts are pretty standard. The purpose of the project is to put them
all out in the open so they can themselves be studied, and also so we can have
a shared langauge about this sort of stuff.

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thom
Yeah, but if you're a functional human being, you don't _need_ patterns.

~~~
poat
That's like saying you don't need math. For the most part, in everyday life,
that's true, but there are cases where functional human beings disagree, or we
find ourselves in novel situations that we don't know how to handle. In those
cases, we need new ways to think and communicate. Intuition works great for
catching a ball, but you'll need math to land a rocket on mars.

~~~
thom
This was my attempt to joke about the fact that every time design patterns in
software architecture are mentioned, someone pipes up about how design
patterns aren't useful in functional languages because it's all built in.

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snorkel
Interesting ... but I still prefer WikiPedia.

~~~
poat
Wikipedia is an incredible resource and I have relied on it heavily in the
development of this project. But for specific areas, an integrated,
specialized approach gives you more control over things like organization,
format, and what content to include or exclude.

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jsh4ft
Upvoted and donated. Some concepts that could really help my day-to-day way of
thinking.

