

Magical Thinking - chaosmachine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking

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aba_sababa
"Magical thinking includes all systems of magic, as it includes the idea of
mental causation, i.e. the possibility of the mind having an effect on the
physical world directly."

We actually already do this. We all believe that our minds will have direct
effects on the way we move, for example. Free will is just an instance mental
causality. The problem is that while it's easy to not believe in magic, it's
just so hard not to believe in free will.

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alan-crowe
> For example, an obsessive-compulsive cleaning ritual may overemphasize the
> order, direction, and number of wipes used to clean the surface. The goal
> becomes less important than the actions used to achieve the goal, with the
> implication that magic rituals can persist without efficacy because the
> intent is lost within the act.

This made me think about the way we teach beginning programmers to comment
code. In commercial practice writing comments is an economic activity. One
spends time and money now, hoping to benefit a year in the future when one
needs to modify the original code. Optimal commenting requires knowing your
cost of capital. If you are funding your start up on your credit card at 2%
per month you should write fewer comments than if you are polishing corporate
code funded by a bond paying 2% per year.

There is a good reason that we overlook cost of capital when we are writing
comments. A bad comment costs 5 minutes when you write it, and costs 5 more
minutes a year later when you read it and find that the information that you
cannot get from the code isn't in the comment either. A good comment saves you
two hours on reconstructing reasoning that you have forgotten, but only cost
five minutes to write because the key point was fresh in your mind from
composing the code. The difference in profit between a good comment and a bad
comment are so large that they overwhelm any reasonable cost of capital.

I have never seen a tutorial on writing comments that even mentions the cost
of capital. So it seems to be traditional that the intent (to make money) is
lost within the act.

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greenyoda
See also: Cargo Cult Programming --
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_programming>

"Cargo cult programming is a style of computer programming that is
characterized by the ritual inclusion of code or program structures that serve
no real purpose. Cargo cult programming is typically symptomatic of a
programmer not understanding either a bug he or she was attempting to solve or
the apparent solution..."

~~~
asymptotic
Interesting that you mention this. I'm almost done re-reading "The Logic of
Failure" by Dietrich Dörner and have come across this gem (p170)
(s/war/software engineering/, s/commander/developer/):

"The effects of "methodism" - the unthinking application of a sequence of
actions we have once learned - can have a significant impact in areas other
than measuring quantities of water. The motivation is the same, however: we
are most inclined to deconditionalize a form of action and use it over and
over again if it has proved successful for us or for others. [Karl von]
Clausewitz, from whom I have borrowed the term methodism, observed:

"So long as no acceptable theory, no intelligent anaylsis of the conduct of
war exists, routine methods will tend to take over even at the highlest
levels...Their only insights are those that they have gained by experience.
For this reason, they prefer to use the means with which their experience has
equipped them, even in cases that could and shuold be handled freely and
individually. They will copy their supreme comanders' favorite device - thus
automatically creating a new routine...War, in its highest forms, is not an
infinite mass of minor events, analogous despite their diversities, which can
be controlled with greater to lesser effectiveness depending on the methods
applied. War consists rather of single, great, decisive actions, each of which
needs to be handled individually. War is not like a field of wheat, which,
without regard to the individual stalk, may be mown more of less efficiently
depending on the quality of the scythe; it is like a stand of mature trees in
which the ax has to be used judiciously according to the characteristics and
development of each individual trunk."

...The methodist is not able to cope with specific, individual configurations
on their own terms, for he has two or three ways of proceeding, and he uses
one or the other depending on the general features of the situation as a
whole. He does not take into account the individuality of the situation as it
is evidenced in the specific configuration of its features."

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d2
"In religion, folk religion and superstition, the correlation posited is
between religious ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice or the observance of a
taboo, and an expected benefit or recompense."

In Silicon Valley, the correlation posited is between investment ritual and an
expected benefit or recompense.

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jdp23
I thought this was going to be another post about the bubble or Color Labs.

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InclinedPlane
See also: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleology>

The fact is that only a tiny portion of the population of the world today do
not espouse some form of magical or teleological thinking. It's extremely
important to recognize and understand such phenomena.

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siglesias
For whom does this article elucidate anything?

