First Blog

The extensible spring.  Think of the shock absorber on your car.  You hit a bump, the spring is compressed and then releases its energy slowly to cushion the bump.  Now think of capital markets in the same way.  This time the bump is a constant barrage of regulations.  They kept coming during the Obama administration.  For good or bad, the spring kept compressing.  Under Trump, the regulations have been relaxed, and the spring with all its stored up energy seems to be releasing its energy in an explosion of expansion.  This leads us to believe the markets have expanded (30 new DOW records this year), not back to their reasonable expression, but far beyond.  It leads one to think a rebound is possible, as it returns to where it should be.  And “should be,” on the basis of growth and market, are the key words.  We are led to believe the markets will settle back to reasonable positions, and this may imply a correction is coming.  A bumpy ride may be afoot.  Analogy is a wonde

Reasoned by analogy, we present the theory of memes .   The modern theory of memetics (memes) is all about explaining why we behave as we do.   Based on a cultural analog of the biological gene, it has quite a large following among professional researchers – mostly in the social sciences. Let’s look at it more closely.   Warning: Be skeptical, knowing this is currently a big time theory. Yet no evidence and no observations!  For reason by analogy see http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2012/07/rasoning-by-analogy.html ______________ The theory of memetics , or theory of memes, dating from the recent 1989 book, The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, proposes the rapid increase of social structure is a consequence of a culture or system (memes) of behaviors that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another.   They have been likened to biological genes.   In his 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge , which elaborates upon the fundamental role of memes in uni

Plato’s Cave – an allegory for all time The allegory of Plato’s cave has a remarkable permanence in the philosophies of knowledge and of life.   In it we see a collection of prisoners who can only see the shadows of reality as projected by a fire between the truth and the shadows.   They cannot turn around seeing the object so projected.   This is what they know; this is what they see; this is what they believe.   A given prisoner is rescued from the cave and brought into the light of truth.   The prisoner is then returned to the cave to help and instruct the others on what the shadows really depict.   He is rejected by all other prisoners preferring the shadows and consequent conjectures.   This encapsulates the Plato’s allegory, though not in complete detail.   Our intent here is to reveal or theorize on how we lift shadows to our current versions of truth.    On the physical face of things, what the shadows represent include ·          A reduction of spatial dimension

  The only way to keep alive is to keep moving. It seems to be in the nature of man to push questions to the brink of impossibility and beyond.   An error made in the problem solution for today can generate the impossible problem having no solution for tomorrow. Induction and analogy, though important, often prove to be the lazy man’s route to problem solving – particularly when they are imprecisely or inaccurately   applied.   While induction is a valid mathematical technique, analogy merely provides heuristics and example to help with problem understanding.  One good marker of an impossible problem is this:  The greater the number of solutions offered, the more difficult or impossible it must be.  -------------------------------- Confusion Theory.  Yes, there is a confusion theory.  It purports many things.  Included are studies that suggest confusion may enhance the learning of complex topics.  Another is that they generate a sense of skepticism over reported events.  

Using Analogies We all use analogies to explain the concepts we want to impart, to convince, to help understand, and to reduce to a simpler more physical and familiar level of understanding.   Analogies have been used over the great span of time, even in Plato’s Phaedo , where the philosopher’s soul of reason should not do and redo arguments as with Penelope’s rug 2 . (Plato, Phaedo ) Research says indicates that using analogies assists in concept development. This is something we’ve all suspected. It is interesting to note that it is somewhat established in the literature 1 .     To be effective, analogies must be familiar, and their features must be synchronous with those of the target. Reasoning by analogy indicates the target concept is like something else.   You can argue it, but it is still only an analogy and may prove nothing at all.   The real problem is that the analogy may be false, and worse still is that your audience may interpret your intended concept throu