Sharp vs. Fuzzy Thinking

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 866

Posted by richard
2000-12-11 13:30:40

Well, let me start off by saying that this thread is quite refreshing, and I am learning a lot. Let’s keep digging.

I am a little taken aback by Dave’s comment though. In retrospect, I should have expected it a bit. Bart Kosko’s books have been very educational for me in accepting fuzz in one’s line of thinking. Developing an appreciation in fuzzy logic is a real strength. Unfortunately, Dave fell into the trap of dismissing the term fuzzy thinking as being confused. Culturally, we are entrained to put things distinctly into bins, discrete and inviolable. However, this does not reflect the true nature of most things - in fact, as everything proceeds in shades of gray. The boundary between life and non-life, between Republican and Democrat, between species - all of these are fuzzy boundaries, and likewise, many of the projects we deal with require a means of dealing with such gradual data “objects”. I noted that using outlining in its simplest form requires that we discard these fuzzy distinctions, and draw artificial lines (which can be quite arbitrary). We seek to improve the tools to accomodate more situations.

It takes a lot of sharp thinking to appreciate fuzzy logic.

Best regards, and much respect.

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