For over 25 years, I’ve been making software fail. It’s not that I am a QA person, though I have often (as a side function) led QA efforts. And I don’t mean that I’ve been building failed software. I simply mean that I seem to discover, or cause the discovery of, more than my fair share of bugs.
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Tag: Escher
Lovers, Intellectual Loneliness, and an Enigma
CogZest is for and about beautiful, passionate minds. So, it’s natural for me to respond to The Imitation Game.
The film received mixed reviews. Many of those knowledgeable about Turing and the Enigma project were disappointed by the film’s lack of fidelity, particularly given how fascinating these subjects are in reality. I did not expect to see a documentary, nor something outside Hollywood’s style, so I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve used the divertissement’s themes as a cognitive springboard rather than a trampoline to which I frequently return for inspiration, let alone factual information.
It being Valentine’s day (and given that I am nursing an R&D project dealing with romantic love), it seems appropriate to launch into the theme of intellectual loneliness, companionship and romantic love, to which The Imitation Game alluded.
Continue reading Lovers, Intellectual Loneliness, and an Enigma
Meta-painting & Science of the Human Mind: An Epistolary Response to Lam Wong’s 21 Elements
Preface
A version of this essay will appear in the second edition of Lam Wong’s 21 Elements book. The book is based on his September 2014 exhibition, about which I have recently blogged. For reasons that will become obvious, I’ve written this document as a letter to a fictional friend.
Opening Quotations: Hermann Hesse Displaces Rudyard Kipling and M. C. Esher
Most sections of Cognitive Productivity have an opening quotation. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed choosing them. I’ve also appreciated the positive feedback I’ve received from readers about them.
Continue reading Opening Quotations: Hermann Hesse Displaces Rudyard Kipling and M. C. Esher
Why Use Potent Cognitive Tools —and How
Most of the information we process is digital. While the tools we use for learning are in some respects better than paper, in others they are worse. In this article, I claim that:
- Progress is problem-driven
- Most learning tools are cognitively impotent
- Self-directed learners should use potent cognitive tools and do so in a manner that promotes their learning.