Path: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu!spool.maxwell.syr.edu!drn.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newscon02.news.prodigy.com!newscon06.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!newsfeed-00.mathworks.com!lon-transit.news.telstra.net!lon-in.news.telstra.net!news.telstra.net!news-server.bigpond.net.au!53ab2750!not-for-mail Reply-To: "mountain man" From: "mountain man" Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory References: Subject: Re: Knowledge and Ignorance over Time Lines: 65 Organization: self_organising_systems X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original Message-ID: Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 01:53:26 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 144.139.11.109 X-Complaints-To: abuse@bigpond.net.au X-Trace: news-server.bigpond.net.au 1134525206 144.139.11.109 (Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:53:26 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:53:26 EST Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.theory:35114 "David Cressey" wrote in message news:sVBnf.3791$Kk7.1967@trndny05... > Paul C. said that he's still far from a database expert. So am I. But > I've been learning, since about 1980. > > Over time (a long time!) I've noticed a pattern in the growth of my > knowledge. > > If my knowledge base is likened to a sphere in a boundless universe, > here's > the pattern: > > My apparent knowledge grows like the radius of the sphere (like R). > My apparent ignorance grows like the surface area of the sphere (like R > squared). > And the number of things I must keep in my head grows like the volume of > the > sphere (like R cubed). > > At some point, this looks like a case of diminishing marginal returns. > But > I wouldn't choose to go back to being as ignorant as I was when I was > twenty, even if I got to be as smart as I was when I was twenty. IMO knowledge and ignorance works something like you have described above with the spherical coordinates and dimensions R, A, V. However I have found that while a certain class of "things in this life" can be either known (data value) or unknown (look at this null!) there are certainly another class of "things in this life" which are essentially unknowable (with respect to the intellect). Humans have three inner capacities: instinct, intellect and intuition whereas the environment of database theory really is only modelling the intellect, which is essentially machine-like in its operation. Over time, irrespective of the fields in which we humans deploy ourselves, it is good to evaluate our knowledge and ignorance of the world outside the artificial and industrial man-created systems, because there exists a natural world in which we have an existence independent of this industry, even if we have been in it for 30 or 40 years. Best wishes, -- Pete Brown IT Managers & Engineers Falls Creek Australia www.mountainman.com.au/software