We need to be able to solve a great number of problems that are very hard to understand. One way in which we can build an understanding of these is through analogy. There are situations in which analogies can be a powerful way of building an accurate conceptual model of a problem or system. They can help provide the ingenuity necessary to solve today's difficult problems. However, analogies can be themselves problematic, even harmful. There may also be things so intangible that they are beyond human understanding. From the Un-Distinguished Lecture Series (http://ws.cs.ubc.ca/~udls/). The talk was given Jun. 13, 2008.

1. THE USE OF
ON
THOUGHTS
ANALOGIES
IN UNDERSTANDING AND SOLVING
COMPLEX
PROBLEMS,
MUTHAFUCKAZ Lucas Rizoli • 2008-08-13

2. ANALOGY

3. Colour : Spectrum :: Tone : _____

4. Colour : Spectrum :: Tone : Scale

5. Worship : Sacrifice :: Prediction : ______

6. Worship : Sacrifice :: Prediction : Augury

7. KINDA
metaphor
simile
allegory
parable

8. analogy
fundamental
mechanism
of thought

9. COMPLEX

10. NOT
REALLY execution time
space requirements
compressability
state probability

11. COMPLICATED

12. COMPLEX SYSTEMS

16. disorganized
lots of parts
organized
emergence

17. COMPLEX PROBLEMS

21. connections
nothing simple
large scale
great benefit
and risk

22. mo’ problems
e.g. environment
need ingenuity
smart solutions

23. Quantity →
Ingenuity
available
Time →

24. Quantity →
Ingenuity
required
Ingenuity
available
Time →

25. Ingenuity gap
Quantity →
Ingenuity
required
Ingenuity
available
Time →

27. USE OF ANALOGIES TO
UNDERSTAND AND SOLVE
PROBLEMS

30. “IT’S LIKE…”

31. NOW YOU TRY IT

33. n !
le
s to
: t!
le hi
p s
m h
a O
Ex

34. Tumour

35. Radioactive
Ray Gun

41. IT’S
intuitive
intelligible
inexpensive
interdisciplinary

44. ANALOGY IS MISLEADING

46. SERIES
OF TUBES

47. “If you can’t say it
clearly, you don’t
understand it
yourself.”

50. info ain’t physical
why the shelves?
new interaction
search, tags…

51. INTANGIBLES

56. limits of mind
generalization
is weakness

57. embodied
abstract notions
in concrete terms

61. IMAGE CREDITS
ALL IMAGES USED WITHOUT PERMISSION [Karl Duncker]
MANY AVAILABLE UNDER CREATIVE COMMONS http://www.yuanlizhuang.com/pic/duncker.jpg
[Screenshot of quot;Starcraftquot;]
http://planetstarcraft.gamespy.com/screenshots/full_res.php?ss=100
[Douglas Hofstadter] Bike Wheel by Will Pate
http://www.nndb.com/people/990/000023921/Hofstadter2.jpg http://flickr.com/photos/willpate/19968404/
Clock- Simplicity vs. Complexity by Aaron Geller Magic Greenhouse by Ian-S
http://flickr.com/photos/aarongeller/360135019/ http://flickr.com/photos/ian-s/1093732536/
My Blood by Mussels Netting by oberazzi (Tim O'Brien)
http://flickr.com/photos/mussels/1445354267/ http://flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/2044470902/
Mecca Visit June 2008 - 10 by Ammar Abd Rabbo Senator Ted Stevens
http://flickr.com/photos/21499556@N04/2568932694/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ted_Stevens.jpg
Super Typhoon Cimaron Image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Classic Mickey Mouse Wallpaper
Center (NASA) [via pingnews.com] http://www.disneyexperience.com/downloads/wallpapers/mickeystar_1600.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/pingnews/298165549/
[John Searle]
[Warren Weaver] http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Searle/images/Searle3.jpg
http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/blood/pictures/people/people-weaver.jpg
Apple Macintosh Desktop
AIDS is Burning Up Africa by A L E M U S H http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Apple_Macintosh_Desktop.png
http://flickr.com/photos/zerihoun/230182039/
[David Weinberger]
Time to Fill Up by JoshMcConnell http://yuiblog.com/assets/weinberger.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/joshmcconnell/423630499/
Deep Space (courtesy of NASA) by John Griffiths
Jökulsárlón [Glacier] by Pétur Gauti http://flickr.com/photos/indieflickr/568374062/
http://flickr.com/photos/peturgauti/1642076217/
E8 Detail by jared
[James Burke] http://flickr.com/photos/generated/2056145757/
http://www.oswego.edu/news/images/large/jamesburkeweb.jpg
Dice Another Day by topher76
[Thomas Homer-Dixon] http://flickr.com/photos/topher76/293277608/
http://www.wordsworthbooks.com/homerdixon_thomas.-newjpg.jpg
Hourglasses by Shannon Hosmer
[UA232 Post-crash] http://flickr.com/photos/51955798@N00/1462117687/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UA232postcrash.jpg
[Alexis de Tocqueville]
[Geordi La Forge and Wesley Crusher investigate a mysterious radiation burn of unknown origin. (TNG: quot;A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alexis_de_tocqueville.jpg
Matter of Perspectivequot;)]
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Image:Deck39RadiationBurn.jpg System X - Xserve G5 supercomputing cluster by CipherSwarm
http://flickr.com/photos/cipherswarm/2414578731/
[Geordi La Forge with Engineering scanner (TNG: quot;Tin Manquot;) (screen capture by Jörg)]
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/props/scanner1-scanner-tinman.jpg Airline Tele-Dial Radio by The Rocketeer
http://flickr.com/photos/kt/249301268/
[Brian Butler]
http://psyc.queensu.ca/faculty/butler/brian.jpg Adam Resurrected [Jeff Goldblum] by Howie_Berlin
http://flickr.com/photos/howie_berlin/385039799/

62. MORE CREDITS
ALL GOOD IDEAS WERE SOMEONE ELSE’S
ALL BAD IDEAS TOO
Analogies taken from the ETS GRE Sample Analogies
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc3921509/
Apologies to Jeff Goldblum. I love your work, man.
Apologies to y'all muthafukaz too. You know you're not.