The Nonlinear Library LW - Experimentation (Part 7 of "The Sense Of Physical Necessity") by LoganStrohl
Mar 19, 2024
14:57
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Experimentation (Part 7 of "The Sense Of Physical Necessity"), published by LoganStrohl on March 19, 2024 on LessWrong.
This is the seventh post in a sequence that demonstrates a complete naturalist study, specifically a study of query hugging (sort of), as described in The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalism. This one demos phase four: Experimentation. For context on this sequence, see the intro post. Reminder that this is meant as reference material.
Wait, there's more to this study? But we've just discussed the main insight that came out of it, and how it illustrates the point of naturalism. Why is there more?
There is more because by this point I was interested not only in insights, but in mastery. There is more to mastery than reconceptualization.
However, I would like to point out that everything I'd done so far preceded experimentation. I had not even begun to try to change anything - yet I had learned quite a lot, through mere observation without interference. This is why many naturalist studies are complete before experimentation even begins. Often, this level of understanding is all that's needed.
(From the end of "
Naturalist Collection")
But sometimes one further step is necessary. You can tell that you should move on to "Experimentation" if you feel grounded about your study topic, if you think you've really trained yourself to notice and directly observe what's there in whatever realm you've focused on - but you still have an unsatisfied curiosity about how to behave around your topic.
In this case, when I arrived at the end of Collection, I found that I wanted to know what was possible. I wanted to move freely around this chest luster, this sense of physical necessity; to explore its boundaries and the actions available to me in the presence of that experience (and its antecedents). So, I chose to continue my study.
The goal of
experimentation in naturalism is to create space from alternative action.
If you're constantly observing in response to a stimulus, rather than immediately taking whatever action you ordinarily would by default, then you have already taken the most crucial step toward breaking a default stimulus-response pattern. You have already created a space between the stimulus and your original default response.
In the Experimentation phase of naturalist study, you'll use actions that are larger than "observation" to stretch that space. You'll experiment with saying this, thinking that, or moving your body in such and such a way, until the link between the stimulus and your default response has been severed entirely.
By creating space for alternative action, I mean breaking an existing pattern of stimulus-response, and replacing the default action with agency.
Some beta readers felt confused during the upcoming section. They seemed to think that if I'm changing a stimulus-response pattern, it must be because I've recognized one as unsatisfactory, and now I hope to improve it - that something was broken, and I hope to fix it. They wanted me to describe the old broken pattern, so they could follow my changes as possible improvements.
That's not what I'm up to here.
I've had trouble communicating about naturalist experimentation in the past, and I'm not sure I'll do any better this time around. For whatever it's worth, though, here's my latest attempt.
*
Mary Robinette Kowal is both a fiction author and a professional puppeteer. In one of my favorite episodes of the podcast Writing Excuses, she discusses how her background in puppetry has influenced the way she writes.
She talks about four principles of puppetry, the first of which is focus: "Focus indicates thought."
When bringing a puppet to life for an audience, it's important to always consider what external objects the puppet is cognitively or emotionally engaged with, and to make sure its eyes...
This is the seventh post in a sequence that demonstrates a complete naturalist study, specifically a study of query hugging (sort of), as described in The Nuts and Bolts of Naturalism. This one demos phase four: Experimentation. For context on this sequence, see the intro post. Reminder that this is meant as reference material.
Wait, there's more to this study? But we've just discussed the main insight that came out of it, and how it illustrates the point of naturalism. Why is there more?
There is more because by this point I was interested not only in insights, but in mastery. There is more to mastery than reconceptualization.
However, I would like to point out that everything I'd done so far preceded experimentation. I had not even begun to try to change anything - yet I had learned quite a lot, through mere observation without interference. This is why many naturalist studies are complete before experimentation even begins. Often, this level of understanding is all that's needed.
(From the end of "
Naturalist Collection")
But sometimes one further step is necessary. You can tell that you should move on to "Experimentation" if you feel grounded about your study topic, if you think you've really trained yourself to notice and directly observe what's there in whatever realm you've focused on - but you still have an unsatisfied curiosity about how to behave around your topic.
In this case, when I arrived at the end of Collection, I found that I wanted to know what was possible. I wanted to move freely around this chest luster, this sense of physical necessity; to explore its boundaries and the actions available to me in the presence of that experience (and its antecedents). So, I chose to continue my study.
The goal of
experimentation in naturalism is to create space from alternative action.
If you're constantly observing in response to a stimulus, rather than immediately taking whatever action you ordinarily would by default, then you have already taken the most crucial step toward breaking a default stimulus-response pattern. You have already created a space between the stimulus and your original default response.
In the Experimentation phase of naturalist study, you'll use actions that are larger than "observation" to stretch that space. You'll experiment with saying this, thinking that, or moving your body in such and such a way, until the link between the stimulus and your default response has been severed entirely.
By creating space for alternative action, I mean breaking an existing pattern of stimulus-response, and replacing the default action with agency.
Some beta readers felt confused during the upcoming section. They seemed to think that if I'm changing a stimulus-response pattern, it must be because I've recognized one as unsatisfactory, and now I hope to improve it - that something was broken, and I hope to fix it. They wanted me to describe the old broken pattern, so they could follow my changes as possible improvements.
That's not what I'm up to here.
I've had trouble communicating about naturalist experimentation in the past, and I'm not sure I'll do any better this time around. For whatever it's worth, though, here's my latest attempt.
*
Mary Robinette Kowal is both a fiction author and a professional puppeteer. In one of my favorite episodes of the podcast Writing Excuses, she discusses how her background in puppetry has influenced the way she writes.
She talks about four principles of puppetry, the first of which is focus: "Focus indicates thought."
When bringing a puppet to life for an audience, it's important to always consider what external objects the puppet is cognitively or emotionally engaged with, and to make sure its eyes...