Welcome to the Bod Library-On-Line’s
Aha! Wing: Inverse Annex for Strategic Thinking, Adventures in Understanding, Breakthrough Awareness, Ultimate Advantage & Applied Game-theory…
Preface: This site was originally called the Inverse Wing, for Inverse von Neumann, potentially confusing since it’s not in verse. The original Inverse had been named by the perverse step-father of “game theory,” Johnny von Neumann, being his fellow prankster, housemate, & now legendary pooch, honored with a statue at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he hung out with jokers like Johnny & his colleagues (e.g., John Nash, game-theory’s ‘beautiful mime,’ & Einstein at his hairiest).
Whereas the physicists were mostly theoretical, riding imaginary light-beams & accelerating elevators to plumb fundamental mysteries of cosmology & math, Inverse was a paws-on experimentalist, bringing pure fun & keen awareness to all his equations. While Johnny pioneered the new field of game theory to shed light on human choices, for example, Inverse practiced pure play for its own sake, eagerly discovering its potential in any field, street, or porch for the sheer pleasure of it (“it” being a combination of the activity & the companionship).
A well-loved teacher, Inverse never talked down to his students–though he did sometimes knock them over in his affectionate enthusiasm to get a point across. You can find more on the von Neumanns (plus a couple tales about Johnny’s trickster exploits) in the clickable file Inverse at Princeton below. [Click to open the pdf at the very bottom of this Post page, & use backspace to return, i.e., to stay on the website.]
We, too, may learn much about the spirit of play, urge to discover & the layered experience of following one’s nose to knowledge from Inverse –along with lessons on the nature of trust, friendship & good will. His main contribution was likely the infectious daily example of his spirit of exuberant cooperation in the desire to explore & discover together.
Considering the cooperative bond between humans & dogs from very ancient times, their relationship may also remind us of “synergy,” that feature of wholes greater than the sum of their parts, with values added by working together. How parts play together in relation to each other may be considered an important (if under-explored) aspect of game-theory.
Using game choices to study what people (& dogs) might actually do in particular situations helps model the dynamics of variable systems. Of course game choices & ‘real-life’ choices aren’t necessarily the same, as any shoot-em-up arcade- or play-money game illustrates. In a simulation, everything ultimately hinges on the design. An arcade setting favors fast action, with use of sound, motion, & other visuals to generate excitement.
Simulations that teach far less visceral skills will tend to have far less sensational, more conceptual features, focusing on key elements that may help players distinguish relevant factors among available choices, along with the likeliest range of effects. In such cases, the coordination is less hand-eye than psycho-linguistic, bringing focus to the terms used for categories, actions, choices, approaches, & strategies.
Whether in a game setting or not, another level of actual learning takes place in the doing, the practice, i.e., trial & error, as well as re-trial & improvement. A good deal of the value of a simulation comes from the fact that not even failures & losses entail actual costs. When young tiger litter-mates play-fight, their claws are withdrawn when they strike, not extended. Play-action tends to be mutually affectionate, as well as cooperative, not at all aimed at inflicting the damages associated with actual aggression–yet directly useful in developing the skills that will eventually be needed.
- YOU ARE HERE NOW. From HERE, you can—
a) SCROLL up & down, left & right ON THIS PAGE, e.g., to
~~~~~PAGE MENU, top right;
~~~~~WELCOME, straight down;
~~~~~POST MENU, notes & addenda….
b) CLICK ‘Featured Rooms’ menu to other PAGES ON SITE–e.g.,
~~~~~Atrium Features
~~~~~Games & Their Applications
~~~~~Adventures in understanding
~~~~~More en route (ASAP)
~~~~~Exit - c) VISIT NETWORKED SITES—
~~~~~Bod-Library.net (MAPA Centre: maps, arts, poetry)
~~~~~Eco-Wing.net (Aldo Zone, eco-essays)
- ~~~~~virginiabodner.net (celebrating Virginia)
[Others, by arrangements made emailing c/o bodlibrary2020@gmail.com, include sites for: - B-odd College (course in writing, awareness, thought…); basho-wing (backcountry ways, etc); historical topics; “burning questions”; humor & media (bottom of barrel news & notes); runaway self-reference (the 7-story edifice complex) & realm of the fabulously ridiculous….]
Guide’s Intro: Welcome, friend. In a nutshell, this annex of the Bod L-O-L is dedicated to the art of productive play, enjoyable activity that helps wise us up–starting with a sense of HOW WE ACTUALLY LEARN.
HOW? By DOING, Trying, PLAYING, Practice; trial & error, trial & improvement; accidental encounter & intentional inquiry; also by EXAMPLE, model(ing), inspiration, REFLECTION, GUIDANCE from others, paying attention, making course corrections, revising, & (of course), by REPETITION.
“The proof is in the pudding–along with the lumps.” –Yours Crudely
With the pudding in the play, practice & experience, the site offers both recipes & overview. Recipes are the templates for how experience may be structured for maximum insight, learning & skill development, as well as for fun, enjoyment, & camaraderie. These should be especially useful to game-hosts & class managers (i.e., teachers). Overviews add insight & informed guidance to expand perspective for all participants.
As Einstein’s thought-experiments showed, the mind can imagine what is beyond its ability to practice or carry out. Similarly, spectators experience some muscle awareness while observing athletes in action. Similarly, active performers (athletes, dancers & others) can usefully practice routines in the mind, which remains the primary agency at play, informing the body (whether actively playing movements out or only imagining).
The point here is that readers may derive some benefits simply by imagining the game-play or exercises described. The greater role mind plays in a particular game or activity, the greater benefits likely realized from “virtual” play, i.e., imagining choices (actions) made & their probable effects in the mind only. In many game situations (from tic-tac-toe, chess, go, on), active players themselves do this (play in the mind) en route to choosing what seems best.
Before a choice is registered, many possibilities co-exist, in other words, though already taking on some “weighting”; what physicists call “quantum field probabilities waves,” which then collapse into the specific choices as made &/or registered–whether made by conscious, deliberate choice or faster than thought by reflexively informed muscle memory.
As with an ice skater preparing for a routine, even muscle memory is to some degree subject to the mind’s influence, including “reminders” that may help mind-muscles focus at key points. For skill-sets that are part of doing, some doing tends to help, in play or for real, but so does something we may call “higher awareness,” ways of guiding the attention while doing.
The two together–direct experience & guiding awareness–give rise to the secret sauce brought to the table by certain simply amazingly effective exercises, starting here with the T-for-Three Puzzle & Dot-dash Challenge….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~–Yours Crudely, Acting Curator
Inverse at Princeton–[Click to open; backspace to close Pdf but stay on site!]
Inverse-at-Princeton
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“What kind of architectural structure starts as an addition &, subtracting one letter, becomes a subtraction?” [A: An ANNEX becomes AN EX.]
A Nexus, a Knot, & a Network walk into a bar…. [B: Never mind.]
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