Vaniver’s example points at a large family of cases where this is useful—you’re surprised or confused about something that is happening, and want to find out why it happens, either to fix it, or make it happen more.
Another case is when you’re trying to find ways to do something, or find ways to improve some measure. If you can make repeated trials of that thing, you can narrow and improve your techniques. In general, you can often remedy uncertainty about how to execute some task by trying something, and then varying it, and seeing how well it goes.
Example: I’m often ineffective in the morning. I’ve noticed that this seems to coincide with the morning being overcast, so I’ve set up a bedside lamp on a timer. Right now, I’ve got it set to turn on 30 minutes before I wake up, and I plan on trying this for about a week. If it doesn’t wake me up immediately, I’ll also try setting it for about an hour before I wake, or 15 minutes, and see in which of these conditions I’m more energetic in the morning.
Vaniver’s example points at a large family of cases where this is useful—you’re surprised or confused about something that is happening, and want to find out why it happens, either to fix it, or make it happen more.
Another case is when you’re trying to find ways to do something, or find ways to improve some measure. If you can make repeated trials of that thing, you can narrow and improve your techniques. In general, you can often remedy uncertainty about how to execute some task by trying something, and then varying it, and seeing how well it goes.
Example: I’m often ineffective in the morning. I’ve noticed that this seems to coincide with the morning being overcast, so I’ve set up a bedside lamp on a timer. Right now, I’ve got it set to turn on 30 minutes before I wake up, and I plan on trying this for about a week. If it doesn’t wake me up immediately, I’ll also try setting it for about an hour before I wake, or 15 minutes, and see in which of these conditions I’m more energetic in the morning.
Thanks this was really helpful. I think this will help me recognize such situations in the future.