Hi I'm back. It took a bit longer than expected.
Last weekend I was playing a Facebook game called "Word Challenge". The aim is to find as many anagrams as possible from seven letters within a set period of time.
In this game there is really no time to think, you have to "see" the words and that is why I think this has a lot to do with creativity, to connect the dots instantaneously on a subconscious level. When is the brain working the smoothest in its parallel processing beauty? A perfect set up for a little home made science experiment on my brain.
I tested some circumstances and below is what I found. The reference is a normal day after work when I was consistently getting scores between 2000-3000 points (however the game calculates them).
Wake up in the morning - hardly any scores beyond 2000
Tired in the evening - scores around 2000
Just after hard physical exercise - barely got scores of 1500
30 minutes later - scores like the reference, 2000-3000
After two beers on Saturday evening - my top scores 4000-6000
After 3 beers - dramatically falling back to around 2000-3000
After more beers - even lower scores
Nothing revolutionary here, the interesting thing being that how you can put a number on what is intuitively known. Alcohol definitely has a very powerful positive albeit short term effect.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Software architecture and renovation - a world in common
The renovation project is proceeding. What does a renovation project have in common with sw architecture?
In a short time space many decisions have been made concerning the bathroom, walls and fireplace. Like sw architecture, once an architectural decision has been made and implemented it will be very costly and difficult to change, just imagine wanting to replace the IP protocol. The point is that you just want to make it right - or flexible enough to reverse it when the time comes. Literally (since it is a renovation project), only carve in stone the things you have to carve in stone.
In order to be able to make a lot of decisions quickly I had to rely on something familiar. My internal guide for these decisions were drawn from good sw architecture - open interfaces and no hard coding. All old cupboards made from brick were torn down - because then the door is hard coded. They will be replaced with wooden cupboards that can be put wherever. The old brick fireplace was removed and replaced in such a manner that the floor and the wall will remain intact even if the fireplace is changed once again. In the bathroom the old bathtub was thrown out and replaced with a stand alone bathtub for the same reason, etc..
If this philosophy would be pushed to the limit it would mean that I would have to tear down all brick walls and lay one floor first and then build the walls in a changeable manner. However I will let this impurity remain before I run out of all my funds.
In a short time space many decisions have been made concerning the bathroom, walls and fireplace. Like sw architecture, once an architectural decision has been made and implemented it will be very costly and difficult to change, just imagine wanting to replace the IP protocol. The point is that you just want to make it right - or flexible enough to reverse it when the time comes. Literally (since it is a renovation project), only carve in stone the things you have to carve in stone.
In order to be able to make a lot of decisions quickly I had to rely on something familiar. My internal guide for these decisions were drawn from good sw architecture - open interfaces and no hard coding. All old cupboards made from brick were torn down - because then the door is hard coded. They will be replaced with wooden cupboards that can be put wherever. The old brick fireplace was removed and replaced in such a manner that the floor and the wall will remain intact even if the fireplace is changed once again. In the bathroom the old bathtub was thrown out and replaced with a stand alone bathtub for the same reason, etc..
If this philosophy would be pushed to the limit it would mean that I would have to tear down all brick walls and lay one floor first and then build the walls in a changeable manner. However I will let this impurity remain before I run out of all my funds.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Parallel and serial - separated only by one quantum collapse
I have always prided myself to juggle a large and diverse set of threads simultaneously. My progress philosophy in brief is that if I can visualize the future I want materialized, then as long as I'm involved in a large number of activities (not so important which) the future I envisaged will eventually evolve. The activities themselves do not really matter because I also think that every activity is just a different aspect of the same reality and the important "cusp" interconnecting moments will emerge where your decision will tilt the direction of the development in an irreversible way. Maybe I'm a renaissance man born in the wrong century.
The opposite of this was demonstrated with clarity by a house renovation project of my own. Suddenly my attention was required to great many details of a one single project and I felt like a quantum function collapsing. I have pretty much been incapable of being involved in any parallel activities at all while the serial one does not wan't to materialize either. I'm definitely most effective in parallel but I can not predict how.
The opposite of this was demonstrated with clarity by a house renovation project of my own. Suddenly my attention was required to great many details of a one single project and I felt like a quantum function collapsing. I have pretty much been incapable of being involved in any parallel activities at all while the serial one does not wan't to materialize either. I'm definitely most effective in parallel but I can not predict how.
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