Saturday, January 07, 2012

Gifts and Systems

Stew of thought.

Affordances, gifts and possibilities.
Open and closed systems and tasks.

First of all, some of the words and ideas came from comments on old posts and I can't remember who wrote what or even when, so I'm sorry if I don't attribute them. If someone wants to point me at the posts, I can fix that in edits.

There are some things that are simple to do and simple to learn. Those are closed systems. Throwing a ball. Learning to write your letters as a child. There are really only a small number of variables. These are things that you can learn by rote. You can actually get proficient merely through repetition.

There are other things, like fighting and, I don't know, LIFE maybe, where the possibilities are nearly endless and the variables are incalculable. Those are the open systems.

Throwing a ball at the garage door or playing catch, the variables are few and you can get better and better. But a million reps of that will only help a little when it is time to throw a pass to a moving player with blockers in the way and big men coming in to tackle you. By the time you've finished first grade you can draw all of your letters, but twelve years of repetition, even into the mechanics of writing doesn't produce authors.

It seems like the key to developing proficiency in the open ended systems is to get in there and play. That's how kids learn video games and they develop a level of proficiency in hours that wouldn't be achieved with months of classroom instruction. That's why immersion teaches languages so much faster. That's why highly trained martial artists sometimes fail.

Part of it is gifts, which is my less-intelligent word for what Edwin calls affordances. You kind of have to learn to see gifts in their natural environment. Rote learning is good for imposing your will on the simple parts of a simple world. When the world doesn't cooperate, you need to be able not only to see that, but to see how...and adapt.

For a class for writers (with Steve Perry) I wrote a few paragraphs about beginners grappling:

Grappling. At first, again, you are like a rag doll in the hands of a good player. Even if you are bigger and stronger, everything you do seems to make his job easier. If you roll away from his pin you roll into a strangle, you pull out of an elbow lock and into a shoulder lock. Everything you do feels anticipated, even expected.

The thing is that a good grappler isn't anticipating everything. There are people way better than me, but I rarely played the game more than three moves ahead. The thing is that once you learn to see it, any move is an opportunity, a gift. A better grappler than you may not be playing you like a puppet so much as just recognizing that any of your options can be played to his benefit. My first judo coach used to say that "Any way you stand and any way you move makes you vulnerable to a throw." You just have to know the right throw.

And grapplers, more than any other traditional martial artists, get in there and play. They play like it's an open-ended system and they tend to be far more adaptable than anyone who learned only by repetition.

And that's an interesting note-- there are levels of openness. Football has far more variables than playing catch, but the variables are far from infinite. Almost any training will limit variables, the system will never be completely 'open'... part of what I do is to try to open things up, at least a bit. And almost all of the carping, telling people that X isn't as realistic as Y boils down to how many variables are excluded.

Which brings up another thought. Living may be the only truly open-ended system... but no one has the balls to live that way. Everyone brings their own rules in to stay in a comfortable zone.

Do you learn faster playing or memorizing? Do you learn deeper playing or memorizing? Is the skill you are trying to ingrain designed for an open or closed problem? Is your training suited to your goal?


4 comments:

Randy said...

Hi Rory,
I commented here about some motor learning concepts a while back, then realized that it was a viable stand-alone post on it's own and elaborated on it over on our blog. At some point in the mythical "when I have some free time" future, I plan to launch a series that examines motor learning concepts for martial arts/fighting purposes. Here's the elaborated comment:

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/expertise-in-the-fighting-arts-some-basic-notes/

Josh Kruschke said...

Rory did you ever get a chances to read "The Fifth Dusipline?"

Josh Kruschke said...

"The Fifth Discipline".....Sigh

Anonymous said...

DEUS PAI,FILHO,ESPÍRITO SANTO No primeiro dia que publiquei essa mensagem eu vi a resposta divina,tenha fé,pois,o meu desejo foi realizado no primeiro dia,acredite no poder do Todo Poderoso e tudo dará certo na sua vida com certeza.Agora faça essa oração e se surpreenda e seja muito feliz.
Senhor Deus em nome de Jesus Te peço que nesse exato momento(DCSV)sinta saudades de mim(PLA).Que seja o que for que contrarie o nosso namoro acabe EM NOME DE JESUS e que( DCSV )sinta uma profunda necessidade de me ver,de falar comigo,que ele reavalie a nossa situação e decida ficar comigo cada vez mais, que os nove coros dos Anjos soprem meu nome(PLA) nos ouvidos de( DCSV )e que( DCSV )não se sinta sossegado até dizer que não pode viver sem mim(PLA)ainda hoje.Que essa vontade se torne irresistível nesse exato instante e sempre.LOUVADO SEJA JESUS CRISTO,LOUVADO SEJA NOSSO DEUS TODO PODEROSO,REI DE TODO UNIVERSO,terra,céu e mar,louvado seja os Arcanjos Miguel,Gabriel e Rafael.Que esse meu desejo se reforce na luz do MESTRE JESUS e que se realize agora mesmo.Pela SANTÍSSIMA TRINDADE,PAI,FILHO E ESPÍRITO SANTO DE DEUS,que quebre o orgulho,o egoísmo e o medo que se instalam no coração de( DCSV ).Peço à NOSSO SENHOR JESUS CRISTO,que nos proteja e o nosso amor,que esse amor nunca cause tristeza para ninguém e que o caminho de( DCSV ) não seja desviado por más influências.Peço aos tres Arcanjos Miguel,Gabriel e Rafael,que afastem( DCSV )de pessoas que possam afastá-lo de mim(PLA),principalmente as mulheres que ele procurar.Que( DCSV )fique protegido e não sinta atraído ou desejo por ninguém ou nenhum outra mulher além de mim(PLA)e que pare de procurar outras mulheres que não seja eu(PLA)e não sinta desejo por nenhum delas.Oh MESTRE,eu suplico que nesse momento ( DCSV )sinta uma irresistível vontade de ligar pra mim, que tudo se cumpra assim que eu publicar essa oração.Eu sou a realização desse desejo,eu sou a pura atração de( DCSV ).Eu sou a imediata saudade de (DCSV).Eu sou o amor perfeito de( DCSV ).Eu sou a realização de( DCSV ).Eu sou o coração de( DCSV ). EU (PLA) SOU O AMOR VERDADEIRO DA VIDA DE ( DCSV ).AMÉM,EM NOME DE JESUS, MEU DEUS TE SUPLICO E JÁ TE AGRADEÇO,POIS,SEI QUE POR TUA MISERICÓRDIA,TU VAI ME CONCEDER ESSE DESEJO REALIZADO,OS MEUS TRES ARCANJOS MIGUEL,RAFAEL E GABRIEL INTERCEDA POR MIM PERANTE DEUS.AMÉM!
Publicar 9 dias exaltando o nome de DEUS PAI,DEUS FILHO E DEUS ESPÍRITO SANTO e terás seu desejo realizado.