Notes | Tutorial 24

They would demonstrate what could be done and how. But they would not be in a position to determine whether the realization of a certain project would really increase material well-being or whether it would not, by withdrawing scarce factors of production from other lines, jeopardize the satisfaction of more urgent needs, that is, of needs considered more urgent by the consumers.

but
    They would demonstrate what could be done and how
    [and]
        they would not be in a position to determine whether the realization of a certain project would really increase material well-being or whether it would not
        [they would], by withdrawing scarce factors of production from other lines, jeopardize the satisfaction of more urgent needs, that is, of needs considered more urgent by the consumers.

If you remove the [and] and take one of the following two clauses (call that clause X), then this makes sense for both cases:

They would demonstrate what could be done and how but X

ET’s analysis is different:

But they would not be in a position to determine whether the realization of a certain project would really increase material well-being or whether [the realization of a certain project] would not jeopardize the satisfaction of more urgent needs, that is, of needs considered more urgent by the consumers, [because they would not be able to determine the impact of] withdrawing scarce factors of production from other lines.

discussion in tutorial

but
    They would demonstrate what could be done and how
    [and]
        they would not be in a position to determine 
        or
            whether the realization of a certain project would really increase material well-being
            whether it would not
        [they would], by withdrawing scarce factors of production from other lines, jeopardize the satisfaction of more urgent needs, that is, of needs considered more urgent by the consumers.

writing within one’s means

• if concerned about capacity, do something successful as baseline
  • example: constitution article?
  • do that by scaling way way down
    • get first one super good, 3 orders of mag below capacity
    • then do one 2 orders, then 1 order, etc
      • quick scaling up, but can establish both track record and point of failure

article idea: can’t safely apply categories to legislation

coding ideas:

• diff between imperative and functional programming

general topics better

• how to install linux instead of windows
• point is to write coherent prose
  • communicate ideas
• how does base 10 work
  • computation in alt bases
    • bases in general
      • factoradics after that
  • generate problem - tally systems, comparing to roman numerals

focus on conceptual:

• why designed this way, how is it useful, why does it makes sense
  • contrast to stuff like tally systems
  • scope creep - start w small scope
• what is division
  • fractions, ratios, percents
    • how ratios work, is it always part-A:part-B or can it be part-A:total
    • betting, odds

try to explain something - can do by ELI5; what’s gravity, why does earth go round the sun

• why do pots get empty when you boil water
• why does a mirror show an image of self
  • why is it only reversed in one direction
• simplify elections w/ random samples
  • like only X% of ppl vote instead of 100%

goal: successfully explain something so ppl understand it (note: gives a way to test success easily, too; without FI involvement if need be) can fail in fundamental ways where the error has reach

start w/ things that are 1 paragraph long

topics - some have natural breakpoints

• add to overview
• reorganise, different conceptual model

another practice method:

come up with problems, come up with solutions (brainstorm), like one clear, understandable sentence. partial solutions, like don’t fully solve the problem

• dog/cat hair shedding
• specific okay: this lego set is missing a piece what do I do?

leaving yourself room to add more detail is good too

can calibrate capability in multiple areas too

FI from last year, reading short story (e.g. for elementary kids), GISTE

• paraphrase every sentence, go through and decide which have improtant info
• some ppl had comprehension errors (presumably surprisingly)

should get stuck 1-3 orders of magnitude past point where you start making errors

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