Johann says: There is a difference between complicated and perplexity -
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Yup. I define these words as follows:
complicated means confusing complexity. perplexing means puzzling.
Confused is a bad state. But being puzzled can be a powerful,positive
state, for it leads to exploration and (as others have argued)
enlightenment.
The dictionary is most unclear about all these distinctions so it is
best when using the words to define them.
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I read some bad confusion about science. Do scientists disagree? Of
course -- that is how they are trained nd that is how they operate.
They are always fighting, always disagreeing.
BUT, scientists usually disagree about the major issues and
approaches. The disagreements almost aways are about small points or
small discrepancies between theoretical approaches.
The way science works is through disagreement. Disagreements are NOT
matters of opinion. They occur when one person fails to replicate
another. Their different results are what lead to the disagreements.
By publicly debating the issues, science converges upon a satisfactory
resolution.
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Designers do not care about these subtle differences. Design can find
the broad areas of agreement and work with those.
Ask a scientist what is known about a field and they will usually
describe all the fights and disagreements, making it sounds as if
nothing is known. Scientists themselves are not good at describing all
the positive, excellent things that are known and agreed upon. That is
because scientists spend their lives concentrating upon the areas of
disagreement because that is where progress is made. That is not the
game I ask designers to play.
Don
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