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Hi Ken, You wrote ' The question is how we model the properties of something we wish to represent and understand' This works for simple things that are 'close in time and space and have obvious causes'. For a lot of design (and other areas of life) it is more that we model to represent and *predict behaviour, outputs and outcomes*. For most non-trivial problems, I suggest 'understanding' is typically irrelevant (this is in contrast to usual assumptions). The explanation is firstly because interesting non-trivial situations are typically beyond our physical ability to 'understand' in our minds (either singly or collaborating in groups). Instead, the modelling and representation of properties, and manipulations of them enable *prediction* - which is much more useful. In one sense, understanding is the imperfect backup method when we can't predict by other means - in the same way that intuition offers an imperfect fallback method for when we don't know what to do and have nothing better. Secondly, for the majority of situations for which we model the properties we simply don't need to understand. This is in the same way that to do arithmetic and sort out financial accounts or calculate your change for your glass of wine at the bar doesn't require understanding number theory (or even understanding arithmetic). It just requires a theory method for predicting the correct financial outcomes. In many ways, it appears understanding has been unthinkingly over-reified in terms of creating design outcomes. Best wishes, Terry -- Dr Terence Love PhD (UWA), B.A. (Hons) Engin, PGCE. FDRS, AMIMechE, MISI Director, Love Services Pty Ltd PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks Western Australia 6030 Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848 Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629 [log in to unmask] -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------