Where does new knowledge come from? Efficiency & Learning Where does new knowledge come from?

“The study or theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge” epistemology “The study or theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge”

learning Tabula Rasa- Innate Knowledge? Or Innate Knowledge? Does Efficiency increase by Analysis by Imitation?

“Efficiency Experts:” Frank & Lillian Gilbreth

Therbligs – 17 Elemental Motions Search Select Grasp Hold Transport Release “Think” Insomniac Agnostic Dyslexic Stayed up all night wondering if there is a dog.

Motion Study Principles Eliminate Combine/ Coordinate Reduce Fatigue Arrange workplace Improve tools and equipment “Find the ‘one best way’ to do a piece of work.” Find the laziest worker and study his approach.

Learning improves efficiency By both Analysis and Imitation

Frank Gilbreth Invented Time & Motion Study Typewriter design changes Foot levers on garbage cans Military rifle disassembly blindfolded Surgery assistant procedures Use of Movies for T & M study Increased the rate of bricklaying two fold!

Frank Gilbreth With his wife Lillian Had twelve children

Improve efficiency Study a task that is performed frequently Identify repetitive or unnecessary motions Eliminate Combine Improve

Coffeepot setup Component task cumulative time Get pot, funnel 10 seconds Fill pot, pour 40 Coffee open, place filter 104 Three scoops (12 sec) 116 Assemble,put away 129 Approx 2 minutes total

A Larger scoop would save: 8 seconds For 350 days For 30 years 84,000 Seconds 0.75 Applied Factor 60 sec./minute 60 min./hour 31 hours per lifetime Two Days wasted! Larger scoop 49 cents

Alternative Process--wife Component task cumulative time Start water in pot 4 seconds Scoop 3, turn off water 25 Pour water, assemble 41 Put away coffee 53 Less than one minute total I save 444 hours in a lifetime ~ one month! “One best way to do work”

People who exercise regularly live Longer WSJ--Life expectancy has two more years 365 days per year 16 hours per day 11,680 hours of extra life 3 workouts per week 2 hours 50 weeks 40 years 12,000 hours spent working out.

Do everything you do for its own sake. Yesterday is a bucket of ashes that won’t burn again Tomorrow is a dream you may never see. Life isn’t a destination, It’s a journey… And every day -- as good or as bad as it might seem -- is the best of all possible days. Where does new knowledge come from? ...

People create new knowledge: Analysis AND synthesis Discovery... “Seeing what others have seen and thinking what no one has thought.” Seeing the world from new directions and understanding a new dimension...

“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.” Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self Reliance

Some Core Course Concepts: Statistics=objective evidence, not “proof” Expand planning horizons-Think long-term The “golden rule” is ethical because it works. Rational self-interest is a virtue Drive out fear to avoid minimax regret Reward Process rather than short-term results Rational Laziness is a virtue Unemployment is the goal

http://www.umsl.edu/~banisr/5320/docs/clcvs7.pdf