1. Stephen Hess
Dr. Jeffery Heer
Discussion for 4/21
CS 376

2. The Science of Design, Herbert A
The Science of Design, Herbert A. Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial, 1969, pp
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ch. 1-4, 9, Thomas S. Kuhn, 1962, pp. 1-42,

3. The Science of Design, Herbert A
The Science of Design, Herbert A. Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial, 1969, pp

4. The design process involves…
Admits that this view is a little unrealistic. Many of the transparency objections that we had when we were studying ubiquitous computing woulda pply here

5. The design process involves…
(1) Generating alternatives

6. The design process involves…
(1) Generating alternatives (2) Testing alternatives with various requirements and constraints
This definition seems a bit unrealistic for the same reasons we questioned what it meant for something to be transparent when we talked about ubiquitous computing earlier in the quarter.

7. The design process involves…
(1) Generating alternatives (2) Testing alternatives with various requirements and constraints
Problem solving: representing a problem in a way that makes its solution transparent
This definition seems a bit unrealistic for the same reasons we questioned what it meant for something to be transparent when we talked about ubiquitous computing earlier in the quarter.

8. design v.
logic
Hard to get a handle on this difference because the concepts don’t seem to be of the same type. The best way to make sense of their relationship is that they’re both ways of expressing ideas. Simon tries to make the difference an is/ought issue.

9. How things ought to be, “devising artifacts to attain goals.”
design
How things ought to be, “devising artifacts to attain goals.” v.
logic
“How things ought to be” description by Simon is suspect. You still have to use declarative statements and logic to take a position on an ought-statement.

10. design
How things ought to be, “devising artifacts to attain goals.” v.
Useful for making declarative statements, “assertions about the world”
logic
“How things ought to be” description by Simon is suspect. You still have to use declarative statements and logic to take a position on an ought-statement.

11. inner environment outer environment
Environment of the design process

12. A set of alternative actions
inner environment v.
outer environment
A set of alternative actions
Environment of the design process

13. A set of alternative actions
inner environment v.
outer environment
“Set of parameters, which may be known with certainty or only in terms of a probability distribution” (135)
A set of alternative actions
Environment of the design process

14. A set of alternative actions
inner environment v.
outer environment
“Set of parameters, which may be known with certainty or only in terms of a probability distribution” (135)
A set of alternative actions
"An architect who designs buildings from the outside in will arrive at quite different buildings from one who designs from the inside out, even though both of them might agree on the characteristics that a satisfactory building should possess”
Environment of the design process

15. afferent v.
efferent
Can people think of examples that high light the difference between these terms?

16. Refers to “memory information about states of the world”(141)
afferent
Refers to “memory information about states of the world”(141) v.
efferent

17. afferent
Refers to “memory information about states of the world”(141) v.
Describes information on motor action, outward - looking
efferent
"An architect who designs buildings from the outside in will arrive at quite different buildings from one who designs from the inside out, even though both of them might agree on the characteristics that a statisfactory building should possess”

18. Examples? Thoughts? afferent efferent
Refers to “memory information about states of the world”(141) v.
efferent
Describes information on motor action, outward - looking
Can people think of examples that high light the difference between these terms?
Examples? Thoughts?

19. "More and more cost calculations have been brought explicitly into the design procedure, and a strong case can be made today for training design engineers in that body of technique and theory that economists know as cost-benefit analysis” (145).
Cell-phone software, using recursive strategies because they use little memory

20. optimization methods
resource allocation
search algorithms
… ?
"More and more cost calculations have been brought explicitly into the design procedure, and a strong case can be made today for training design engineers in that body of technique and theory that economists know as cost-benefit analysis” (145).
Cell-phone software, using recursive strategies because they use little memory

21. What about algorithms that make good decisions fast but don’t necessarily make the optimal decision?
Can people think of examples that high light the difference between these terms?

22. What about algorithms that make good decisions fast but don’t necessarily make the optimal decision?
“We cannot with practicable computational limits generate all the admissible alternatives and compare their respective merits.”
Can people think of examples that high light the difference between these terms?

23. Moores Law? Will this become easy?
What about algorithms that make good decisions fast but don’t necessarily make the optimal decision?
“We cannot with practicable computational limits generate all the admissible alternatives and compare their respective merits.”
Can people think of examples that high light the difference between these terms?
Moores Law? Will this become easy?

24. How are these connections made? Child AI?
The GPS Problem Solving Program
Needs to recognize problems and desired end states
“Ability to attain goals depends on building up associations, which may be simple or very complex, between particular changes in states of the world and particular actions that will (Reliably or not) bring these changes about” (141)
Requires way to track and judge progress
Table of connections – effect of action on reaching desired goal
this would requires so much empirical effort – but the idea of a system that learns forever is intriguing because humans die
Programs that figure out what kind of design changes need to be made
How are these connections made? Child AI?

25. The GPS Problem Solving Program
Needs to recognize problems and desired end states
“Ability to attain goals depends on building up associations, which may be simple or very complex, between particular changes in states of the world and particular actions that will (Reliably or not) bring these changes about” (141)
Requires way to track and judge progress
Table of connections – effect of action on reaching desired goal
this would requires so much empirical effort – but the idea of a system that learns forever is intriguing because humans die
Programs that figure out what kind of design changes need to be made

26. The Science of Design, Herbert A
The Science of Design, Herbert A. Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial, 1969, pp
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ch. 1-4, 9, Thomas S. Kuhn, 1962, pp. 1-42,

27. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ch. 1-4, 9, Thomas S
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ch. 1-4, 9, Thomas S. Kuhn, 1962, pp. 1-42,

28. All about paradigms
Historical account of scientific paradigms

29. paradigm formation
In the absence of a paradigm, facts that could pertain to the development of a science are equally relevant (16).

30. new paradigms
“The new paradigm implies a new and more rigid definition of the field. Those unwilling or unable to accommodate their work to it must proceed in isolation or attach themselves to some other group” (19).

31. paradigm adoption
“To be accepted as a paradigm, a theory must seem better than its competitors, but it need not, and in fact never does, explain all the facts with which it can be confronted” (18);

32. three focal points of scientific investigation
Class of facts shown to be fruitful
Events that can be compared with predictions from paradigm
Experimentation and observations

33. Discuss
Questions TBD once reflections are read