Jeff,
You wrote, "All behavior has to be 'constructed', so how do we get
anything really new?"
I know of three general ways (all of which school tried to teach me not to
do:
1. Theft
2. Copulation
3. Error
Perhaps I should explain. You wrote, "Many times we can transfer
behaviors from other contexts with only minor modifications, but the
behavior would still be new in the current context." This is what I mean
by theft.
You wrote, "Or we can combine behavioral components in different ways to
get new behaviors." This is what I mean by copulation.
OF course, your words are more descriptive. My words (actually, Jerry
Weinberg's words from one of his books) are funnier, and help me remember
the concepts when I need them.
You asked, "But can we generate new "components", and if so, how?"
Perhaps this is where errors come in. Sometimes errors turn out to be
fortuitous, either by creating a result that is better than you expected,
or by generating information you couldn't get if you did what you thought
you wanted to do.
Also, play might be a way of generating new behavioral components. Trying
different things just for the fun of it, and noticing how the universe
responds.
Dale
--Dale H. Emery | 27 Tall Pine Road Consultant | Berwick, ME 03901 Relationship and Communication | (207) 698-1650 For Successful Organizations | 72704.1550@compuserve.comLO
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>