> From: Arthur Battram <apb@cityplex.demon.co.uk>
> Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 15:50:47 +0100
> so phil's 'the rejection and dumping of past learning' becomes the
> deselection of a selectablething; its not dumped [ie-thrown out or erased]
> nor is it rejected, anymore than the shirts I'm not wearing right now are
> 'rejected': they are just not selected today, because they are not
> appropriate for the weekend
>
> so unlearning becomes deselecting. this works for me because we often
> 'revert to type under pressure, forgetting the way[s] we have more
> recently learnt
> ....
Arthur,
A couple of thoughts: First, I agree with the view that learning is akin
to evolution, and I like your "deselecting" terminology - it's close to
what I said about "attachment". Second, your point about "reverting to
type under pressure" is right on target - our hold on new learning takes
effort and is relatively tenuous, compared to older learning. Lastly, I
think we must also recognize that _some_ real forgetting takes place: in
evolutionary terms some species become extinct and their unique genes are
lost (unless built up again somehow).
Regards,
Jeff
--Jeff Brooks <BrooksJeff@AOL.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>