> From: jack@his.com (jack hirschfeld)
>
> Ivan Blanco declared:
>
> >We use all knowledge to evaluate new one. In fact, we know that
> >new knowledge is good or bad as we compare it with old ones. I may not
> >remember anything (should say everything) I have learned in the past, but
> >I have not unlearned anything. I think that this ability to use old
> >knowledge to define the value of new is one of the attributes that
> >differentiates us from other animals, from computers, etc.
> >
<<<< some deletions here >>>>
>
> There has been plenty of
> discussion here about how mindset or "mental models" will shape how we
> interpret new data.
Yes, and I also believe that we change our mental models too. I
have experienced that since a got to elementary school, and then went to
hugh school, and then one job, and the other... and dealing with different
people and visiting different places. Yes, there are poeple whose mental
models stay "more or less" the same through time, but we humans are very
dynamic...
> If. for example, we have learned, as most Americans do, that white people
> are better than non-white people, each piece of evidence that this is not
> so may be confronted by "argument" which denies the relevance of the data.
> Although some people are successful at letting go of racist ideas
> (unlearning), it is usually not by reasoning with new data, or evaluating
> their old ideas in the light of new data, but more often and more likely
> by experiences which challenge many underlying assumptions, of which the
> racist ideology is only one.
> --
Experiences, especially the ones that challenge our basic assumptions, is
what constitute (according to me), one of the richest sources of "new
data, then new information." One re-evaluates old ideas when confronted
with those experiences, which constitute new data. You don't unlearn to
be a racist, you now elevate your level of understanding.
I have not forgotten my problems with the English language. I have
overcome some of them because some people have made fun of how pronounce
certain expressions, whihch have made me re-evaluate how I was doing it.
It is still the same language and the same words. WHat changes is the
level of understanding of what you are doing...
I am becoming repetitive now.
-- Ivan,
--*************************************************************** R. IVAN BLANCO, Ph.D. Voice 305 899-3515 Assoc. Prof. & Director Fax 305 892-6412 International Business Programs Andreas School of Business _________E-Mail Addresses________ Barry University Bitnet: Blanco%bu4090@Barryu Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695 Internet: Blanco@bu4090.barry.edu <<<<< ---------------- >>>>> "Si un hombre fuera necesario para sostener el Estado, este Estado no deberia existir." "If one man were necessary to sustain a Nation, this Nation should not exist." Simon Bolivar ===============================================================
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