At 3:18 PM -0800 3/22/06, Jan Steinman wrote:
Human knowledge is rife with hierarchies -- not
because
they are "natural," but because humans invented the model.
I agree somewhat with this, but there are many situations in
which the universe enforces hierarchical organization. For
example, if you start trying to organize physical items, you
soon run into the problem that an item can only be in one
category (ie, container) at a time. However, that container
(eg, a drawer) can be contained in another (eg, a cabinet).
I believe that much of humans' use of hierarchies stems from
this interaction between a desire to organize and the limits
of the physical universe.
-r
--
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm Rich Morin
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