A thoughtful post on orthogonality, head hurting, and wobbling. Many days I do feel wobbling when I try to nail down thoughts on my thesis. I've read many books and papers. The evolving concepts float in and out of consciousness, but they aren't concrete enough to maintain that 'balance' and confidence to express. I wobble.

My head hurts when it wobbles.

That conversation got me thinking about wobbling while learning something new (which David Hawthorne had referenced in one of his posts). Gaining a distinction, like orthogonality, is like gaining the distinction for balance, which is what you need when you learn to ride a bike. You wobble on that bike until you "get it" -- balance -- and then you never have to learn it again. (This analogy is not original; I first heard it about 12 years ago, and many times since.)

Taking on something that makes your head hurt is in the nature of wobbling, a new concept or set of ideas that you haven't quite made sense of yet. Sensemaking comes through connecting new things with things that you already know and have language for. This hurt factor adds a dimension of choice: you have a choice to go into new territory, knowing that you are bound to wobble.

Or you can not think about orthogonality for a really long time and have to wobble again when it comes unbidden back.

12:49:04 AM