The Art of Tinkering
Tinkering is essentially sustained experimentation and exploration of problems, materials, and ideas in order to better understand how things work — and how they can fail — for the purpose of finding better solutions to current problems.
Tinkering leverages hands-on experience, learning from failure, and unstructured exploration to gain innovative insights.
If the aim of philosophy, in the words of Wilfrid Sellars, “is to understand how things, in the broadest possible sense of the term, hang together, in the broadest possible sense of the term.” Tinkering is a process whereby the tinkerer gains specific, intimate, first-hand knowledge of how things hang together which may later be exploited.
For example, the Wright Brothers tried to develop wings based on published theoretical papers, but soon realized those theories were incorrect. By tinkering with actual wing surface designs (they even built their own wind-tunnel) they gained first-hand knowledge of the relationship between wing surface design on lift and drag which they exploited to improve the ability to fly and control their Wright Flyer.
A good tinkerer combines curiosity, patience, and comfort in tackling unstructured problems, with a slew of resourceful ways of thinking. The latter is something our culture don’t talk about very much, therefore I’m sharing a list of Ways to Think courtesy of late AI-researcher Marvin Minsky, who shared these with me in an early draft of his book The Emotion Machine:
- Knowing How: The best way to solve a problem is to know how to solve it and use that solution. However, we may not know how to retrieve what we know, or even know that we know it.
- Extensive Search. When one knows no better alternative, one could search through all possible chains of actions — but this is usually impractical because that search grows exponentially.
- Reasoning by Analogy: When a problem reminds you of one that you solved in the past, you may be able to adapt that case to the present situation — if you have good ways to tell which similarities are most relevant.
- Divide and Conquer. If you can’t solve a problem all at once, then break it down into smaller parts. For example, every difference we recognize may suggest a separate sub-problem to solve.
- Planning. Consider the set of sub-goals you want to achieve and examine how they affect each other. Then, with those constraints in mind, propose an efficient sequence for achieving them.
- Simplification. Sometimes, a good way to make a plan is to make a simplified problem by ignoring some aspects of the original one. Then any solution to the simplified one may serve as a sequence of stepping-stones for solving the initial problem.
- Elevation. If you are bogged down in too many details, describe the situation in more general terms. But if your description seems too vague, switch to one that is more concrete.
- Reformulation. Find a different representation that highlights more relevant information. We often do this by making a verbal description — and then ‘understanding’ it in some different way!
- Self-reflection. Instead of pursuing a problem itself, ask what makes that problem seem hard, or what you might be doing wrong. This can lead to better ways to represent the problem.
- Contradiction. Try to prove that your problem cannot be solved, and then look for a flaw in that argument.
- Use external representations: If you find that you’re losing track of details, you can resort to keeping records and notes, or drawing suitable diagrams.
- Simulation. One can avoid taking physical risks if one can predict “what would happen if” by imagining possible actions inside the mental models that one has built.
- Correlation. When certain events seem to happen together, try to find ways in which they may be connected.
- Logical Reasoning. We sometimes make ‘logical chains of deductions,’ but those conclusions may be wrong because of exceptions to our assumptions.
- Wishful thinking. Imagine having unlimited time and all the resources that you might want. If you still can’t envision solving the problem, then you should reformulate it.
- Impersonation. When your own ideas seem inadequate, imagine someone better at this, and try to do what that person would do.
- Cry for help. You can always resort to other techniques that most people would call “emotional.”
- Resignation. Whenever you find yourself totally stuck, you can shut down the resources you’re using now and relax, lay back, drop out, and stop. Then the ‘Rest of Your Mind’ may find an alternative — or conclude that you don’t have to do this at all.
