← writing
gordon pask, i think
  1. there is a user and there is a machine.
  2. that is to say, there is an observer and there is another observer
  3. those observers are cognitive structures
  4. cognitive structures are structures capable of modelling a reality
  5. a model, for pask, is not a picture
  6. it is a procedure. something you run.
  7. a conversation is a real-time mutation of ever-changing models of reality
  8. which is more specific than just information transfer
  9. information transfer is not inherently a recursive system
  10. but conversation is
  11. what i say next runs on a model your last words just changed
  12. recursive systems have feedback loops
  13. you can send information via a forward communication channel (A -> B)
  14. forward information is only one kind of information
  15. backward information is a feedback signal
  16. ...but only if it's perceived by the sender of the forward information
  17. ...and also changes the sender's internal state
  18. ...it is only feedback if the sender processes that signal.
  19. otherwise it's just plumbing
  1. now, there is a user and a machine
  2. the user talks to the machine
  3. the machine talks to the user
  4. what one sees forward, the other sees backward
  5. what one sees backward, the other sees forward
  6. one loop, closed twice
  7. and pask says: the loop runs twice in another way too
  8. once about how. doing the thing.
  9. once about why. what the thing is for.
  10. a loop that only closes on how is coordination
  11. a loop that also closes on why is understanding
  12. but why?
  13. the cybernetician say:
  14. a purpose is something an observer gives to a system
  15. and here, both observers live inside the system
  16. so pask says:
  17. the purpose of a conversation is agreement
  18. not agreement on words. agreement over an understanding
  19. of a reality of mutual interest
  20. and the proof is teachback:
  21. i hold a concept. you rebuild it as your own
  22. i look at yours, and recognize mine
  23. now we have agreed
  24. and the concept we agreed on
    lives in neither head.
    it lives in the loop.
2026