THINGS WORK WHEN WE ARE MINDFUL OF HOW PARTS FUNCTION AND RELATE AS A WHOLE.
The core of a functional approach is computation—evaluating the functions of all parts.
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Key traits:
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Uses immutability (functions can’t change once created).
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Relies on pure functions (same input always gives the same output).
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Emphasizes pathways. Scenarios are planned in advance. A situation is read, a response is calculated, and a function is selected to execute it.
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It’s easy to get locked into thinking that everything can and should be reduced to its individual parts.
But no matter how well we understand how those parts function, we can never fully anticipate all that will happen when they relate as a whole. Not even AI can do that to the point that all things become certain.
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Emergence: When parts combine, they create new functions that do not exist in the individual parts.
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Nonlinearity: Small changes in the beginning can lead to massive, completely unexpected results later. This is called the butterfly effect.
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Complex Interactions: As the number of connections between parts grows, the total system becomes too difficult to calculate fully.
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Information Limits: We never have exact data on every single starting condition or outside force.
Examples
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Water Molecules: Knowing how a single H₂O molecule acts does not let you predict the exact shape of a splashing wave or ice crystals without seeing the whole system.
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The Brain: You can study a single neuron, but you cannot predict a specific human thought or memory just from that piece.
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Weather: We understand air and heat, but tracking every wind current to predict rain weeks away is impossible.
When we are not mindful of how functional parts relate as a whole, we experience uncertainty as an immediate threat. This can trigger:
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Fight-or-flight response: We try to control what is happening or escape from it.
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Catastrophizing: The mind repeatedly imagines worst-case scenarios and treats those thoughts as facts.
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Hypervigilance: We feel jumpy, struggle to concentrate, or constantly scan our surroundings for signs of danger.
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Exhaustion: Over-preparing, checking, and worrying drain our emotional and physical energy before anything happens.
We take actions that make events worse, delaying the essential changes needed to prevent complete failure.
The ability to anticipate comes from reading the relationships between the parts of the whole, not from knowing how individual parts function.
Insight comes from the relationship of the whole, not from a reduction to the parts.
The whole is not the sum
of its parts. It's the
relationship
between them.
Things work when we are mindful of how parts function and relate as a whole.
Basketball - younger teenagers, all ability, mixed, @ Bushey (15)
Sun 05 Jan
|Bushey
Younger Teenagers of All Abilities Join Together for a Collaborative Basketball Dance.Come and experience how we enhance performance without relying on automation. Instead of viewing opponents as obstacles, we focus on building relationships to maneuver past them. Together, we dance.
Time & Location
05 Jan 2025, 18:00 – 19:00
Bushey, Aldenham Rd, Bushey WD23 2TD, UK
Guests
About the event
The session is run some of our teaching members. They know when they see machine-mindedness on the players' faces. They know when players are waiting to act until they spot a direct path to score and target winning a collision with an opposing player who is the way. While physicality is acceptable, it should be used to create space for maneuvering around opponents not going through them. Relationships run the play not machines. This approach allows players more time to execute their basketball skills, leading to improvement, which is a pleasant side benefit. The primary aim of this session is to help us move away from machine-mindedness. To be more human than machine.
By attending this event you are accepting peer review from our the attending teacher members. Learn more at https://www.skillsofwow.org/wow
SkillsofWow.org is the governing body for those who coach the skills of Wow.