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Alfred North Whitehead on abstraction and civilisation

It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated
by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing.

The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.

Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle — they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments.

Alfred North White⁣head, An In⁣tro⁣duc⁣tion to Math⁣e⁣mat⁣ics

The same might be true of your organisation.

See also:

The Wizards (1): Harold Abelson on the essence of computer science as formalising procedural knowledge

The Wizards (2): Harold Abelson on controlling complexity and real vs idealised systems

I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommended resources...

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