Reasoning is a process; it is a system independent of content. It is sometimes imprecisely
referred to as pattern recognition.
Less commonly recognized is that communication between humans is also a process, a system
independent of content.
The difficulty with the recognition of either is the lack of language broad and precise enough
to describe the processes. (That problem is addressed in the 45R9 Hypothesis).
Those systems, reasoning and human communication are reasonably effective in a
simple environment but commonly fall apart in a complex environmental situation.
A complex environmental situation exists when you have a designated objective that is
affected by a very large number of factors that are hard to determine, hard to detect and hard to
control.
Factors are anything that affects one's decision process. You are making supper and need
celery salt and discover that it is not placed where it is normally stored. A factor or factors affect
the decisions made “trying to find it”.
Here are some ways commonly used to deal with complex environmental situations: None
provide complete relief.
o Organization, neatness: However, you can’t organize everything.
o Science: Treating factors with common behavior patterns similarly. Example: all
forces behave similarly in relationship to mass and acceleration. However,
isolating the variables isn’t always possible.
o Habits: A natural way the brain takes advantage of constraints found in the
environment.
o Delegation. The use of experts
o Collaboration: Very powerful when a number of individuals recognize the
objective.
o Avoidance: The simple life. Not always possible.
These are far from complete solutions for dealing with complexity. We need to recognize the
existence of complex environmental situations and adjust our reasoning and communication
accordingly.
The brain is structured to handle these complex situations but for social and other reasons that
capability has commonly been disabled. Concepts from neuroscience and Information Theory
suggest ways it may be restored. However, it requires a very systematic and organized
explanation. See The 45R9 hypothesis at 45R9 or go to
http://www.999info.net/Informational%20Mechanics/45R9.pdf.