# Beyond Recall and Pattern Recognition By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-04-20 Many observations about human behavior exist, but the mechanisms behind these behaviors are primarily unknown. We can easily observe and document behavior actions, but we often lack the methodologies to identify how a stimulus transformed into a particular response. Either the mechanism is an overly simplistic description of biological and chemical reactions based on some survival incentive, or it is skimmed over as unimportant. It's like going to Taco Bell, seeing all the creative menu options, and being u nable to identify that everything combines tortillas, meat, cheese, and tomatoes. So, we collect increasing behavioral observations, name them, and put them on the shelf for some knowledge workers to memorize and study. As a result, we may miss that certain behaviors with different names leverage the same mechanism and are the same thing, with the only difference being interpreted intent. For example, fear and excitement behaviors exhibit similar biological metrics, so the mechanisms may be the same. One can extend beyond the modern-day trivial if one understands the mechanisms. By trivial, I mean recall and pattern recognition. Most jobs and human endeavors primarily involve recall and pattern recognition, which modern AI and machine learning algorithms now do. However, machines cannot make meaning of and understand the mechanisms and the why. Now is the time to question the mechanisms and forego the quest to memorize and recognize more patterns. Computers are better at it for a variety of reasons. For someone seeking more, the first agenda item is the thorough study of systemic mechanisms. The second item is collecting and dramatically simplifying behaviors via computational replication experiments. The third item is transforming the theoretical simplification into meaningful and pragmatic progress. #### Related Items [[Memorization]] [[Patterns]] [[Artificial Intelligence]] [[Machine Learning]] [[Intention]] [[Behavior]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Computers]] [[Progress]]