what i see from the wheaton levels chart thread is that an overly formal brochure inadvertently became a theoretical ere manual.
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the idea of the eco-level was originally conceived by permies as a heuristic on how to communicate with people. paul wheaton got a really nice brochure made by professional designers. makes sense for its purpose, looks fantastic. afaik, the brochure is just a brochure for permies (though i might be wrong.)
when the brochure idea was transposed to ere, due to cognitive differences or whatever, the brochure became a table. the eco-levels became "wheaton levels" that got graded in multiple dimensions. the table then was taken formally, unlike the originating cartoony brochure. the formality begun to be understood by the audience as "this is ere!"
and so, a brochure became a theory.
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from this outcome it is clear that the ere audience wants a summary of the theory that shows the development /advancement in their ere practice.
i am not one of those people, i am only observing that it does occur.
but we are talking about two different products here, filled by a single chart:
- a brochure on how to talk to people
- a summarized representation of "this is ere"
methodological speaking, both products ought to be developed separately:
- an informal brochure
- a formal representation of actual ere theory
they can't both serve the same function; and conflated, i believe they generate confusion. the brochure is too complicated and formal to be a brochure; the theory begins to generate from "wheaton levels" instead from the ideas in the book.
maybe this conflation doesn't confuse everyone, but for me it's like watching someone using a wrench as a hammer. yes it can be done in a pinch, but the methodology is wrong, and something about it hurts deeply...
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please note, there is no mention in the book of "wheaton" or "wheaton levels." these levels come out of the brochure--a brochure about communication.
instead, the ere book shows two scales for "gauging mastery" which i copypaste here:
that's six levels, not ten wheatons.[0 hours] Novice--knowledge or skills that any reasonably intelligent layman possess. [300 hours] Apprentice--some skills, but can't be trusted to do independent work. [1,000 hours] Journeyman--competent technician, capable of independent routine tasks. [3,000 hours] Master--proficient mechanic, capable of almost any task. [10,000 hours] Expert--superior proficiency, capable of original work. [30,000 hours] Genius--legendary proficiency, capable of extraordinarily original work.
there is also this, which synthesizes the above:
those aren't "wheatons." so i think the brochure broke the book, and the fix is to separate them.Since not all effort is the same and not everybody learns and develops at the same pace, it's more useful to look at expertise by considering the following list, which parallels the development mentioned above. Copying Comparing Compiling Computing Coordinating Creating
thanks for your time.