rant about solution constraints (heuristics)

projects/heuristics.mdwn

@@ -99,3 +99,7 @@ See [The Mental Accounting Barrier to Micropayments (Nick Szabo)](http://szabo.b
 
 * design so as to postpone irrevocable decisions until the last moment
 * minimize the number of irrevocable deadly decisions
+
+# Reconsidering assumptions about the shape of possible solutions
+
+Reconsideration is a useful method because many projects are technically impossible except when various solution-related constraints are relaxed. Perhaps the most famous example of this technique is the creation of bitcoin itself. Arguments from physics basically guarantee that decentralized distributed consensus is impossible, but once some of the requirements are relaxed it turns out that something like bitcoin is actually possible. Another good example is flight, where mimicing the form and structure of bird flapping wasn't the goal but rather heavier-than-air travel was a more useful requirement. After achieving flight, nobody was particularly upset that the method did not involve flapping. Likewise, when people talk about immortality they often mean "living forever with the body of a 20-year old greek god", but meanwhile there's an entire space of possible solutions that are easier to achieve if you relax the constraints on the types of solutions that truly meet the criteria in any productive or useful way. Another entertaining example is "artificial intelligence": while many think of thoughtful machines out-smarting humans, really a profoundly mentally challenged "sentient" pile of software would be a huge advancement from current attempts.