People who are experts at a given activity have a wide variety of automatic programs that they can execute without having to think very much. One way of defining expertise is the granularity with which a person can handle a complex situation. For example, a beginning go player has to think through every consequence of every move they make while trying to build up a position. An expert can set up a high-level goal like "defend that corner" and let their brain make the individual moves for them while they pay attention to how things are developing on the other end of the board. Now put that go expert in the kitchen, and they'll need all their attention to make sure they're chopping the cucumber into properly-sized pieces, that they're holding the knife just right, and that their other hand isn't in any danger of getting sliced. An expert chef can chop a cucumber blindfolded, and thus can pay attention to what other vegetables they want in the salad and whether the pot on the other side of the room is boiling over. I've been able to closely watch myself develop perceptual chunking while playing DDR, going from "shit, look at all those arrows!" to "that's a series of gallops followed by a spin."
Of course, we're all experts at being human. Some of our macros, such as "figure out whose face that is" and "turn towards that sound" go down to the level of individual neurons, and are so ingrained that we have no idea what the instructions making them up are.
I would define a macro as a program run by a mainframe that is executed automatically, according to either routine or in response to input. I don't know if this is an adequate explanation. I think inhumandecency gave a good (albeit indirect) description of what a macro is and how it's useful.
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Date: 2003-07-21 06:25 pm (UTC)Of course, we're all experts at being human. Some of our macros, such as "figure out whose face that is" and "turn towards that sound" go down to the level of individual neurons, and are so ingrained that we have no idea what the instructions making them up are.
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Date: 2003-07-22 03:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-22 05:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-22 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-22 03:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-23 01:22 am (UTC)