262 A Programmer’s Guide to the Mind
simple comments themselves join into a long integrated sequence of words,
sentences and paragraphs which flows on from one page to the next.
Analytical thinking is like a railroad switching yard. Trains are taken
apart and reassembled; railroad cars are rearranged, removed from one
train, and added to another train. In a real sense, analytical thinking is what
produces the „train‟ of thought. In addition, it gives the Teacher person his
„one-track mind.‟ Once he starts with a problem or a sequence, then he
wants to continue until it is finished.
Teacher Sequences
Teacher sequences come in many different forms. I suggest that
Teacher strategy is in fact responsible for many aspects of thought which
we would not initially associate with abstract processing. Speech, for
instance, is an example of Teacher mode working with sound. When I talk,
I make a sequence of noises that expresses my „train‟ of thought:
“H...e...ll...o, H...o...w a...re y...ou?” It may seem rather demeaning to
associate human speech with a series of grunts, but when I listen to a
foreign language, as far as my mind is concerned, what I am hearing is
only a sequence of sonic squeaks and rattles.
Rhythm is another sequence of sounds which is analyzed by Teacher
thought. Unlike speech, the acoustic sequences of rhythm do not convey
any explicit meaning. However, rhythm does contain order and patterns,
and this attracts Teacher thought. Of course, it is always possible to assign
meaning to a sequence of rhythm, and this is how Morse code operates.
Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a certain series of long and short
beats. However, even musical rhythms can become associated with some
type of meaning. For example, we all know that a rhythm of “oom-pah-pah,
oom-pah-pah” goes together with a waltz. Try singing the „Blue Danube
Waltz‟ to a rhythm of “boom-chick-diddly-oom, boom-chick-diddly-oom.”
It doesn‟t work; the pattern is wrong, the sequence is messed up.
Teacher sequences can also involve sight as well as sound. You are
looking at one example right now. It is called writing. Notice how each
letter is formed out of a series of lines and how these visual outlines are
connected together into a sequence. The sequence of writing becomes
more apparent when we take our pen to paper and start writing.A We
literally leave a trail of ink behind us to mark the movements of our hand.
Mathematics is another form of Teacher sequence which is often combined
with writing: A mathematical equation is a series of abstract symbols
which we can write down on a piece of paper. Mathematics itself is the
exercise of going through a sequence of steps which massage and
manipulate these mathematical equations.
A The action of writing itself is carried out by Server strategy.