Aaron Sloman -- Conjecture : Information-Sucking Reflex
"Alongside the innate physical sucking reflex for obtaining milk to be digested, decomposed and used all over the body for growth, repair, and energy, there is a genetically determined information-sucking reflex, which seeks out, sucks in, and decomposes information, which is later recombined in many ways, growing the information-processing architecture and many diverse recombinable competences. Our educational system and other factors (e.g. mind-binding cultures) often interfere with this process, unfortunately.
A big mistake made by governments and educational theorists is to assume that there's a right order in which to grow the architecture, etc. A system building a complex structure may have to assemble different substructures in a sequence that is opportunistic and ideosyncratic. Educational systems that do not allow for this can do a lot of damage through excessive regimentation, e.g. based on use of 'targets'. "
