HEURISTICS: or, A Guide to Making Sense Out of Things

by Frank Gordon, USA

You've probably had the experience, as I have, of saying, "But that doesn't make sense!" And at the time, it's a very true statement.

But here is where the value of something called a heuristic comes in. Before you slump over in boredom, let me define what I'm talking about.

Heuristic is an old Greek word literally meaning "The value of a good nose." It's like the nose we used as children to lead us to those freshly baked yeast rolls. It serves as a guide to discover what we want to know; to recognize a recurring event, or to "make sense" out of something (i.e., understand it). It's a search pattern or question which will result in a cognition.

And like that nose we can use it to find the key piece of information which will enable us to "make sense" out of an experience.

Examples of Heuristics
The French have a heuristic that helps them unravel certain situations: Cherchez la femme, or find the woman.

An American one is "Look for your money where you lost it."

The police use the habitual pattern of a criminal, (the M.O., modus operandi, or method of operation) as a way to find the perpetrator. They also use common motivations (money, sex, jealousy, etc.) as a guide in their investigations.

Doctors use common patterns to make what they call a differential diagnosis, e.g., abdominal tenderness and a high white cell count could be appendicitis, if other possibilities are excluded. They call this differential diagnosis.

Instruments to Extend the Heuristic
In each case above, technology can extend the heuristic; for the police, fingerprints, DNA testing, and lie detectors. For doctors, stethoscopes, microscopes and the differential staining of bacteria. For Hubbard, it was the e-meter. So, detection theory and practice could be included within a science of heuristics.

Putting Together an Effective Heuristic
The Pre-Logics, Logics and Axioms of Dianetics and Scientology serve as guides to putting together heuristic questions that will lead to a better understanding of some difficulty (cognitions).

One example of how this was done is given in The Story of S&D by John McMaster (IVy 25, p.36). A group as auditors was assembled by Ron to work out a process that he called "Search and Discovery," So what was needed was a guide or heuristic question which would accomplish this.

The auditors settled on a listing question: "Who or what is causing difficulty?" Followed by "Who or what would item represent?" which invariably resulted in a "What" that was something in the person's behaviour or make-up.

Finding this led to an improvement, but when this was presented to Hubbard, he changed the heuristic question to "Who is suppressing you?" which assumes a dominating other determinism.

In John's opinion, this approach led to a long-term problem with all of its Ethics Officers, disconnections, and declares.

The quality of what is found in any science depends upon intelligent questions, and from what I've read, much of Hubbard's Advanced Clinical Courses were devoted to discovering these.

Let's say you test two questions and compare the results. One is: "Well, problem-solver, what have you handled skillfully today?" And the other is: "Well, stupid, what have you screwed up today?" Or you could have a third test with these two questions alternated.

Superfcially, the first would be best, the second possibly disasterous, and the third, "hmmm..who knows?"

Using a firmer theory based on "interested in own case," and "interest is attention with intention," one could form the question: "What has your attention been on lately?" followed by "Is there an intention connected with that?"

These questions locate the pc right where he is, sitting in what he is sitting in; and explore directly half of the definition of "in-session." The other half is "is he willing to talk about it?"

A Sample Heuristic
Here is a sample heuristic: The most valuable piece of information in a situation is the one that helps us make sense out of that situation.

Every day we have new experiences, and often ask "What's going on?" while looking for a key piece of information, some fact, or an assumed pattern that will give the answer.

What do I need to know to make sense out of a particular situation? Usually it's a piece of missing information.

My foot hurt. I checked. A nail stuck through. Explanation!

My arms were going numb. One doctor thought I needed a neck brace to relieve pinched nerves. Another asked how much coffee I drank a day. Ten cups. Try decaffeinated. Answer!

So when you get this key piece of information, things begin to clear up.

A Science of Heuristics?
A collection of heuristics or guides to help us discover and organize key information, as A Sample Heuristic does, could be very useful; and we could end up with a new science, the science of Heuristics.