Much of how we understand the world involves understanding different layers of abstraction and how they relate to each other. Being able to go between the different layers is an important hurdle in understanding any area.

Sometimes we forget that there are other layers of abstraction (either “above” or “below”), and this can lead to boxing ourselves into thinking one layer has more meaning than it does.

This is also another form of the idea that Definitions are clouds in concept-space, as a definition allows us to go up a layer of abstraction, and then create new definitions using other definitions. Layers of abstraction exist as layers of Concept-space.

Examples

A hand, one layer down is fingers, thumb, palm.

A person, layer(s) down is atoms

Ways of explaining math

Image by Grant Sanderson

References

Rationality, From A to Z#^6d72d6