Реплика в обсуждение "есть ли универсальные/общие истины в RST" (угнетение английским):
That's interesting to discuss. :slightly_smiling_face:
Sometimes RST tools for the mind and techniques are described as a "toolbox". You know, both hammer and screwdriver could be applied across many different contexts, but not every context needs hammer or screwdriver or them both.
I find this very important: you may want all the toolbox to go with you (as you don't know which tool you are going to need in the next case), but you don't expect that you will need every tool every time, so while your toolbox is applicable in many different contexts, not every tool is. Toolbox could be general, but a particular tool doesn't have to be.
There is a good thought I picked from Peter Senge: every specie has its limited space where it can live (like humans don't breather water or can't live where it is too hot and food scarce, like around volcanoes). I apply the same to the tools and techniques: every of them has its area of application, and it's important to think critically of where it is applicable and where it is not.
Also, some negative truths, like impossibility of exhaustive testing, could be true in lots of contexts, but still negative and not very useful apart of realizing our limitations.
I like a lot "Becoming a Software Testing Expert" with James Bach recording (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMlQUKVcNNE ), where
@satisfice uses example of the firefighting expert coming to a fire at multi-store building. But I can't forget that my grandparents lived in lowly houses made from clay and straw, so if an expert happened to fire in such small building without any tech, their actions would be completely different. Context makes you look for tools most useful there, not "general" ones.
Jerry Weinberg's "Introduction to General Systems Thinking" provides excellent explanations and examples about general systems laws. I highly recommend it, as it uses laws of physics to show that them, which many think are general, are also context-driven. And system laws have exceptions.
