1) Subjectively choose one of the most messy components of the whole mess.
2) Make a move that reduces or eliminates the messiness of that component so it is no longer one of the most messy components of the whole mess, though it may still be messy.
Repeat 1 and 2 until the whole mess is unmessy enough.
Use the method recursively on any sub-components of the chosen step-1 mess component.
Does not require an overall plan nor advance planning time, yet results in order.
The reduction of the mess advances quickly at the beginning of 'processing' while energies remain high, producing an immediate- gratification effect.
Will work on any 'mess', which can be conceived of as a disorganized large group of real or conceptual things.
'C-Pock' is from 'C-Pock Method' which gets its name from an as-of-yet unentered half-baked idea for playing pool by focusing on getting balls closer ('C') to the pocket ('Pock') rather than focusing only on getting them in.-- Mustardface, Apr 23 2010 Chaos theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theoryInstructive [8th of 7, Apr 23 2010] Messes only get worked on because of a economical gain(money /parts wanted) or a 'crazy' wants to take a loss. It would be best not to generate them in the first place but thats not going to happen. There is no drive for this system.
Nature has so many subjects wanting resources that tear apart a natural mess that your method works in nature. Man systems make messes that no one cares about until forced to.-- wjt, Apr 23 2010 Partial bun, but you've made no allowance for changing chaos into order, only reducing chaos.-- FlyingToaster, Apr 23 2010 I'll need to look at this c-pock thing a little closer. my first thoughts are that this would make winning easier for your opponent (in snooker anyway).
help me by indicating whether other: general is your intended category.-- po, Apr 23 2010 [FT]: Perfect order is an illusionary concept. There is only the reduction of chaos.-- BunsenHoneydew, Apr 23 2010 Other : general was a choice. I would have gone for home : organizing, had it existed, even though it's just one application of the idea. I couldn't find a category I liked more. If someone finds one, they will win a Halfbakery reward: I will, if they accept, bun one of their unpopular ideas. (Halfbakery Reward/Punishment - idea for a halfbakery idea).-- Mustardface, Apr 23 2010 other:philosophy sounds apt.
But usually messes have a time-based sorting order by default. Simply turning a room upside-down can decrease entropy.-- FlyingToaster, Apr 23 2010 This approach is likely to get caught in local minima if such exist, rather than searching for global minima.
It also will have trouble with coupled states in which decreasing the mess of one item increases it in another and vice versa.-- MechE, Apr 23 2010 //'C-Pock' is from 'C-Pock Method' which gets its name from an as-of-yet unentered half-baked idea for playing pool by focusing on getting balls closer ('C') to the pocket ('Pock') rather than focusing only on getting them in.// Don't try this in Eight Ball.-- MisterQED, Apr 23 2010 // Subjectively choose one of the most messy components of the whole mess. //
First you need to determine if the mess is truly random or is actually chaotic (they are not the same).
The problem with the "most messy component" approach is determining the limiting value of size for the component. If the size is small enough (given suffient granularity) then the set may consist of just one item which cannot in itself be a mess.
You need to define the mess as a set of N items, each one of which is non-messy, but for a factor xN constitutes a messy "region" that can the undergo entropic reduction at the expense of some other system.-- 8th of 7, Apr 23 2010 //Simply turning a room upside-down can decrease entropy.// Time was, when the mess got to where I couldn't see the floor, the ceiling started to look marvelously uncluttered, to the point that I'd fantasize about living up there.-- mouseposture, Apr 23 2010 random, halfbakery