Theory and Practice

"At least, that's how it works in theory, in practice however, things can be very different"

A theory is a structured belief.  Sometimes that belief is empowered by blind faith, where it is held as true with no evidence to back it up, with the intent being to discern evidence through experience.  Sometimes that belief is backed up by evidence in which case it becomes open faith, where the faith is not placed in the theory or the evidence themselves but in the body that supplied the evidence.  You can minimize the amount of faith required by going as deep as you can and verifying evidence along the way, but unless you can follow that pursuit to its very end, it is unlikely that you will be able to check the work of everyone who came before you upon whom you have built.

A theory is a structured belief that represents an expected outcome or represents a logical or reasonable argument that has been made - whether that is flawed or not is irrelevant, the validity of a theory does not determine whether it is a theory, even theories which can be proven to be false are still theories even when disproved.

Theories often explain things in the context of ideal situations, or ideal scenarios.  The reason they often fail in practice even when regarded as accurate and valid, is because a theory by its very nature is static and constant, whilst practice is dynamic and changing in the moment.

A theory once posited is fixed and does not change.  Whenever you attempt to change all or part of it, you create a new theory in the process.  You can force the new theory to replace the old one, and your changes can be as major or minor as you wish, but with each change and variation a new theory is being created and the old one supplanted - even when you refer to it by the same name and use it in the same context.

The implementation of a theory depends on which version is taken and tested.  As we have said when put into practice it is often the case that a theory fails, even when it is regarded as accurate or correct.  Practice by its very nature is dynamic, and creates new situations and new scenarios with each iteration.  The most proficient algorithms designed to tackle things such as playing a game of Chess, do not attempt to create a rule for every possible scenario, instead they deal with probabilities, and work with three guiding factors.  These are beliefs, desires, and intentions.  These three factors define in the first instance the rules of the game, in the second instance the objective of the game, and in the third instance how the algorithm will attempt to achieve the first two.

When it comes to developing a theory we must make a commitment.  If however we want to create a theory that can change over time, we need to develop a strategy instead.  A strategy can be considered a dynamic theory.  Strategies have a theoretical foundation but they factor in experience as they evolve.  A strategy uses theory only for direction and guidance, it does not conform so strictly to it, and is able to rewrite that theory when new evidence comes along to contradict it.  When this process is done in real-time on the spot it can be referred to as real time strategy.

Returning to the idea of a Chess game, as a game which has been around for centuries, some 1400 years, there are a plethora of sites and sources of information that attempt to explain the game and the theory that underpins it.  One thing I see most frequently is the expression by learners that theories they are presented with "don't work in practice" and that they follow those theories to a T and they still lose.  The reason for this is because Chess is a strategy game, and as such requires a strategy - something which is dynamic - not simply a theory - something which is static.  If you want to get better at playing the game you need to develop your understanding of the game and your understanding of your opponent.  Whether you play against a person, or a computer, the same principles or beliefs, desires, and intentions come into play.  You need to be aware of their beliefs - the rules of the game, desires - what they want to achieve, and intentions - how they intend to achieve it.  If you want to master Chess you need to pay as much attention to your opponent's game as you do your own.

This divergence between theory and practice is not something that is unique to gaming, both digital and physical.  It is relevant to almost every part of our lives.  Everyone is driven by these three things, in life in general not just when playing games.  People have beliefs, desires, and intentions, and if you want to be able to predict what people will do then you need to be able to discern what those three things are for the people you want to observe.  You need to think about things in much greater depth than you have before, or like someone who simply plays for fun and does not read of theories or strategies then you should just go with the flow and hope for the best.