You beat somebody at chess (or checkers or backgammon or
go or othello or poker).
You prove a mathematical theorem using a set of known axioms.
You are told some facts about the relationship between forests
and the weather and you conclude that the practices of logging companies
should change.
On a particular day, you need to buy a bunch of things, meet three
different people, return some books to the library,
and get a certain amount of exercise. You plan the
day in such a way that everything is achieved in an efficient manner.
You are a lawyer who is asked to defend someone. You recall
three similar cases in which the defendant was found guilty, and you
turn down the potential client.
You are trying to come up with an algorithm to solve a
problem using other algorithms you are familiar with. You have
meta-knowledge about how one should think about
algorithms, and you use this knowledge to critique your algorithm as
you create it.
A stranger passing you on the street notices your watch and
asks, "Can you tell me the time?" You say, "It's 3:00," and not
simply "Yes."
You are told to find a large Phillips screwdriver in a cluttered
workroom. You enter the room (you've never been there before), look
around, make your way around without falling over things, and
eventually find the screwdriver.
You are shown five letters in an unfamiliar font.
Later you recognize this font when you see a different character from
it, and you are also able to make good guesses as to what the other
characters in the font would look like.
Asked to prove a geometry theorem, you draw a diagram and use
it to help you.
You're a 1-year-old child learning Arabic. You hear strings
of sounds and figure out that they're associated with particular
meanings in the world.
Within two years, you learn how to segment the strings into meaningful
parts and produce your own words and sentences.
You're a 6-month-old infant. You can produce sounds with your
vocal organs, and you can hear speech sounds around you, but you don't
know how to make the sounds you're hearing.
In the next year you figure out what the sounds of your parents'
language are and how to make them.
Someone taps out a rhythm, and you are able to beat along
with it and to continue to even after it stops.
You're some sort of primitive invertebrate. You know nothing
about how to move about in your world, only that you need to find
food and keep from bumping into walls.
After lots of reinforcement and punishment (maybe generations of it),
you get around just fine.
