The insight behind Compounding Engineering is not new.

· Bits and Bobs 11/17/25
  • The insight behind Compounding Engineering is not new.
    • There's an old AI technique from 1981 called Explanation Based Learning.
    • Distill what it learned and cache not just the solution, but the weakest precondition under which it's valid.
    • Newell (founder of AI with cognitive neuroscience) observed humans doing it, too.
    • When humans do it it's called chunking or coarse-graining.