"The best way to solve a hard problem is to break it into several simpler ones, and break those into even simpler ones. Then we face the same issue of mental fragmentation. Happily, there is another way. We can work on the various parts of a problem in serial order, one after another, using the same agency over and over again. Orf course, that takes more time. But is has one absolutely fundamental advantage: each agency can apply its full power to every subproblem."
"The Recurssion Principle: When a problem splits into smaller parts, then unless one can apply the mind's fullpower to each subjob, one's intellect will get idspersed and leave less cleverness for each new task." (NB: Logo programs are good demonstrations of the computational power, and the efficiency of described operations, that recursion permits.)
To take advantage of recursion, we must be able to remember interrupted states, which requires fast but short-term memories.
(NB: Are Elman's context units a good example of this kind of micromemory? Or do they have too little control?)
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