This was honestly extremely helpful. I very much appreciate the advice. I think you’re probably correct in that my intuition and prior knowledge is not being particularly helpful with shifting my paradigmatic perspectives, and while I may not need the novice lessons to learn the vocabulary or practical concepts, I probably do need a better formal introduction to theory. I am largely self-taught, aside from 2-years in an electronics engineering program that included embedded programming, and lessons in logic and Boolean algebra, My bachelor’s was in media studies and film production. In my experience, practical knowledge can be obtained through hands-on exercise and observing others—but theory and philosophy usually requires a teacher (or maybe months of meditation in a cabin in the woods, but as much as I admire Henry David Thoreau as an author, he wasn’t a great software engineer), and it sounds like that’s what I am missing here. Community college classes it is.

Thanks again!