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DARPA Funds Game To Teach Arabic To Army
finnhart writes "According to a [free reg. req.] New York Times article, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has funded a project at the University of Southern California's School of Engineering to create a 'virtual camp' in which US soldiers can learn to speak Arabic, as well as learn local customs: 'All discussions with the villagers will have to be conducted in Arabic, and Sergeant Smith must comport himself with the utmost awareness of local customs so as not to arouse hostility. If successful, he will be paving the way for the rest of his unit to begin reconstruction work in the village'."
That's virtual camp, not cave.
Now I can talk to that muslim chick at school!
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Admittedly, a few words can be learned, enabling simple communication. If this is all that they have in mind, this is perhaps a feasible objective. But the quote makes it sound as if the soldiers will be truly communicating in the language. The article hedges it a bit more, focusing on problem specific communication, but I don't think it is fairly labeled 'discussion.' That is, I doubt that there will be very many fruitful 'discussions' *cough* interrogations *cough* if they must occur in Arabic.
Anyway, what the hell is a virtual 'cave'? 'Camp' is the term used in the article, and I still don't understand what either word has to do with things. Help!
~Dr. Weird~
"Another reason for ignorance"
So.. it's not a tool that'll teach people how to interact with people from far-away lands, it's a tool that allows people to be lazy...? What, are we all going to cancel our trips to that side of the planet?
"Derp de derp."
No no, he plainly demonstrated the ignorance he was describing.
the Army's job is to blow stuff up - not "rebuild villages"
BC
I presume by "virtual cave" the poster refers to the CAVE (CAVE Audio Video Environment), which is essentially a small room where most or all walls show computer-generated imagery (rather than using, say, a head-mounted display). I imagine USC has one or two for research purposes.
However, there's nothing in the article, the press release, or associated video clip to indicate this has anything to do with the language training. It all seems to be happening on a standard computer monitor. I'm a big advocate of CAVEs for all sorts of things, but I'm not sure what price-performance advantage it would have for language training.
So here comes the first massively politically incorrect, flame me back into the stone age comment of the night.
I've about had it with this whole "Ooh, let's tiptoe around the Arabs" thing. You know what? The Arabs do not live on an Arab planet. The Muslims do not live on a Muslim planet. I'm sure there are lots of folks in both groups who wish it were so, but it just ain't.
When's the last time you heard about the Army training its soldiers in the customs of the Chinese so we don't deeply offend Chinese people? Or the Dutch? Do we tiptoe around the Dutch? Or the Argentines, or the Poles, or the Russians, or the South Africans? Do we all get sent to special sensitivity training workshops to avoid pissing off the Uzbeks?
Fuck, no. Nor do the Chinese, the Dutch, the Argentines, the Poles, the Russians, the South Africas, or the Uzbeks worry themselves sick over the possibility of offending us.
The Arabs live on a big blue planet with lots of other kinds of people. Some of them know and respect Arab customs. Some don't. The sooner they, as a culture, learn to deal with this fact, the better for everybody.
Colossal waste of money this is. Teach 'em Arabic, definitely. And Farsi and Pashto. But don't waste a red cent teaching 'em how to kowtow in the suks. The Arabs are just gonna have to learn to deal.
I write in my journal
Look at the title, "DARPA Funds Game To Teach Arabic To Army". What is U.S. becoming?
Ever since Bush became the head, the body has been leaning toward middle eastern interests in every direction. Ok, where are the next generation Iraq M*A*S*H and Gulf War vet A-Team shows. We got video games teaching Arabic. Hello, aren't we supposed to be out of the middle east by now.
While reconstructing Iraq, use the following words so that people can recognize you're an american:
talhasteez = lick my ass
aho charmouta = brother of a bitch
acrout = the male for bitch
Sorry, but my arabic knowledge doesn't go beyond these things. Have luck.
I like the fact that I could play a game and if I was hooked enough on it, learn something useful. Imagine teaching kids this way.. Play enough pokemon, learn Japanese. I think that would be totally worth it.
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
This statement is soley based upon media coverage, and may be entirely inaccurate - post corrections, not flames, below ;-)
Ok.
Notice the Poms in Iraq.
They go around in a (fairly) non-threatening manner. They smile at the kids, they try to get along. Having the experience of wandering around Belfast trying to keep the peace, they've learned to be nice and stay cool with the population, because a lot less bad shit happens that way.
The yanks, god bless 'em, seem to have a military with the Sole Purpose Of Wiping The Other Guy Out. That's great, except in Iraq, they're past that phase. Things need to cool down, everyone needs to try and refocus. I know, media is biased, but all I see of americans in Iraq are people all gung-ho.
This is the mindset that needs to change if they're going to get anywhere, because nobody wants some asshole all "yeah! respect mah authoritah,biatch!" in their face, especially one that you think is beginning to overstay their welcome in your country.
This program then, is a good idea, to promote some sort of cultural sensitivity. Not just arabic as some rather exitable people seem to comment on above, with their rants about why we should have to- any cultural sensitivity would be a good idea at this stage.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Yes, it's all very totalitarian, and I wouldn't like to live in such a place... but I do believe that ant and bee colonies are the epitome of a *perfect* society. Note: perfect != nice
Cooperation is NOT the same as societal perfection. In fact, it's in many cases the opposite. We could efficiently cooperate to cannibalize our children or ethnic minorities, but how ethical or "perfect" would that be? I could risk Godwin's law and make a Nazi analogy but I don't have to--you should get the idea.
A "perfect" society, given human nature, probably isn't possible, but at the very least, it would have to be structured in a way similar to John Rawls' Theory of Justice. Note the lack of a totalitarian regime or Islamo-fascism.
Diversity isn't a weakness. In fact, it can be a great strength. Even in your ant colony example, what would happen if a bacterial infection were to hit the colony? Without genetic diversity, the entire colony would probably die. Biodiversity is very important to the viability of any population of organisms--humans included.
Diversity isn't possible if one side is completely intolerant of the other. As the grandparent expressed, Tolerance is a two-way street. I have no problem being intolerant and militarily aggressive towards of a bunch of barbaric cowards if they leave us no choice.
-Grym
*Note: The second link is gruesome, so click at your own discretion.
DoD wants to be nice to Iraqis now.
PR took a bit of a hurt when americans almost realized that their country's armed forces might actually be able to do wrong.
To reaffirm the infallibility of all US actions in the eyes of the public, the Pentagon has instigated these little PR stunts. And to avoid future embarresements, all the dirty work will be done by iraqis from now on.
Everybody wins, except the guy at the bottom.
May the Maths Be with you!
My only question is why this wasn't done years ago? Back when the build up started. All those soldiers were training to fight in the desert. They could have taken an hour from the day and learned the local customs and language. The human body works better when it has rests from time to time anyway.
I always thought it would be hilarious if it was revealed that that Klingon was the language of some small African or Asian nation. On the other hand, I'd feel sorry for those who'd have to serve the tourists in the few years after this was revealed.
Can you imagine having to be nice to Comic Book Guy, because his spending money is what you make in a year? And he can insult you fluently in your native tongue?
My stupid web site
> *Note: The second link is gruesome, so click at your own discretion.
You seem to have forgotten the second link, BTW.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Ever since Bush became the head, the body has been leaning toward middle eastern interests in every direction
Well if your only source of info is a Michael Moore film I can see where you could get that impression, but in reality U.S. involvement in the Middle East is not a recent event and it is not a Republican idea. If you want to look into actual history lookup:
President Carter, a Democrat in the late 1970s, created the Rapid Deployment Force for deployment to the Middle East. Over 100,000 combat troops. Joint exercises were routinely conducted in Egypt. In response to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Carter he also created the "Carter Doctrine" where the U.S. warned that "An attempt by an outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force". We also have the Iranian Hostage Crisis that includes a failed U.S. Delta Force rescue mission. The rise of fundamentalist Islam at this time is what greatly increased U.S. attention and involvement in the region.
US forces were deployed as peace keepers in Egpyt and Lebanon. I'm not sure if this started with Carter or Reagan. The idea was to provide a buffer between them and the Israelis.
Somewhere in here we also decided to sell the "friendly" Saudi governemnt lots of arms. Not sure if this was Carter, Reagon, both or even earlier. Selling the "friendly" Iranian government that existed before the fundamentalist revolution definitely happened long before Reagan showed up.
Ronald Reagon continued Carter's RDF. More involvement in Lebanon that led to the Marine Barracks bombing. Various military actions in the area included the US attack on a Syrian command post in the Bakka valley, a Syrian general and staff officers were reportedly killed.
George H. Bush's Gulf War is recent enough that you have probably heard of it. Similar with Clinton, a Democratic, airstrikes in Iraq. Sudan, Afghanistant, etc. The continuation of U.S. enforcement of the no-fly zone and the continous exchanges of fire between Iraqi anti-aircraft units and U.S. aircraft year after year after year. Clinton also made it the policy of the U.S. to change the regime in Iraq.
Until the current political election season began both Democrats and Republicans belived Sadaam was a threat and had to go. The disagreements were over how and when, and whether to let the U.N. have yet another go at it after their repeated failures. Do not confuse election season theatrics with geniune policy positions. Clinton said in 1988 "If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." "Some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal."
Links intentionally left out. You could benefit by some time with google.
Marc Okrand, the linguist behind the Klingon language, was a fan of Native American languages. Some claim that the Klingon language shares much structure with the language of at least one Native American nation. Compare.