I realize this is only anecdotal evidence, but aside from my grandmother and one of my aunts, I don't personally know anyone that relies on their landline phone as their primary source of communication. In fact, the only person who still even *has* a landline is my mother, and she's mostly just retaining it because it would "feel weird" not to have one. She rarely uses it.
Perhaps Slashdot isn't the best place to ask this, but are the arts and humanities degrees now considered a second class education?
While I can appreciate the need for increasing the number of science-related students, it seems absurd to give them free tuition while leaving the arts and humanities majors to pick up their tab.
I, myself, am an English major working toward a Ph.D. I'm looking at paying a minimum of $20,000 just to get a 4-year bachelor's degree -- not to mention the cost of books, lab fees, or anything else that might come up. Now, if I were to look at Scotty the Engineer sitting in the desk next to me -- who's paying $0 for his own degree -- I think I should be rightfully ticked off.
Don't forget just how valuable we humanities majors are, even in the education of a science majoring student. Without English, you would be unable to write a comprehensible thesis paper. Without Ethics and Philosophy, you would have no appreciation for human life. And without History, you might find yourself on the modern-day Manhattan Project.
Other skills and abilities quickly become obsolete: e.g. Climb, Heal and Jump (both are replaced by spells).
In my most recent game, I played a Ranger which acted as the group's scout. There was a situation in almost every session (thanks to a good DM) that required me to climb difficult walls, jump across rooftops, and do all manner of ninja-like actions.
Sure, we had a Sorcerer on our team, and he could've used up all of his daily spells on making me more agile, but he had better ways to spend his magic than to enable me to do things that are core essentials to my class. Should a Cleric have to buff a Sorcerer in order for that Sorcerer to use Concentration or Use Magic Device?
The point being that yes, there are spells that grant boosted jumping and climbing abilities, but that doesn't mean that they replace the skills.
... it's merely that we don't need to memorize phone numbers and such. Personally, I'd rather focus my memorization on things that are more important than a 7-digit number that I'll only use once a month, at best.
Of course, the question now is whether the rest of the industry will take the hint that people prefer innovative and experimental gameplay over Highseller 8: The Rehashing.
So far, they seem to be completely oblivious. Big companies like EA and Atari -- the ones that can afford to be innovative -- are still unwilling to try anything really different (Will Wright excepted), though time and time again, consumers have proven to prefer the unique titles and gameplay.
The Wii seems to be falling into the same trap, too. They innovated with a unique and interesting gameplay mechanism -- the Wiimote -- but they seem to be only pumping out mini-game collections, which apparently sell fairly well, rather than taking the Wii to its limit and showing us just how revolutionary it really can be. As a Wii owner, I really want to love it. But now that I've tired of Wii Sports, and have no interest in the other mini-game titles (Mario Party 8, WarioWare, Big Brain Academy, ect),it's become nothing more than elaborate web browser.
Most people don't get to decide which religion to follow. Most people follow whichever religion they've been taught to follow by their parents. People may be theoretically able to decide their religion, but in reality it is not an option for most people as they've been raised to think, "we are right, they are wrong". Besides that, breaking from the established religion of one's immediate culture is taboo at best, and people tend not to do so. Were religion truly an option, you would likely see less global religious regions. For example, when I say "Hinduism", you most likely think of India.
Secondly, most people do pray out of fear. Perhaps not necessarily a fear of Hell, but almost certainly out of fear of being ostracized by their friends, family, and society. Hell is a powerful thing to fear, however. I would suspect that even many ex-Christian Atheists occasionally wonder, "What if I'm wrong?" I'm certainly not a wishy-washy person, but as an ex-Christian myself, it is a fear that tends to pop up during theological discussions.
Lastly, religion is a waste of time, assuming said religion is wrong. What would happen if the Pope, upon his death, finds himself standing before Anubis instead of Saint Peter? He would have wasted decades of his life in praying to Yahweh, only to find himself being gnawed on by Ammut for the rest of eternity for being wrong. More realistically, a Christian who spends, say, 8 hours each week in prayer, would be quite disappointed were he to realize that there is no afterlife, and he could've spent all of that time simply enjoying his life. For a 70-year-old, that means over 25,000 hours spent in prayer. Could you think of better ways to spend that time, assuming there is no God?
Western RPGs tend to have a more malleable plot, perhaps, but I wouldn't call them "loose". Knights of the Old Republic, for example, is as 'western' as you can get -- in that you can choose the order of completion and growth of your character -- yet the story is at least as strong as your typical jRPG Final Fantasy clone.
Slashdot Mirror
I realize this is only anecdotal evidence, but aside from my grandmother and one of my aunts, I don't personally know anyone that relies on their landline phone as their primary source of communication. In fact, the only person who still even *has* a landline is my mother, and she's mostly just retaining it because it would "feel weird" not to have one. She rarely uses it.
Neither do the Aliens.
Perhaps Slashdot isn't the best place to ask this, but are the arts and humanities degrees now considered a second class education?
While I can appreciate the need for increasing the number of science-related students, it seems absurd to give them free tuition while leaving the arts and humanities majors to pick up their tab.
I, myself, am an English major working toward a Ph.D. I'm looking at paying a minimum of $20,000 just to get a 4-year bachelor's degree -- not to mention the cost of books, lab fees, or anything else that might come up. Now, if I were to look at Scotty the Engineer sitting in the desk next to me -- who's paying $0 for his own degree -- I think I should be rightfully ticked off.
Don't forget just how valuable we humanities majors are, even in the education of a science majoring student. Without English, you would be unable to write a comprehensible thesis paper. Without Ethics and Philosophy, you would have no appreciation for human life. And without History, you might find yourself on the modern-day Manhattan Project.
Other skills and abilities quickly become obsolete: e.g. Climb, Heal and Jump (both are replaced by spells).
In my most recent game, I played a Ranger which acted as the group's scout. There was a situation in almost every session (thanks to a good DM) that required me to climb difficult walls, jump across rooftops, and do all manner of ninja-like actions.
Sure, we had a Sorcerer on our team, and he could've used up all of his daily spells on making me more agile, but he had better ways to spend his magic than to enable me to do things that are core essentials to my class. Should a Cleric have to buff a Sorcerer in order for that Sorcerer to use Concentration or Use Magic Device?
The point being that yes, there are spells that grant boosted jumping and climbing abilities, but that doesn't mean that they replace the skills.
Once you place limits on freedom, then it's no longer truly freedom. Even when those limits protect people you disagree with.
... it's merely that we don't need to memorize phone numbers and such. Personally, I'd rather focus my memorization on things that are more important than a 7-digit number that I'll only use once a month, at best.
More like the Cyber People's Court. Where's VirtuWapner when you need him?
"But this is Sid Meier's baby" Will Wright. ;)
Of course, the question now is whether the rest of the industry will take the hint that people prefer innovative and experimental gameplay over Highseller 8: The Rehashing. So far, they seem to be completely oblivious. Big companies like EA and Atari -- the ones that can afford to be innovative -- are still unwilling to try anything really different (Will Wright excepted), though time and time again, consumers have proven to prefer the unique titles and gameplay. The Wii seems to be falling into the same trap, too. They innovated with a unique and interesting gameplay mechanism -- the Wiimote -- but they seem to be only pumping out mini-game collections, which apparently sell fairly well, rather than taking the Wii to its limit and showing us just how revolutionary it really can be. As a Wii owner, I really want to love it. But now that I've tired of Wii Sports, and have no interest in the other mini-game titles (Mario Party 8, WarioWare, Big Brain Academy, ect),it's become nothing more than elaborate web browser.
Most people don't get to decide which religion to follow. Most people follow whichever religion they've been taught to follow by their parents. People may be theoretically able to decide their religion, but in reality it is not an option for most people as they've been raised to think, "we are right, they are wrong". Besides that, breaking from the established religion of one's immediate culture is taboo at best, and people tend not to do so. Were religion truly an option, you would likely see less global religious regions. For example, when I say "Hinduism", you most likely think of India.
Secondly, most people do pray out of fear. Perhaps not necessarily a fear of Hell, but almost certainly out of fear of being ostracized by their friends, family, and society. Hell is a powerful thing to fear, however. I would suspect that even many ex-Christian Atheists occasionally wonder, "What if I'm wrong?" I'm certainly not a wishy-washy person, but as an ex-Christian myself, it is a fear that tends to pop up during theological discussions.
Lastly, religion is a waste of time, assuming said religion is wrong. What would happen if the Pope, upon his death, finds himself standing before Anubis instead of Saint Peter? He would have wasted decades of his life in praying to Yahweh, only to find himself being gnawed on by Ammut for the rest of eternity for being wrong. More realistically, a Christian who spends, say, 8 hours each week in prayer, would be quite disappointed were he to realize that there is no afterlife, and he could've spent all of that time simply enjoying his life. For a 70-year-old, that means over 25,000 hours spent in prayer. Could you think of better ways to spend that time, assuming there is no God?
They worship Jupiter?
Western RPGs tend to have a more malleable plot, perhaps, but I wouldn't call them "loose". Knights of the Old Republic, for example, is as 'western' as you can get -- in that you can choose the order of completion and growth of your character -- yet the story is at least as strong as your typical jRPG Final Fantasy clone.
He's right. Western RPGs, like Planescape: Torment or Baldur's Gate, do not have stories being told over a long period.