I would tend to believe that these types of correlations between intelligence and computer use would be better attributed to the fact that "Smart kids" better understand computers and therefore use them more. Same goes for science. Kids that don't understand physics and chemistry don't want to grow up to be scientists.
I frequent some "adult arcades" now and then like ESPNZone and Dave & Buster's and you are right. It isn't so much the game itself but the controllers and the huge screens you can use to play.
It is pretty fun to strap on a pair of fake skis or jump into an F-1 car and race your buddy who is right next to you. May be even cooler to race someone else from around the world and see their reactions as they play on a live video feed!!
The ability to memorize facts is really faux intelligence.
I remember when I was younger my parents wondered why I didn't have to memorize the Declaration of Independance word for word or the order and years each president took office. And the answer is because it is MEANINGLESS.
It is much more important to know why than to regurgitate facts. Why be able to recite something word for word unless you know what it means. Granted there are many algorithms and equations that are worth memorizing because of their recurring uses...but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.
I have what I believe to be an excellent memory. But I prioritize my memory to remember things which I think are important. For instance I can never remember somebodys name the first time I meet them. Why waste my precious memory space for somebody's name I will most likely never see again. If I meet them a second and third time and the meetings are worthwhile I will NEVER forget their name.
Why fill your brain with the verbatum Magna Carta when that precious space could be used for creative and analytical thinking.
I had many a teacher in my day who would gurantee an A in their class if their students could solve some impossible problem. I think some teachers like to flaunt that they know something that a 16 yr old kid doesn't.
In a high school chemistry class my instructor promised an A to anyone in the class who could name another positive polyatomic ion other than ammonium (NH4+). One student raised his hand an said H3O+, which is technically correct (IAAChemist). This instructor told this kid he was an idiot and said if he raised his hand again the rest of the semester he would fail him.
If one were to look at a map of the United States, one would see that Bush won the support of the majority of the nation, while Gore won several pockets of large population.
Just because the map "looks like" Bush won doesn't mean he did. Elections are not won by acreage(?sp) they are won by votes (i.e. people).
The problem with the electoral college is that there IS a correlation between population and electoral votes (# of electoral votes for each state is based upon population), it is just to weak of a correlation. It has never been a problem before because it has never come to this before. No ones vote in this country should count more than any other. I don't care if you are from Florida or Montana every vote should be counted the same.
Federal gov't has such a great amount of inertia when it comes to technology. The feds never want to endorse something until they have seen it work for years in private industry. It is all just the PR. In their eyes, management feds don't want to be looked down upon for spending taxpayer money on something which isn't a "standard." All of us here know that Linux is a viable product. How do you get a fed manager who is coasting toward retirement to understand (or care) about migrating to something he has never heard of? It is the same for every industry, not just the computer industry. NIH lets HGS, Celera, etc. do their dirty work while they wait to see some real results.
Fed money is a hard egg to crack, but worth it if you can get it.
I concur. The current best bang for the buck option I have seen is plugging a P3/550E FCPGA 100FSB(~$180) into a motherboard that supports true 133FSB and FCPGA. You get a rock solid ~732MHz CPU and full functioning 256k L2 cache. Until someone figures out how to enable the full 256k on the Celeron-2, this seems to be a much better option.
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I would tend to believe that these types of correlations between intelligence and computer use would be better attributed to the fact that "Smart kids" better understand computers and therefore use them more. Same goes for science. Kids that don't understand physics and chemistry don't want to grow up to be scientists.
I frequent some "adult arcades" now and then like ESPNZone and Dave & Buster's and you are right. It isn't so much the game itself but the controllers and the huge screens you can use to play.
It is pretty fun to strap on a pair of fake skis or jump into an F-1 car and race your buddy who is right next to you. May be even cooler to race someone else from around the world and see their reactions as they play on a live video feed!!
The ability to memorize facts is really faux intelligence.
I remember when I was younger my parents wondered why I didn't have to memorize the Declaration of Independance word for word or the order and years each president took office. And the answer is because it is MEANINGLESS.
It is much more important to know why than to regurgitate facts. Why be able to recite something word for word unless you know what it means. Granted there are many algorithms and equations that are worth memorizing because of their recurring uses...but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.
I have what I believe to be an excellent memory. But I prioritize my memory to remember things which I think are important. For instance I can never remember somebodys name the first time I meet them. Why waste my precious memory space for somebody's name I will most likely never see again. If I meet them a second and third time and the meetings are worthwhile I will NEVER forget their name.
Why fill your brain with the verbatum Magna Carta when that precious space could be used for creative and analytical thinking.
Now everyone knows who to sue when it topples crushes someone!!!
I had many a teacher in my day who would gurantee an A in their class if their students could solve some impossible problem. I think some teachers like to flaunt that they know something that a 16 yr old kid doesn't.
In a high school chemistry class my instructor promised an A to anyone in the class who could name another positive polyatomic ion other than ammonium (NH4+). One student raised his hand an said H3O+, which is technically correct (IAAChemist). This instructor told this kid he was an idiot and said if he raised his hand again the rest of the semester he would fail him.
If one were to look at a map of the United States, one would see that Bush won the support of the majority of the nation, while Gore won several pockets of large population. Just because the map "looks like" Bush won doesn't mean he did. Elections are not won by acreage(?sp) they are won by votes (i.e. people). The problem with the electoral college is that there IS a correlation between population and electoral votes (# of electoral votes for each state is based upon population), it is just to weak of a correlation. It has never been a problem before because it has never come to this before. No ones vote in this country should count more than any other. I don't care if you are from Florida or Montana every vote should be counted the same.
Federal gov't has such a great amount of inertia when it comes to technology. The feds never want to endorse something until they have seen it work for years in private industry. It is all just the PR. In their eyes, management feds don't want to be looked down upon for spending taxpayer money on something which isn't a "standard." All of us here know that Linux is a viable product. How do you get a fed manager who is coasting toward retirement to understand (or care) about migrating to something he has never heard of? It is the same for every industry, not just the computer industry. NIH lets HGS, Celera, etc. do their dirty work while they wait to see some real results.
Fed money is a hard egg to crack, but worth it if you can get it.
I concur. The current best bang for the buck option I have seen is plugging a P3/550E FCPGA 100FSB(~$180) into a motherboard that supports true 133FSB and FCPGA. You get a rock solid ~732MHz CPU and full functioning 256k L2 cache. Until someone figures out how to enable the full 256k on the Celeron-2, this seems to be a much better option.