I agree. I have a kinesis keyboard on which I type Dvorak, and on regular keyboards (e.g., at my school) I still type Qwerty. Maybe I'm wierd, but I don't seem to have any problem doing that. I think that the keyboards are different enough that my hands react differently.
That being said, when I tried to switch between Qwerty and Dvorak on normal keyboards, I kept messing up.
Absolutely! By the year 2050 they may be as skilled technically as human players, but I really doubt they be able to win the World Cup. I think the Brazilians (not to mention the Germans, English, Italians, Argentinians, etc.) might have something to say about that...
I've had several conversations with pro-level soccer players from Europe, and they've for the most part said the same thing about Americans; technically, we're better than most other countries. Unfortunately, as we've seen, that doesn't necessarily translate into winning games, particularly at a high level.
If computers are still rank amateurs when it comes to Go, a game (as I understand it) which derives its complexity from the number of options available, how are they going to deal with such a large field, where the "possession" of the field and the positioning of players is so important? Can you really imagine a computer being able to see and react quickly to Brazil's "samba" style of soccer? I've played for my entire life, and even watching on tv I don't know how they do what they do!
Actually, I think the most interesting thing about McGreevey is what he's done since the entire scandal. He's actually taking steps to clean up politics in New Jersey! His effort to stop companies who donate to state politicians from receiving contracts is huge, and only someone who has nothing to lose would be able to do it.
Is it better for there to be fierce litigation, proving the affair to be the horse and pony show it is...
Just out of curiosity, how does the rabid interest of so many prove this to be merely a farce? Now, maybe it is, but I'm not sure how you're getting that impression from the dems (and republicans) passion...
Actually, the voters in Florida who were incorrectly purged WERE NOT felons. That's why it was incorrect to purge them.
Now, to be fair, a number of them were black; while you seem to imply that we should be ashamed that "felons" vote democrat, should we be ashamed that black people do too?
Maybe I've spent too much time playing sports, where cherry-picking means you hang out in front of the goal/basket and wait for the ball to come to you, and not enough time playing with my computer, because I have NEVER heard "cherry-pick" used that way before.
Yes, but to how many moves does a typical game go? 30, 40, 50? Memorize all the opening moves if you'd like, but if you do that at the expense of actually learning the game, getting to move 23 (if it's possible to memorize ALL of the openings to 23 as well as ALL of the variants to your opponents responses) will be about as worthwhile as learning hundreds of pick-up lines, without ever learning a response to "what did you just say?"
You're right, there aren't very many opening moves. However, I'm sure you didn't learn those moves in the absence of the study of chess itself. I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly in the last contest between Kasparov and the most recent incarnation Deep Blue (as well, of course, as the early ones), the programmers said that they did not try to compute all the moves. Rather, they had to teach the computer to learn the relative "quality" of the moves.
And while it's true that chess doesn't have the complexity, and hence the "incalcubility" (word?) of Go, I still think that this isn't much of a problem.
Re:Open mouth, insert paranoid foot
on
Bobby Fischer Found
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Just doing some quick mental math, I find it hard to believe that anyone's memory is good enough to memorize enough of the intial moves to have a significant impact.
At the beginning of the game, there won't be much variation between one game and another (at least compared to later in the game), so what's the difference between playing enough games that you figure out what are good openings and good counters, and just memorizing them? Do you think Fischer doesn't know "scores and scores of standard openings" himself?
I would argue that the difference is in the middle game, where there is so much variation that only practice and pure ability can help, and where the chess versions of "script kiddies" are easily dispatched.
IMAM (I Am A Mathematician), so trust me that combinatorics with games like this produce some huge frickin' numbers very quickly.
This reminds me of my father's favorite joke: what are the three most fuel-efficient vehicles in the universe?
The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, because they each got over 3,000 miles to the galleon!
I never said it was a good one.
Has anybody read Asimov's Foundation trilogy?
on
Crime Prediction
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Does this sound to anyone else like the beginning of psychohistory?
It's a neat idea, but it seems like the complex and chaotic nature of the neighborhood would preclude anyone from being able to draw any substantive conclusion. I mean, if we can't get the weather right within 80% more than 12 hours in advance, we should we be able to predict the behavior of humans, even in large groups?
Shouldn't professors be required to be a little more techno savvy before they give a course like this?
Are any CS professors really techno savvy?
Now, before I get jumped, I'm a teacher. You have to understand that most professors are either current in their field or are good teachers. Those that are current probably aren't going to be tapped for what is already a dysfunctional classroom environment. That leaves those that are good teachers. They know the theory, but aren't necessarily up to the cutting edge.
You aren't going to school to really learn, judging by what you've written. You're going to earn piece of paper confirming what you and your boss have known for the past 10 years: you know your CS.
This isn't to say that you shouldn't always expect more from educators, but you need to keep your goals in mind.
The last original game I played was Thief and Thief 2. Those games stood the genre of the "first person shooter" on its head. All of the other games in that category, including great ones like Deus Ex, have been variations on a theme.
When I was playing Thief a lot, it got to the point where I would instinctively look for surreptious entrances to buildings. And when you live in NYC like I do, you begin to notice a LOT more about architecture. At least when it comes to security!
Slashdot Mirror
I agree. I have a kinesis keyboard on which I type Dvorak, and on regular keyboards (e.g., at my school) I still type Qwerty. Maybe I'm wierd, but I don't seem to have any problem doing that. I think that the keyboards are different enough that my hands react differently.
That being said, when I tried to switch between Qwerty and Dvorak on normal keyboards, I kept messing up.
Actually, the quote "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" is attributed to Benjamin Disraeli.
Just to keep the record straight.
Absolutely! By the year 2050 they may be as skilled technically as human players, but I really doubt they be able to win the World Cup. I think the Brazilians (not to mention the Germans, English, Italians, Argentinians, etc.) might have something to say about that...
I've had several conversations with pro-level soccer players from Europe, and they've for the most part said the same thing about Americans; technically, we're better than most other countries. Unfortunately, as we've seen, that doesn't necessarily translate into winning games, particularly at a high level.
If computers are still rank amateurs when it comes to Go, a game (as I understand it) which derives its complexity from the number of options available, how are they going to deal with such a large field, where the "possession" of the field and the positioning of players is so important? Can you really imagine a computer being able to see and react quickly to Brazil's "samba" style of soccer? I've played for my entire life, and even watching on tv I don't know how they do what they do!
Actually, I think the most interesting thing about McGreevey is what he's done since the entire scandal. He's actually taking steps to clean up politics in New Jersey! His effort to stop companies who donate to state politicians from receiving contracts is huge, and only someone who has nothing to lose would be able to do it.
Is it better for there to be fierce litigation, proving the affair to be the horse and pony show it is...
Just out of curiosity, how does the rabid interest of so many prove this to be merely a farce? Now, maybe it is, but I'm not sure how you're getting that impression from the dems (and republicans) passion...
Actually, the voters in Florida who were incorrectly purged WERE NOT felons. That's why it was incorrect to purge them.
Now, to be fair, a number of them were black; while you seem to imply that we should be ashamed that "felons" vote democrat, should we be ashamed that black people do too?
Maybe I've spent too much time playing sports, where cherry-picking means you hang out in front of the goal/basket and wait for the ball to come to you, and not enough time playing with my computer, because I have NEVER heard "cherry-pick" used that way before.
Just my $0.02.
We're not all as sane as Nash or as social as Wiles...
Some of us are real nutjobs.
Ahh, the double-edged sword of comedy. Make it funny, and you open yourself up to a riposte. Make it absolutely correct, and you lose the humor.
Life's full of tough choices...
"That'll teach you..."
:)
</rant>
While we're nit-picking, shouldn't you have begun with <rant>?
</rantback>
Yes, but to how many moves does a typical game go? 30, 40, 50? Memorize all the opening moves if you'd like, but if you do that at the expense of actually learning the game, getting to move 23 (if it's possible to memorize ALL of the openings to 23 as well as ALL of the variants to your opponents responses) will be about as worthwhile as learning hundreds of pick-up lines, without ever learning a response to "what did you just say?"
You're right, there aren't very many opening moves. However, I'm sure you didn't learn those moves in the absence of the study of chess itself. I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly in the last contest between Kasparov and the most recent incarnation Deep Blue (as well, of course, as the early ones), the programmers said that they did not try to compute all the moves. Rather, they had to teach the computer to learn the relative "quality" of the moves.
And while it's true that chess doesn't have the complexity, and hence the "incalcubility" (word?) of Go, I still think that this isn't much of a problem.
Just doing some quick mental math, I find it hard to believe that anyone's memory is good enough to memorize enough of the intial moves to have a significant impact.
At the beginning of the game, there won't be much variation between one game and another (at least compared to later in the game), so what's the difference between playing enough games that you figure out what are good openings and good counters, and just memorizing them? Do you think Fischer doesn't know "scores and scores of standard openings" himself?
I would argue that the difference is in the middle game, where there is so much variation that only practice and pure ability can help, and where the chess versions of "script kiddies" are easily dispatched.
IMAM (I Am A Mathematician), so trust me that combinatorics with games like this produce some huge frickin' numbers very quickly.
This reminds me of my father's favorite joke: what are the three most fuel-efficient vehicles in the universe?
The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, because they each got over 3,000 miles to the galleon!
I never said it was a good one.
Does this sound to anyone else like the beginning of psychohistory?
It's a neat idea, but it seems like the complex and chaotic nature of the neighborhood would preclude anyone from being able to draw any substantive conclusion. I mean, if we can't get the weather right within 80% more than 12 hours in advance, we should we be able to predict the behavior of humans, even in large groups?
God help us if the goatse people get their dirty little hands on this technology!
Imagine, an entire populace blinded instantly...
shudder
Shouldn't professors be required to be a little more techno savvy before they give a course like this?
Are any CS professors really techno savvy?
Now, before I get jumped, I'm a teacher. You have to understand that most professors are either current in their field or are good teachers. Those that are current probably aren't going to be tapped for what is already a dysfunctional classroom environment. That leaves those that are good teachers. They know the theory, but aren't necessarily up to the cutting edge.
You aren't going to school to really learn, judging by what you've written. You're going to earn piece of paper confirming what you and your boss have known for the past 10 years: you know your CS.
This isn't to say that you shouldn't always expect more from educators, but you need to keep your goals in mind.
But there actually IS an infinite number of primes!
It's a pretty proof, too...
The last original game I played was Thief and Thief 2. Those games stood the genre of the "first person shooter" on its head. All of the other games in that category, including great ones like Deus Ex, have been variations on a theme.
When I was playing Thief a lot, it got to the point where I would instinctively look for surreptious entrances to buildings. And when you live in NYC like I do, you begin to notice a LOT more about architecture. At least when it comes to security!
I saw Spy Games, so I already know how out of date the CIA is!
As well as how vulnerable they are to social engineering...
God I hate those things...
I mean, I don't hear my bank account growing, I don't hear any nice young women calling me, and I don't hear anybody respecting my opinions.
And strangely enough, that makes me feel down.