The video game shows people killing each other, except these guys look nothing like real people. Anyone with half a brain can tell the difference, and if you can't, then isn't killing someone in a game just as bad? (In their mind, of course)
An adult should be able to tell the difference. (there are cases when they are impaired to the point where they can't). This kind of reminds me of the movie "Bambi" - Spoiler warning! - when the hunters shoot Bambi's mom, many people watching the movie feel sad. Why do they feel sad? Anyone can see that she doesn't look like a real person.
I would have to say that if I saw a violent video game being played, I might imitate the actions only while I was actually in the game, or on something that looked reasonably like what I saw in the game.
We could really get into "The Matrix" territory here, asking questions about "what is real?" because you can see, hear, touch (to a limited extent), and have emotional reactions to things in a video game (or movie), in a way similar to "real" life. Again, you or I might be able to differentiate between the two, but for a child or a mentally impaired adult, it's a whole 'nother ball game.
Basic psychology would also suggest that violent video games can prevent violent crimes, by giving kids an outlet for their aggression and anger.
I think you were asleep when that lecture came up. Psychological researcher Albert Bandura found out in his studies of aggression in children that catharsis (getting a feeling of relaxation after an act of violence) doesn't work.
Say when you feel angry at something, you decide to punch a pillow. When you get more angry, you hit the pillow harder. But eventually, you build up a tolerance and you need to do more to get the same effect (kind of like being on drugs). Eventually you get from punching a pillow to stabbing it. Bandura (and other psychologists) hypothesize that some people (in particular, very young children) might move from imitating that behavior in a video game to imitating that behavior at play, and then in real life. (See his "Bobo Doll" Study).
Now the difference between children and (most) adults is that adults have learned somewhere along the line that committing violent acts does not a)have a big reward at the end of it, and b)there is a consequence to committing those violent acts.
While I might agree with you that violent video games do not cause adults (without a previous history of violence) to act violently, I don't think I can say the same about children. And I definately disagree with you that "basic psychology" says that violent video games reduces violent urges.
its basic psychology. you are either inclined to commit crime or you're not, and if you are, its usually because you were psychologically damaged as a child.
...and that's where I'm inclined to disagree with you - there are lots of reasons to commit a crime that don't involve being "psychologically damaged". Civil disobedience, for example. Of course, they don't teach you those types of things in video games, so it's a bit of a moot point.
now, I'll be able to revel in wonderful in game conversation like "wtf yo gimme ur g4tz fo rizzle j00 f4gg0t" and "3y3 wiznill takes j00 ryde fizzy you plz!11!elevntyone!11"
I don't know if it was good/bad/ugly that I parsed that. =)
"Scientists could customize the system to target any protein on the surface of a cell"
Target the protiens on a group of humans, Kurdish, Jewish, Korean, whatever. Many groups of humans have some genes that are particular to their genetic heritage. Target those geenes to make something worse, instant selective genocide.
Yeah, there is one small problem with that though - There is more genetic diversity within racial/ethnic groups than between racial/ethnic groups. (see articles here, or here). So developing a weapon to target racial/ethnic groups (which are probably better conceived of as social constructs; doesn't make them any less "real" though) based on genetics would be very difficult.
I wish I could mod you up further in the conversation, because you touch on a favorite subject of mine - measuring intelligence, and the different pieces of intelligence. We place an unfortunate amount of importance on standardized testing, because the only thing standardized test results do a good job prediciting is how well you'll do on standardized tests. (It only has a modest correlation with how well you'll perform in an academic setting, there are other factors that you mention, like persistance, that can be better predictors).
Defining intelligence is like defining what art is. When you ask a psychologist to define intelligence, you're as likely to get a clear, consistant, and straight answer as you are when you ask an art critic what art is. (Not to knock psychology - it's my job after all;) ). What this researcher needs to continue to do is to look at the general "smart" people (not just college students) and find a better way to measure intelligence beyond math ability.
I remember using my old Athlon to warm my apartment on cool winter nights...
On a more serious note, I think that it's impressive that AMD has turned it around in the temperature department while still delivering great performance. The AMD64's kick ass when you want them to, and then scale back to be cool when you aren't running processor-intensive aps. I'm sure Transmeta or someone else thought of doing something like that before, but I think that this is where we'll see it more and mroe often.
I imagine that keeping the hardware and drivers up to date would be the most immediate problem with that - Especially with recent graphics cards. Nvidia's support is fair, ATI's is not good, but all are getting better. It's still going to take some time...
Damn, that Wing Commander thought is bringing back fond memories of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, and lots of DOS config.sys and autoexec.bat tweaking...
Perhaps it's not a matter of difficulty to get games to run under linux (getting some games running under linux is a step above dragging yourself over 5 meters of broken glass, but only barely;) ), it's a matter of the lack of quality games that are worth trying to get setup and installed.
> Shared situational awareness: If I'm talking to a driver and I see a hazard, I'll either STFU if it appears the driver has noticed the hazard, or I'll road hazard: tire fragment ahead on left mention it in midsentence if it looks like it's something out of the driver's field of view.
See!? This is why it's a bad idea to try and post to slashdot and drive at the same time. You could have hurt someone, you insensitive clod!
(note: author is not liable for his own or the reader's lack of sense of humor)
The Veteran's Administration Health Care System has an excellent electronic record-keeping system, and can be found even as an open-source format. I'm hoping that they build off of the OpenVista project, and have some standardization across health-care organizations, so that the patient records are more easily transferrable and readable by the providers.
The NX software is absolutely wonderful - I could log in to my home linux box in California from my parent's dial-up connection across the country, and the GUI was usable, beautiful, and secure.
However, when I'm behind a bunch of firewalls at work, 20 minutes away, I have a difficult time getting the connection going - So I have a few reservations about fully recommending it for everyone. As soon as I figure out WTH I can do about it, I think it should quickly conquer the world.;)
Now Stan Lee can spend his money to develop what he always wanted - an underground lair to fight crime from, complete with cool car, neat gadgets, and a butler to watch out for him.
I must say, out of the responses I got, I like yours the best.;) I completely forgot about the XGrid stuff - imagine a small office setup as workstations for a group of people by day; by night, a small office renderfarm. =D Not gonna compete with Weta but still could be fun.
But I guess that's what I like about computers - not that I'm smart enough to figure it out myself and do it, but the possibilities are there.
Well, at the per-unit price of $500 for the Mac Mini, and $3000 for the Xserve Dual Processor box, that's 6 G4 Processors paired against 2 G5 processors. I have no idea how that comes out, really, but it's an interesting experiment at least.
Okay, next question - how easy/difficult would it be to cluster these things a la Virginia Tech's supercomputer? Considering they had a very inexpensive setup relative to the power of their machine, I imagine that the Mac Mini could take off in this department as well.;)
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The video game shows people killing each other, except these guys look nothing like real people. Anyone with half a brain can tell the difference, and if you can't, then isn't killing someone in a game just as bad? (In their mind, of course)
An adult should be able to tell the difference. (there are cases when they are impaired to the point where they can't). This kind of reminds me of the movie "Bambi" - Spoiler warning! - when the hunters shoot Bambi's mom, many people watching the movie feel sad. Why do they feel sad? Anyone can see that she doesn't look like a real person.
I would have to say that if I saw a violent video game being played, I might imitate the actions only while I was actually in the game, or on something that looked reasonably like what I saw in the game.
We could really get into "The Matrix" territory here, asking questions about "what is real?" because you can see, hear, touch (to a limited extent), and have emotional reactions to things in a video game (or movie), in a way similar to "real" life. Again, you or I might be able to differentiate between the two, but for a child or a mentally impaired adult, it's a whole 'nother ball game.
Basic psychology would also suggest that violent video games can prevent violent crimes, by giving kids an outlet for their aggression and anger.
I think you were asleep when that lecture came up. Psychological researcher Albert Bandura found out in his studies of aggression in children that catharsis (getting a feeling of relaxation after an act of violence) doesn't work.
Say when you feel angry at something, you decide to punch a pillow. When you get more angry, you hit the pillow harder. But eventually, you build up a tolerance and you need to do more to get the same effect (kind of like being on drugs). Eventually you get from punching a pillow to stabbing it. Bandura (and other psychologists) hypothesize that some people (in particular, very young children) might move from imitating that behavior in a video game to imitating that behavior at play, and then in real life. (See his "Bobo Doll" Study).
Now the difference between children and (most) adults is that adults have learned somewhere along the line that committing violent acts does not a)have a big reward at the end of it, and b)there is a consequence to committing those violent acts.
While I might agree with you that violent video games do not cause adults (without a previous history of violence) to act violently, I don't think I can say the same about children. And I definately disagree with you that "basic psychology" says that violent video games reduces violent urges.
I was agreeing with you up until this point:
its basic psychology. you are either inclined to commit crime or you're not, and if you are, its usually because you were psychologically damaged as a child.
...and that's where I'm inclined to disagree with you - there are lots of reasons to commit a crime that don't involve being "psychologically damaged". Civil disobedience, for example. Of course, they don't teach you those types of things in video games, so it's a bit of a moot point.
I just want to say, thank you for sharing that. :)
Well, if he's reading the articles in Playboy, he must be the one reading the articles posted by /.
;)
Shame on him for bringing down all those servers!
I'd say the oldest calculating machine, and most used even today, can be found at the end of your arm.
You mean, my watch?
I'm not sure if anyone else in the thread mentioned it, but for many people the hysteria died down and people began to return to Chernoble.
;) ).
IMO, not the brightest decision (unless they start glowing
now, I'll be able to revel in wonderful in game conversation like "wtf yo gimme ur g4tz fo rizzle j00 f4gg0t" and "3y3 wiznill takes j00 ryde fizzy you plz!11!elevntyone!11"
I don't know if it was good/bad/ugly that I parsed that. =)
'Fo sheezy.
Speaking of "truly breadful".... Heard any of Homestar's dreadful bread sing-a-longs?
:)
Their terrible in a wholely different way from the puns.
"Scientists could customize the system to target any protein on the surface of a cell" Target the protiens on a group of humans, Kurdish, Jewish, Korean, whatever. Many groups of humans have some genes that are particular to their genetic heritage. Target those geenes to make something worse, instant selective genocide.
Yeah, there is one small problem with that though - There is more genetic diversity within racial/ethnic groups than between racial/ethnic groups. (see articles here, or here). So developing a weapon to target racial/ethnic groups (which are probably better conceived of as social constructs; doesn't make them any less "real" though) based on genetics would be very difficult.
I wish I could mod you up further in the conversation, because you touch on a favorite subject of mine - measuring intelligence, and the different pieces of intelligence. We place an unfortunate amount of importance on standardized testing, because the only thing standardized test results do a good job prediciting is how well you'll do on standardized tests. (It only has a modest correlation with how well you'll perform in an academic setting, there are other factors that you mention, like persistance, that can be better predictors).
;) ). What this researcher needs to continue to do is to look at the general "smart" people (not just college students) and find a better way to measure intelligence beyond math ability.
Defining intelligence is like defining what art is. When you ask a psychologist to define intelligence, you're as likely to get a clear, consistant, and straight answer as you are when you ask an art critic what art is. (Not to knock psychology - it's my job after all
I remember using my old Athlon to warm my apartment on cool winter nights...
On a more serious note, I think that it's impressive that AMD has turned it around in the temperature department while still delivering great performance. The AMD64's kick ass when you want them to, and then scale back to be cool when you aren't running processor-intensive aps. I'm sure Transmeta or someone else thought of doing something like that before, but I think that this is where we'll see it more and mroe often.
I imagine that keeping the hardware and drivers up to date would be the most immediate problem with that - Especially with recent graphics cards. Nvidia's support is fair, ATI's is not good, but all are getting better. It's still going to take some time...
Damn, that Wing Commander thought is bringing back fond memories of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, and lots of DOS config.sys and autoexec.bat tweaking...
;) ), it's a matter of the lack of quality games that are worth trying to get setup and installed.
Perhaps it's not a matter of difficulty to get games to run under linux (getting some games running under linux is a step above dragging yourself over 5 meters of broken glass, but only barely
> Shared situational awareness: If I'm talking to a driver and I see a hazard, I'll either STFU if it appears the driver has noticed the hazard, or I'll road hazard: tire fragment ahead on left mention it in midsentence if it looks like it's something out of the driver's field of view.
See!? This is why it's a bad idea to try and post to slashdot and drive at the same time. You could have hurt someone, you insensitive clod!
(note: author is not liable for his own or the reader's lack of sense of humor)
The Veteran's Administration Health Care System has an excellent electronic record-keeping system, and can be found even as an open-source format. I'm hoping that they build off of the OpenVista project, and have some standardization across health-care organizations, so that the patient records are more easily transferrable and readable by the providers.
The NX software is absolutely wonderful - I could log in to my home linux box in California from my parent's dial-up connection across the country, and the GUI was usable, beautiful, and secure.
;)
However, when I'm behind a bunch of firewalls at work, 20 minutes away, I have a difficult time getting the connection going - So I have a few reservations about fully recommending it for everyone. As soon as I figure out WTH I can do about it, I think it should quickly conquer the world.
Who is Exluddite?
hmmmm, there appears to be something ironic here.
Now Stan Lee can spend his money to develop what he always wanted - an underground lair to fight crime from, complete with cool car, neat gadgets, and a butler to watch out for him.
Oh. Wait. Maybe that's someone else.
Every once in a while, I wonder if W. is crazy enough to try something that far out.
I must say, out of the responses I got, I like yours the best. ;) I completely forgot about the XGrid stuff - imagine a small office setup as workstations for a group of people by day; by night, a small office renderfarm. =D Not gonna compete with Weta but still could be fun.
But I guess that's what I like about computers - not that I'm smart enough to figure it out myself and do it, but the possibilities are there.
Well, at the per-unit price of $500 for the Mac Mini, and $3000 for the Xserve Dual Processor box, that's 6 G4 Processors paired against 2 G5 processors. I have no idea how that comes out, really, but it's an interesting experiment at least.
If I had the mod-points, you, Mr. (Or Ms.?) AC, would get some. That's another cool purpose of a box like this one.
Garagebands is good on all the other Macs too. ;)
I'm sure you can also run something through the USB ports, although I have no idea how kludgy that would get at some point.
Okay, next question - how easy/difficult would it be to cluster these things a la Virginia Tech's supercomputer? Considering they had a very inexpensive setup relative to the power of their machine, I imagine that the Mac Mini could take off in this department as well. ;)