[ExI] focus

[William Flynn Wallace]

There are many skills required to be good at programming. Essential ones
that I think current kids are not taught is rigorous deductive reasoning,
precision in thought, attention to detail, and objective consideration of
evidence.
--  David.

Why would you limit these skills to programmers?  These are the very
foundations of scientific thinking.  The bee in my bonnet several times in
this group has been to decry the absence of teaching thinking in school.
We teach superstitions practically from birth.  Should we wait until
college to provide means of disputing superstitions and religions?  Even
there I have seen curricula that are very wanting in such, unless the
principles are taught in science classes, which I certainly did ab ovo.

The reason for the lack of these classes must be the opposition of the
superstitious and religious - am I right?  They don't want any opposition
to their precious ideas and ways, since these were handed down by God.
Hence religion is not taught either.

It is a wonder to me that we get as many rational people as we do.  I had
one friend tell me that he never believed any of it, starting with Santa
Claus.  No one helped him - he just had a good brain and used it.

I have to wonder if societies in which religion is actively suppressed,
like China, have a larger percentage of young people who can think
correctly.  As a libertarian I am opposed to suppression, but the reasons
for it are sound.  I wonder about the outcome.

bill w


On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 1:10 PM, SR Ballard <sen.otaku at gmail.com> wrote:

> Consider a long time ago, during my own misspent youth.  Back in those
>> days, there wasn’t much bandwidth: three TV channels (on a clear day (one
>> otherwise)) and the radio.  The big sports were football and the 3 Bs:
>> baseball, basketball and boxing.  Anyone, even little old ladies, could
>> name the top competitors in those four big sports.
>>
>>
>>
>> But now… many people can’t name the top competitors in those sports and
>> it is hard to find people, even among the young and the restless, who can
>> name any of the top boxers.
>>
>>
>>
>> OK times change, we get that.
>>
>>
>>
>> Why do they change?  Consider the potential by having each of the
>> competitors wear what amounts to a ruggedized GoPro on his helmet or cap,
>> so you can go in and watch the games from the point of view of any of your
>> favorite competitors.
>>
>>
>>
>> NASCAR got it.  There was an exciting sport that is really kinda boring
>> if all you can do is watch the cars go around the track from the
>> grandstands.  But if you have a driver’s-eye view from any car, then it is
>> very exciting.
>>
>>
>>
>> So we could do that with any of the major sports (not exactly sure how
>> with boxing and basketball, but we might be able to do it somehow.)
>>
>>
>>
>> spike
>>
>
> The way things are moving, I'm not sure if "player's viewpoint" is really
> the way that these things will end up (or should end up) moving towards.
>
> Take for example Twitch, which for a large portion of the millennial crowd
> has replaced ESPN. eSports (for example League of Legends, CS:GO) are quite
> popular, but it also includes other forms of gameplay such as blind let's
> plays (bumbling around with no idea what you are supposed to do),
> roleplaying runs, challenge runs (only use a sword), and speedruns (how
> badly can you break game mechanics and still reach the objective, usually
> finishing the game, in the shortest amount of time).
>
> The popularity of eSports draws on the same original interest as sports,
> involving skill. Let's plays and roleplays are usually centered around
> parasocial relationships. Challenge runs and speedruns generally focus on a
> combination of both skill and the parasocial aspect.
>
> Additionally, YouTube has basically supplanted television, leading to a
> real fractioning of both information and education content, and
> increasingly content that blends the two. Some notable examples would be
> unboxing video or a stationary haul video. These are quite popular and are
> the intersection of vicarious interest and parasocial relationships. These
> types of channels are notorious for their 'giveaway' videos, many of which
> are actually faked, or otherwise pre-determined.
>
> Instagram is another extension of this culture, in combination with
> Twitter. They're basically a cross between a promotional ad and a gossip
> column. On Instagram, again, the parasocial relationship dominates.
>
> Plainly put, the future is parasocial.
>
> I think the more proper (eventual) direction of sports is less real
> footage from the first person perspective, but the emergence of a
> parasitic VR version of the sport. Like other eSports, it will be composed
> of teams who compete through VR rather than physically, and are watched
> either from within the VR construct, or the more common "TC spectator"
> perspective, complete with different artistic cuts to every imaginable
> angle and perspective, with biometric data and the like, complete with
> commentators.
>
> Now, physical sports probably won't die completely any time soon, but I
> could reasonably expect they would try to do what you are imagining with
> the first person views, but might also extend that to monitoring vitals and
> some kind of motion capture technology. The recreations possible with such
> technology, and the review of biometric data would be very welcome in my
> age group, we would find it very interesting. The viewpoint of those things
> being interesting is a function of the video game culture that we have
> grown up in, where stats are very important.
>
> Concerning boxing, perhaps small flexible cameras could be developed, or
> another solution might be cameras on the ring itself. But classic boxing is
> on the way out with MMA really replacing it.
>
> Basketball is more difficult in my opinion, but it might be possible to
> see things from the ball's perspective. And we already have backboard
> cameras in many places.
>
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