conskeptical

The Baby Zergling (& The Scientific...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

The Baby Zergling (& The Scientific American)

Fantastic/hilarious commentary from 3:32, by HuskyStarcraft, chronicling the life of a single zergling across an episode of that beautifully drawn epic sci-fi game of extraterrestrial, interspecies realtime battle strategy.

Starcraft has been likened to realtime, continuously variable Chess or Go, and I think the comparison isn’t as ridiculous as it might at first seem. The strategy and skill really does seem to run pretty deep, which I guess is part of what gives it the scope to be one of the world’s most popular eSports, and by some accounts the national sport of Korea!

Relatedly, Starcraft was recently mentioned in this interesting Scientific American article, hinting at the types of cognitive loading and development games such as Starcraft can help develop (and illuminate for research purposes).

Trick of the light A few photos from the other day, visiting the...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:02:26 +0000

Trick of the light

A few photos from the other day, visiting the Tate Modern with some good friends. The turbine hall exhibit isn’t that good, but never mind, they’ll change it again at some point (although it’s nice that you can go behind it and the kids casting playful shadows near the base of the projection is nice).

More Cowbell This is funny. If you haven’t seen it before,...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:50:12 +0000

More Cowbell

This is funny. If you haven’t seen it before, after this you’ll understand if you ever hear someone say ‘we need more cowbell’.

Umbrellas Hikaru no Go is just great. Even on topics that...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:41:02 +0000

Umbrellas

Hikaru no Go is just great. Even on topics that aren’t Go.

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks (remixed by Butch...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:41:32 +0000

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks (remixed by Butch Clancy)

Wouldn’t it be cool to be as coordinated as this guy.

The Good Fight A rare moment of communication between the town...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:04:00 +0000

The Good Fight

A rare moment of communication between the town mouse and the country mouse, and one of my favourite bits from Twin Peaks.

Dale Cooper concludes the scene, as the fantastic translator between worlds.

The Same Procedure As Last Year? Apparently this is kind of the...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:41:37 +0000

The Same Procedure As Last Year?

Apparently this is kind of the northern European equivalent of The Snowman, in that it is a much loved year end TV institution. It’s quite funny.

Ponyo This was on TV over Christmas. Studio Ghibli never fails...

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:32:05 +0000

Ponyo

This was on TV over Christmas. Studio Ghibli never fails to amaze, bemuse and entertain, this time on the topics of parenting, falling in love and outright psychedelia. Totally excellent. Even dubbed it was great. But still looking forward to seeing it subbed.

A 9x9 Fight The computer let me beat it soundly. In real life I...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:41:30 +0000

A 9x9 Fight

The computer let me beat it soundly. In real life I don’t think I should have got away with this, but it was fun to play anyway. Click through for the full game on eidogo.

Photo

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:41:23 +0000

Hikaru no Go This is just awesome. Read the blurb on the back of...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:41:08 +0000

Hikaru no Go

This is just awesome. Read the blurb on the back of the book (above). If that’s not a fabulous premise for a story then I don’t know what is.

Coins A really nice, relaxing, intuition-stretching and...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:06:30 +0000

Coins

A really nice, relaxing, intuition-stretching and innovative puzzler. Check out the attention to calligraphic beauty in the instructions. (And the Japanese chapter numbering…)

It’s available on Kongregate and iDevice.

A Small Act Of Rebellion I found a smartphone on a train,...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:28:00 +0000

A Small Act Of Rebellion

I found a smartphone on a train, accidentally left by its owner who got off a stop or two previously. Less than 24 hours later it was back in the hands of its owner. This was my reward. Much better than a free phone :)

Why rebellion? It does seem to me that we’re trained to consider almost everything as ‘not-my-problem’. It’s good to rebel against that sometimes.

Instantly Related On The Drop Tower I went on one of these...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:05:19 +0000

Instantly Related On The Drop Tower

I went on one of these things for the first time the other day (at night, from the top, it’s beautiful to see the fairground from high above). It’s been years since I’ve been on a roller-coaster, which I guess is the closest I’ve been to a drop tower, and it was unexpectedly sickening: substantial free fall seems to evoke a very hard wired ‘oh no’ response, which is kind of thrilling but also ‘oh no’.

My friends wouldn’t go on the drop tower with me, so I had strangers on either side, but it was funny how without really even talking to each other, just the process of screaming and yelling together on those long drawn out ‘oh no’ moments seemed to get us really related. I almost felt like after the end of the 2 minute ride I was leaving behind new friends (even though we had barely spoken).

Don’t underestimate the power of extreme experiences to create relatedness; for better or for worse :) Thrill rides are the perfect demonstrators for this I guess.

Video

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:03:48 +0000

The Mighty Micro Futurology from 1979, the ITV series of which...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:03:00 +0000

The Mighty Micro

Futurology from 1979, the ITV series of which kickstarted the BBC Micro programme. The rest, as they say, is history.

The book is entertainingly written and peppered with valuable insights about the nature of humanity, technology and the world, but it descends into outright bad science fiction by the time he gets onto the ‘UIMs’ (‘ultra-intelligent machines’) at the end (1991-2000 haha).

So, why is it worth reading such outdated stuff as this? My feeling is that as technology and history evolves, we pass ‘decision points’, whereby society comes to various consensus, the alternatives to that consensus get forgotten, and the consensus becomes established ‘fact’, ‘common sense’ or ‘just the obvious way things should be’. Going back to old thinking reopens our awareness onto the issues that are currently unquestioned, forgotten, assumptions and shows that once upon a time we were choosing between alternatives we’ve now forgotten about. This is a great way to be innovative I think: find past decision points and see if the choices we dismissed in the past have relevance today: often I think they do!

Anyway, the book is worth a read if it falls across your path.

Farcebook Timeline and the Facebook Generation I’ve spent...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 09:42:28 +0000

Farcebook Timeline and the Facebook Generation

I’ve spent 20% of my life* as a member of Facebook, and now Facebook has opened up that entire period as easily browsable (and filterable). This is either a massive affront to our personal privacy, or an incredible step forward into the great unknown of the collective consciousness as it arises out of the collective unconsciousness that has been snowballing in size and ‘currentness’ ever since large numbers of us started using the internet.

Never mind the big brotherness of it: this is visually great and an amazing sign of things to come.

Also, the (personally private) activity log is great for reminiscing over the past that facebook has gathered about you.

As for an affront to privacy. This could be one of the best lessons in privacy humanity has ever had, and probably the least dangerous one we’ll get for, oh, I’d say about 12 months. Now is our chance to get with the programme. And strangely, the big faceless corporations are giving us our opportunity: they’re just blindly pushing out the technology with only a dim awareness of the significance. As intelligent individuals we’d do well to keep ourselves and our friends up with what’s going on, before the big lumbering forces of society realise what they’ve unleashed and really start taking advantage of it.

Remember: Facebook only knows what you and your friends tell it about yourself. Be smart, and make sure you get better value out of the corporations than they do out of you!

*Quiz question: what is the age of the facebook users who have been members for the greatest percentage of their lives? I’m guessing it’s people who joined around 2005 aged around 18-20ish: so, 23-26 year olds.

This is what we sometimes are No matter how fancy we think we...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:31:06 +0000

This is what we sometimes are

No matter how fancy we think we might be :)

"Enthusiasm … from [Greek] entheos “divinely inspired, possessed by a god,” from en..."

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:38:42 +0000

“Enthusiasm … from [Greek] entheos “divinely inspired, possessed by a god,” from en “in” (see en- (2)) + theos “god””

- Christina, and the Online Etymology Dictionary. I like this. Two other references spring to mind: Khalil Gibran’s writing (eg, The Prophet) which seems to be ‘divinely’ inspired; and cave painting (representative of cultures that span thousands of years, highlighting how we are all in some sense channelling some sort of collective (un)conscious).

The Technology Strategy Board

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:08:07 +0000

The Technology Strategy Board:

any of you got any opinions on this or experiences of it?