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[Awaclus]

But yes, I do genuinely believe that playing video games is likely the best way to improve your thinking (in an extremely general sense including things like emotions, reaction speed etc), besides having real-life problems to solve for real.

Except for board games, which are better.

There are very few board games that have the kind of management of physical game pieces which is both substantially helpful for developing better thinking skills and impossible to implement in a video game in a way that captures the entire relevant part of the skill element. There's stuff like Jenga I guess, which you could argue is a board game, and some games that are unquestionably board games have elements like that (e.g. Carcassonne: Catapult), but in practice, most board games only contain mechanics that are perfectly recreatable in a video game but not vice versa.

[silverspawn]

I tried the second problem of the math thingy:



The only such function is f(x) = 1/x.

Proof. Let f(x) := 1/x throughout.

1. given x,y, we find a positive r such that y=rx, so xf(y) + yf(x) = xf(rx) + rxf(x) = x/rx + rx/x = 1/r + r, which has its minimum at r=1 (which is at x=y) for which it is 2. So for each x, we have xf(x) + xf(x) = 2 whereas xf(y) + yf(x) for x not equal y is larger than 2. So f is a solution. Note that xf(x) = 1 for all x.

Now let F be any function meeting the condition.

2. Suppose there is a point x such that F(x) > f(x). Note that 1 = xf(x) < xF(x) (*). Let y be such that xF(y) + yF(x) <= 2. Wlog suppose y>x. Again we find an r > 1 st y=rx. Now 2 >= xF(y) + yF(x) = xF(rx) + rxF(x) >=(*) xF(rx) + r, and hence xF(rx) <= 2 - r. But then yF(y) = rxF(rx) <= r(2-r) <= 1. (This follows because the function r(2-r) = 2r - r^2 has a global maximum at r=1.) So yF(y) <= 1, hence yF(y) + yF(y) <= 2. This means (y,y) is a solution for F in addition to (x,y). Contradiction.

3. So F <= f everywhere. Suppose there is an x such that F(x) < f(x). Then xF(x) + xF(x) < xf(x) + xf(x) = 2. Using continuity of f and F <= f, we find a point y very close to x such that xF(y) + yF(x) < 2 as well; details are uninteresting

[silverspawn]

This time I didn't skip details, but this time it would have been fine!

[silverspawn]

The third problem looks incredibly hard though holy shit. Probably need to know some theory of prime numbers to solve it, which I don't.

[Awaclus]

The third problem looks incredibly hard though holy shit. Probably need to know some theory of prime numbers to solve it, which I don't.

You don't need theory of prime numbers to solve it according to Punf.

[Awaclus]

Problem 5 is also easier than problem 3.

[silverspawn]

that's still basically no update; I have a hard time seeing how there couldn't be lots of studies finding positive effects. Assuming all studies are done perfectly, one in 20 studies finds a positive effect where no effect exists -- and there have to have been hundreds of studies looking into this stuff. It's not that uncommon to have lots of studies finding X and then to find that the net evidence from all studies shows there is no effect.

If that was the explanation for all of these studies, then you would expect there to be lots of studies showing the opposite effects too. I'm not aware of those being a thing. There are negative effects in general, mostly associated with gaming addiction, but not the kinds of effects that would make you dumber.

This is kind of a moot point because as I said I expect there to be benefits, but yeah I also expect lots of studies with no effect. Even if there is an effect, a lot of studies ought to be too weak to find it.

I'm not aware of those being a thing.

how informative is this?

[silverspawn]

I think another reason I believe video games are bad is that they're so easy to pla  -- like it's always one of the easiest possible things you can do that's most immediately rewarding. And I tend to think that the degree to which you choose actions based on reflective consideration vs. immediate reward is an important parameter for overall productivity and happiness. Maybe the most important parameter, like maybe this is what you should try to maximize above all else. (This is also one of the definitions of mindfulness.)

And I think this kind of thing is sticky, like the more you get into the habit of doing immediately rewarding things like playing video games, the more your ability to not do that decreases. This seems to fit both experience and what other people are doing.

I realize this is much too vague to be falsifiable, but alas. Stuff like addiction is more tangible and measurable, but I don't actually believe that it's the most important variable.

[silverspawn]

I'm just gonna paste this entire long as comment from someone in Discord here bc I feel like it generally expresses the right sort of sentiment. Reading or engaging with this in any way is strictly voluntary; feel free to ignore.

[Awaclus]

I think another reason I believe video games are bad is that they're so easy to pla  -- like it's always one of the easiest possible things you can do that's most immediately rewarding. And I tend to think that the degree to which you choose actions based on reflective consideration vs. immediate reward is an important parameter for overall productivity and happiness. Maybe the most important parameter, like maybe this is what you should try to maximize above all else. (This is also one of the definitions of mindfulness.)

And I think this kind of thing is sticky, like the more you get into the habit of doing immediately rewarding things like playing video games, the more your ability to not do that decreases. This seems to fit both experience and what other people are doing.

I realize this is much too vague to be falsifiable, but alas. Stuff like addiction is more tangible and measurable, but I don't actually believe that it's the most important variable.

I don't think that's a true statement about video games. It takes at least several months of dedication to git gud at a competitive game, build an MMORPG character, finish a large scale Minecraft project (presumably; I don't care about Minecraft personally but I get the impression that some of the stuff people do there takes ages to do), etc. Lots of single player games have goals to reach that require substantial effort either through grinding or gitting gud as well. It is very common for gamers to spend lots of time on something actively frustrating in order to achieve a long term goal.

[Awaclus]

Also I saw Suzume in the movies today and it was FUCKING GREAT! Shame that there wasn't more rock songs in it but the OST was pretty godtier anyway, and so were the visuals and the direction and the voice acting. The writing didn't leave as strong of an emotional impression on me as Your Name did (it was emotionally compelling for sure, but Your Name was exceptionally strong) but it was arguably more interesting.

The majority of people in the audience left the theater before the titular song of the OST even started playing, and hence missed the release of all the tension it had been building up by foreshadowing the leitmotif throughout the film. Fucking idiots.

[silverspawn]

Thirst (2009)

Ouff.

I watched this movie because it's the same director who made The Handmaiden. I was hoping for something that's at least close to that movie. Instead, I got... whatever the fuck this is.

This movie doesn't know what genre it is. It's very professionally shot and presented as if it's serious, but what happens is completely ridiculous. The story is just so bizarre.

Wikipedia calls it a horror movie. I don't agree. If I had to put it into one genre, I'd say comedy. I guess it's horror if you think gore equals horror.

It was entertaining and I can't give it less than a 6, mb a 7, but I'm pretty disappointed. I don't like what it tells me about the director.. One has to note that one of the best thing about The Handmaiden was the story, and since it's based on a book, the director (who also co-wrote both movies) doesn't get full credit.

Anyway, watch this if you want to see something really strange and bloody with pretty great acting, I guess. But if you want to see a good horror movie, watch Let Me In instead.

[silverspawn]

Kinda feels like the actor is trying to be Quintin Tarantino.

[silverspawn]

The director I mean

[silverspawn]

[silverspawn]

Can Lichess produce gifs of your games?? actually for all I know it probably can

[Awaclus]

[silverspawn]

Seriously though, the game review feature of chess.com is really amazing, and I don't feel bad about going with the big corporation if they're offering a better product. The gifs aren't the real thing (and you could do it with a third party software anyway).

[Awaclus]

For what it's worth, lichess.org also has a game review feature.

[silverspawn]

netflix feelin desperate

[silverspawn]

please give us another chance at taking your money why won't you

I guess this is just a thing now with companies writing you follow-up emails after you unsubscribe. Chess.com did it too.

[silverspawn]

So the world chess championship is over, and the new champion is      Moat     

Isn't it amazing that after so much time the meme still works?

[silverspawn]

Nate Silver has been fired? What the fuck? Isn't the founder and chief and mastermind behind the site the last person you should fire? I don't get it.

He had the best election model out there hands down. Whyyy?

[silverspawn]

Much of FiveThirtyEight’s vital intellectual property — such as the election forecast models — is merely licensed to Disney. The license term for these models expires with my contract this summer. I still own these models, and can license or sell them elsewhere. To be clear, Disney does own some stuff. They own the trade name “FiveThirtyEight”, for instance. There are also some complicated cases — for example, for some of the sports models, I own them, but Disney gets to keep a copy when I leave. But I own the core election forecasts and Disney doesn’t have any ongoing rights. The contract I signed with Disney/ESPN in 2013 and the renewal with Disney/ABC in 2018 were always designed to keep my options open if something like what happened last week came to pass.

Ah so maybe he'll still work on the models going forward hmm

[Awaclus]

Disney's gonna Disn.