Why do we have to die in games?

Gamers are unequivocal: “Dying gives a game meaning”, say posters on the PC Advisor forums. Markus Montola, a researcher at Tampere University in Finland, takes this further: “You have a motivation – to avoid being annoyed by dying. Motivation is what makes the game meaningful.” Pete Hines – vice-president at Bethesda, the developer behind the…

Sartre & Peanuts

An ideal example of abandonment is the relationship between Linus and The Great Pumpkin. Every Halloween, Linus faithfully waits by a pumpkin patch, in the hopes that he will be blessed with the holy experience of a visitation by The Great Pumpkin. Of course, The Great Pumpkin never shows up, and He never answers Linus’…

Richard Rorty, 1931-2007

“In recognition of his influential and distinctively American contribution to philosophy and, more widely, to humanistic studies. His work redefined knowledge ‘as a matter of conversation and of social practice, rather than as an attempt to mirror nature’ and thus redefined philosophy itself as an unending, democratically disciplined, social and cultural activity of inquiry, reflection,…

The readiness to deconstruct is all

When we refuse to “budge an inch,” excoriate “rotten apples,” or admonish slackers to “sink or swim,” we speak in his voice. Although the arts sections of newspapers teem with products from self-anointed “artists” who will not survive their publicity budgets, Shakespeare after roughly four centuries still pleases general audiences, challenges intellectuals, and provokes academics.…

Old MacDonald Had A Farmers' Market — total self-sufficiency is a noble, misguided ideal

Every culture has its pathologies, and ours is self-reliance. From some mix of our frontier past, our Little House on the Prairie heritage, our Thoreauvian desire for solitude, and our amazing wealth we’ve derived a level of independence never seen before on this round earth. We’ve built an economy where we need no one else;…

Malaysian monks face ant dilemma

A group of Buddhist monks in Malaysia is appealing for help to solve a problem with ants. Buddhism forbids devotees from harming any living creature. So the monks are looking for a creative and non-violent solution to deal with the insects, which are biting worshippers. —Malaysian monks face ant dilemma (BBC) Rosemary, who sent me the…

Career Crisis #2 (of 2)

Caring is easy. Keeping students engaged and operating at full capacity over a two-hour block is difficult. Serving every student the highly specific smoothie of success and failure — just enough success to encourage them, just enough failure to challenge them — is difficult. —Dan Meyer —Career Crisis #2 (of 2) (DY/DAN) A response to the…

Aztecs vs. Greeks: Those with superior intelligence need to learn to be wise.

The encouragement of wisdom requires a special kind of education. It requires first of all recognition of one’s own intellectual limits and fallibilities–in a word, humility. This is perhaps the most conspicuously missing part of today’s education of the gifted. Many high-IQ students, especially those who avoid serious science and math, go from kindergarten through…

Pope's focus: Reason — Its relationship to the divine was the subject of a recent speech that upset some Muslims.

The quotation that caused all the furor involves a 14th-century dialogue between a Byzantine emperor and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam. The pope quotes the emperor, who says: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his…

My Love Affair With Star Trek

There was no separating the two Treks, the vacuous and the visionary. It’s no coincidence that one of the most legendary episodes — “The Trouble with Tribbles” — was essentially a comic take on the show’s established themes. Given some distance from the moment, I realize this is actually an entirely healthy attitude. It’s the…

Pluto's status attacked

Some have appealed to Gingerich’s group not to downgrade Pluto, saying it would disappoint children and throw our understanding of the universe into chaos. Others say let the chips fall where they may and seem to relish the idea of overturning our current view of the universe. –Alan Crosby —Pluto’s status attacked (Boston.com) The debate over…

The Simpsons as philosophy

Cartoons abstract from real life in much the same way philosophers do. Homer is not realistic in the way a film or novel character is, but he is recognisable as a kind of American Everyman. His reality is the reality of an abstraction from real life that captures its essence, not as a real particular…

The 7 Deadly Sins of Professors

In some respects, the students are right: Professors are to blame. We cultivate students’ unmerited pride with high praise for mediocre work. And we tolerate all of the other sins by abdicating responsibility for the culture of our classrooms. Again and again, I have heard students say their classes are so easy that almost no…