The metrics are the message: how analytics is shaping social games | Technology. Picture this. You're deeply engaged in one of the many free-to-play adventure games available online, when you decide to buy a bigger sword. It could be that you made the tactical decision to extend your armoury, or that you panicked when you spotted a gigantic dragon lumbering in your direction; you might not even know why you did it.
You just fancied a bigger sword. But that action took you into the barely two percent of free-to-play gamers who actually pay for content – and the game makers want to know why. The freemium gaming business is expanding rapidly. And what the big players have learned is that coming up with a great game concept is only the beginning. Alan Miller has been in the games business for over 30 years. "Our objective generally is to increase monetisation and improve player satisfaction," he explains. In his experience, it's rarely great big design errors that trip up growing freemium games – it's tiny, often over-looked alterations.
It's a strange business. Zynga’s Quest for Big-Spending Whales. July 7 (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) -- Joelle Ibgui collects horses. Lots of horses. In her stable of 108 colorful creatures is a Clydesdale, an Asian wild foal, a spotted appaloosa, and a clown pony, which sports a bow tie, a red honk nose, and a rainbow-colored wig—and cost about $5.
The pony and its companions are not real animals, of course, but virtual ones in the hit online game FarmVille, produced by Zynga, the hottest gaming company on the Web and soon, perhaps, on Wall Street. Ibgui, a 30-year-old real estate manager from Kew Gardens, N.Y., has played FarmVille since its introduction two years ago and last year spent more than $500 to burnish her farm and get ahead in the game. “In the winter there came a point when I was playing six hours a day,” she says. “It does get addictive. It does get to the point where you’re not picking up your phone when it’s ringing.” So who are these whales? Zynga’s FarmVille features virtual-goods updates at least twice a week. Electrocorticography. Electrocorticography (ECoG), or intracranial EEG (iEEG), is the practice of using electrodes placed directly on the exposed surface of the brain to record electrical activity from the cerebral cortex.
ECoG may be performed either in the operating room during surgery (intraoperative ECoG) or outside of surgery (extraoperative ECoG). Because a craniotomy (a surgical incision into the skull) is required to implant the electrode grid, ECoG is an invasive procedure. History[edit] ECoG was pioneered in the early 1950s by Wilder Penfield and Herbert Jasper, neurosurgeons at the Montreal Neurological Institute.[1] The two developed ECoG as part of their groundbreaking Montreal procedure, a surgical protocol used to treat patients with severe epilepsy. The cortical potentials recorded by ECoG were used to identify epileptogenic zones – regions of the cortex that generate epileptic seizures. Electrophysiological basis[edit] Procedure[edit] DCES[edit] Clinical applications[edit] Extraoperative ECoG. Reading the brain: Mind-goggling. Belief in Evolution by Country - Kruse Kronicle. The Elephant in Our Skull « Three Pound Brain. I am not a ‘Metzingerian.’
Like him, I think we are what we are in such a way that we cannot intuit what we are, but I came to this inkling by a far different route (Continental Philosophy). I’m not a representationalist, for one. I don’t think the brain has a Phenomenal Self Model, and I think that the sense that we do is largely a cultural artifact. What we have are a collection of kluges, a chaotic intentional palette that socialization then shapes into something that seems more definite and utile–like the mighty ‘Individual’ in our society In the old proverb of the three blind Indian gurus and the elephant, one grabs the tail and says the elephant is a rope, the other grabs a leg and says the elephant is a tree, while the third grabs the trunk and says the elephant is a snake.
In each case, the gurus mistake the part for a whole. The reason they function is simply that they are systematically related to the elephant, who does the brunt of the work. This makes me an ‘eliminativist.’ Neuromarketing | Neuroscientific Consumer Testing | NeuroFocus. Eliminative materialism. Eliminativists argue that modern belief in the existence of mental phenomena is analogous to the ancient belief in obsolete theories such as the geocentric model of the universe. Eliminativism stands in opposition to reductive materialism, which argues that a mental state is well defined, and that further research will result in a more detailed, but not different understanding.[3] An intermediate position is revisionary materialism, which will often argue that the mental state in question will prove to be somewhat reducible to physical phenomena - with some changes to the common sense concept.
Eliminativism about a class of entities is the view that that class of entities does not exist.[4] For example, all forms of materialism are eliminativist about the soul; modern chemists are eliminativist about phlogiston; and modern physicists are eliminativist about the existence of luminiferous aether. Overview[edit] Philosophers who argue against eliminativism may take several approaches. Conscious Entities. Authors@Google: Alva Noe. Commentary — Endgame Vol. 1 and 2 by Derrick Jensen | Steven Erikson. Browse > Home / Non-Fiction / Commentary — Endgame Vol. 1 and 2 by Derrick Jensen The ramble below initially began as a personal letter to the author of Endgame by Derrick Jensen, published in 2006 by Seven Stories Press,a multi-volume treatise on civilization and its non-sustaining nature.
It was basically written in two parts, the first being an ongoing commentary written while reading the books; and the second part a more direct ‘letter’ which I wrote after giving Jensen’s positions considerable thought, in particular his notions of how environmental destruction can end through the active destruction of civilization. Initially, I was responding to various assertions Jensen made regarding what he sees as the idyllic and only sustainable form of human culture: the hunter/gatherer society; and later to his avowed desire to return humanity to that state of existence. So, here it is. Feel free to comment. Cheers Steven Erikson I write novels under the name of Steven Erikson. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Untitled. Amazon. So what?: On Graham Harman’s Abominable Review of Laruelle’s Philosophies of Difference « An und für sich. Imagine the expressions of apoplectic rage we would all discover on the various OOO blogs if Ray Brassier were to write a review of Harman’s Quadruple Object with the phrase, “And if Harman can respond to the criticism that his philosophy is not a substance based one, so what?” We all know that these are not calm men, that they bandy about the blogosphere chastising their critics in equal measure for not having read all their posts on topic X and for criticizing them on the basis of “just a blog post”.At the first sign of criticism they will jump behind any number of well-worn and tiring devices, almost immediately to the unassailable charge that the critic of their work has made it personal, while the progenitor of OOO has remained above the fray dealing only with the ideas of these abominable writers and Grand Moff Tarkins.
That’s exactly how Harman has ended his awful review of Laruelle’s Philosophies of Difference. The second criticism is strange. Homunculus 2 v11 - Read Homunculus 2 Online - Page 35. IAmA scientist who puts people's brains to sleep, one hemisphere at a time, and studies their functioning. AMA. : IAmA. TEDxRheinMain - Prof. Dr. Thomas Metzinger - The Ego Tunnel. Being No One. The New Theory: A Provisional Manifesto « Three Pound Brain. The New Theory is already afoot, coming together in a variety of amorphous ways across a welter of different popular and intellectual contexts (such as the present journal). What follows is simply an attempt to impose an artificial shape on this movement, to provide a ‘conceptual cartoon’ of what may eventually become a dominant theoretical paradigm.
The hope is that making it explicit in this way will simultaneously render it more available to criticism and emulation. Ignorance, after all, is invisible. The New Theory is critical. The New Theory realizes that theory, in order to be critical, must proceed with some awareness of the ways in which it is historically, culturally, and biologically contingent. Of all the tricks played by the Old Theory, none has been so disastrous as its attitude toward scientific discourse. This has never been a comfortable state of affairs. The New Theory is scientifically literate. The New Theory stands astride this revolution. The New Theory is Socratic. The Problem With Metzinger | Harman | Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy.
The Problem With Metzinger Graham Harman American University in Cairo Abstract: This article provides a critical treatment of the ontology underlying Thomas Metzinger’s Being No One. Metzinger asserts that interdisciplinary empirical work must replace ‘armchair’ a priori intuitions into the nature of reality; nonetheless, his own position is riddled with unquestioned a priori assumptions. His central claim that ‘no one has or has ever had a self’ is meant to have an ominous and futuristic ring, but merely repeats a familiar philosophical approach to individuals, which are undermined by reducing them downward to their material underpinnings, and ‘overmined’ by reducing them upward to their functional effects.
Keywords: Thomas Metzinger; Selfhood; Scientism; Naturalism 1. Respect for his opponents is not among the chief virtues of Thomas Metzinger. The problem here is not one of bad manners, as if Metzinger needed a social reprimand for insensitivity to the feelings of his colleagues. 2. Quantum Levitation. The Singularity Is Near by Ray Kurzweil | Issue 86. Books James Williams has a singularily good time. Although promoted as science, Ray Kurzweil’s writing will appeal to readers of philosophy as well. The word ‘singularity’ was first applied to the transformative impact of technology by mathematician John von Neumann.
In The Singularity is Near, Kurzweil defines the ‘Singularity’ as “a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed.” Pi (film) Pi, also titled π,[nb 1] is a 1998 American surrealist psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is Aronofsky's directorial debut, and earned him the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Gotham Open Palm Award.
The title refers to the mathematical constant pi. [nb 2] Like most of Aronofsky's films, Pi centers on a protagonist whose obsessive pursuit of ideals leads to severely self-destructive behavior. Maximillian "Max" Cohen (Sean Gullette), the story's protagonist and unreliable narrator, is a number theorist who believes that everything in nature can be understood through numbers. Max begins making stock predictions based on the calculations of his computer, Euclid. At a coffee shop, Max meets Lenny Meyer (Ben Shenkman), a Hasidic Jew who coincidentally does mathematical research on the Torah. Max flees and tries to visit Sol, only to find that he has died. Eng_o_ml-sefer-kabbalah-for-the-student. » Beyond Post-modernism Looping Wor(l)d. Chasing red herrings in the hope they lead somewhere. But the number of overlapping analogies and returning ideas is quite amazing. As usual, when things make TOO MUCH sense, I label them as “consolatory”, and so unreliable and most likely false.
The journey through Post-modernism led me beyond, then back in, as in a loop. Another starting point was again provided by mass-entertainment, Fringe (the TV series). This time it was a frame, specifically episode 12 of the third series. It briefly shows some books belonging to William Bell (a character in the series). The first and last are too out of focus to recognize, but the others are explicitly shown and one of these two is a recurring book, as it was also shown in LOST.
. - A Separate Reality – Carlos Castaneda - The Second Ring of Power – Carlos Castaneda - In the Wake of Chaos – Stephen H. I own “Gödel, Escher, Bach” and a book of Castaneda not on that list: “The Art of Dreams”. A step back to Japanese Anime. “How about I observe. Bookworm 4/11/96. : Hi, this is Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.
Today my guest is David Foster Wallace, the author of , recently published by Little, Brown. He is the author, as well, of a book of stories, , recently put out in paperback, and an earlier book soon to be out or available again called . I don't know how, exactly, to talk about this book, so I'm going to be reliant upon you to kind of guide me. But something came into my head that may be entirely imaginary, which seemed to be that the book was written in fractals. : Expand on that. : It occurred to me that the way in which the material is presented allows for a subject to be announced in a small form, then there seems to be a fan of subject matter, other subjects, and then it comes back in a second form containing the other subjects in small, and then comes back again as if what were being described were -- and I don't know this kind of science, but it just -- I said to myself this must be fractals. : It would be almost im- ...
'Calamity Song' by the Decemberists - Video. Untitled. "Infinite Jest: Reviews, Articles, and Miscellany" The Atlantic Monthly February, 1996 The Alchemist's Retort A multi-layered postmodern saga of damnation and salvation by Sven Birkerts A review of "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace Little, Brown, 1,088 pages $29.95 Among writers of the younger -- which these days means under forty -- generation, David Foster Wallace has a reputation as a wild-card savant.
A fictioneer and former Harvard philosophy student, Wallace is the author of "The Broom of the System," a novel; "Girl With Curious Hair," an envelope-stretching book of stories; and, with Mark Costello, a nonfiction work, "Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present. " He has also done some hard schooling in halfway houses and recovery programs (a fact not irrelevant to the novel under review). "Infinite Jest. " Get it? Wallace's particular conceit in "Infinite Jest" is that the events described are taking place in the indeterminate future, possible several decades hence.
Jest11. "Infinite Jest: Reviews, Articles, and Miscellany" The SALON Interview Issue #9, March 9-22, 1996 By LAURA MILLER David Foster Wallace's low-key, bookish appearance flatly contradicts the unshaven, bandanna-capped image advanced by his publicity photos. But then, even a hipster novelist would have to be a serious, disciplined writer to produce a 1,079-page book in three years. The 34-year-old Wallace, who teaches at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal and exhibits the careful modesty of a recovering smart aleck, discussed American life on the verge of the millennium, the pervasive influence of pop culture, the role of fiction writers in an entertainment-saturated society, teaching literature to freshmen, and his own maddening, inspired creation during a recent reading tour for "Infinite Jest. " Salon: What were you intending to do when you started this book? DFW: I wanted to do something sad.
Salon: And what is that like? Some of my friends got into AA. There's a kind of Ah-ha! Infinite Jest: Reviews, Articles, & Miscellany. Jest5. Boston2. Untitled. On both yr houses | the m john harrison blog. Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth” at 50. Reality Check: Why Some Brains Can’t Tell Real From Imagined. Why American novelists don’t deserve the Nobel Prize. NatureAtwood. Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson | Art Beat. The Future of Literature in the Age of Information « Three Pound Brain. Current Biology - Reconstructing Visual Experiences from Brain Activity Evoked by Natural Movies. Scientists Reconstruct Brains' Visions Into Digital Video In Historic Experiment.
They Fight Crime! A Message To Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy” The Dream of Reality: Heinz Von Foerster's Constructivism - Lynn Segal. Qualia. Crowdfunding Creativity. Are books dead, and can authors survive? | Ewan Morrison. Enter Ye Myne Mystic World of Gayng-Raype: What the “R” Stands for in “George R.R. Martin” The Forge :: Narrativism: Story Now. The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight. Don’t Write What You Know - Bret Anthony Johnston. Can Men Discuss Sexism? Science Fiction Book Review Podcast › SFBRP #136 – R Scott Bakker – The White Luck Warrior. 99 Cent E-Books and the Tragedy of the Commons. Johncwright: Our Pursuit of Androgyny has not Aided the Task of Socilizing the Males.
The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths (9780805091250): Michael Shermer. Zapping the Brain Improves Math Skills. List of biases in judgment and decision making. Vox Popoli: The Wangst that Comes After. Online disinhibition effect. Dunning–Kruger effect. I Am a Psychopath. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. I Did It for the Lulz. Fairystories-tolkien. The Incredible Shrinking Sublime: the Battle of the Quotidian and the Spectacular in the War for the Cultural High Ground « Three Pound Brain. Tolkien, Lewis, George R.R. Martin: Why Fantasy Is a Real Part of Literature.
Troll (Internet) Vox Popoli: The Prince of Porn. Someone Is WRONG On The Internet. Why Smart People Believer Weird Things--Prof. Shermer. A Gay Girl in Damascus and Lez Get Real: The lessons of the fake lesbian bloggers. Vox Popoli. The Prînce of Nöthing Review. Vote For Top-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Titles. Fantasy's Spell on Pop Culture: When Will It Wear Off? - E.D. Kain. Pilot wave. Penn & Teller: Dalai Lama and Tibet. Index of /en. Dalai Lama. Living in a Quantum World. Macro-Weirdness: "Quantum Microphone" Puts Naked-Eye Object in 2 Places at Once.
R. Scott Bakker interview (part 2) Fantasy and Historical Representation « One Last Sketch. ‘A Dance With Dragons’ by George R. R. Martin - Review. Russell Smith. Bakker crew. b1tKA.jpg (JPEG Image, 800x2603 pixels) - Scaled (24. Neth Space: Guardian's Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels Everyone Must Read: The Meme. Review: The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker. Boltzmann machine. Geoffrey Hinton. Artificial neural network.