Cognitive Science at Carleton: Year 2

Classes for the fall

PSYC 2001 - Intro to Research Methods in Psychology

PHIL 2501 - Intro to Philosophy of the Mind

LING 3002 - Phonology I

COMP 2001 - Intro to Systems Programming

CGSC 2001 - Intro to Cognitive Science

Classes for the winter

PSYC 2700 - Cognitive Psychology

PSYC 2200 - Biological Foundations of Behaviour

LING 2005 - Linguistic Analysis I

COMP 2004 - Programming in C++

CGSC 2002 + tutorial - Theories & Methods in Cognitive Science

[edit: I wish tumblr would put multiple spaces between paragraphs to make my walls of text less intimidating, because I’m bound to write them anyway]

I’ve been surprised before, but officially, I actually only have the one tutorial in the winter. I expected to have a tutorial in COMP 2004, and LING 2005, while LING 3002 is a strong candidate too. Won’t be surprised if I come to class and they tell us to sign up for tutorial times, anyway.

        The one problem with my schedule this year is that I couldn’t fit the french course I wanted into my schedule: FREN 2401 - Mechanics of language: French (liberally translated from fonctionnement d'une langue: le français). Basically, studying the structure, sounds, and so on of both Canadian French and French from France. France French. First of all, I thought it would be interesting, but it would probably help with my french too. In a grammar course, they mainly just tell you “this is how it is.” But a linguistic analysis could tell you why it is that way. The other thing is that I still want to do a minor in French and for that I need four credits, or eight classes. FREN 2401 is a full-year course, and both of the available times conflicted with classes I need for my degree. There are more french linguistics classes beyond this first one, so I’d take those later and fill out my required credits.

        So anyway! Instead of taking some french courses I wasn’t particularly interested in, which is a recipe for disaster and apathy, I grabbed a couple more programming courses. Considering how many jobs I couldn’t apply for because I didn’t have experience with C++, I thought it would be a good idea to get some. Unfortunately, COMP 2001 is required for COMP 2004, which also means I wouldn’t be “learning” C++ until january. Applying for a job that’s asking for a year of experience with C++ and saying “well, I’m taking the course right now…” probably wouldn’t go over well, I’m going to use the wonderful resource that is the internet to introduce myself to C++. I probably won’t have any time to actually work on a project with it in the fall, between class and helping Mako, but I’ll start reading all those AltDevBlog posts about C++ and learn some pro tricks hopefully. Then COMP 2004 can (well, hopefully it will) teach me the rest. And I’ll keep up with Java a bit, because why not? If I do get a summer job as a programmer, it doesn’t matter a whole lot whether I’m using Java or C++.

        Oops, this is getting pretty long. Well, the rest of the classes are pretty self-explanatory. All required for my degree, and they should all be interesting, so yay. Linguistic Analysis II is only offered in the fall, so I’ll be doing that next year and that way I won’t forget everything I did in Analysis I. The tutorial for CGSC 2002 will probably involve Python somehow, because Jim Davies is teaching it. Otherwise, I can’t imagine what we’d be doing. I don’t think we’d be doing actual research in an undergraduate class, that’s all.



        And, of course, my notes will be up on UniNotes as I take them. When classes actually start, or when I go pick up text books (because it would take thirty times longer when classes have started), I’ll be able to tell you more interesting things.

"I'm really bad at reading fantasy", and we're all bad at "reading" games4

A piece written by Joseph Leray on his blog. He’s a pretty cool dude. First, I wanted to say that I’m equally bad at reading fantasy, even after writing essays about symbolism and studying novels and plays in AP English. I still don’t pick up on this stuff in a first reading, which means wasting time reading again to notice that the author constantly refers to a certain symbol. It’s not difficult! I’m probably just too used to either reading for fun (and not looking for deeper meanings) or reading because I have to (and trying to finish as quickly as possible). The good news is that I won’t have to do that ever again :D

        However, I wouldn’t make a post just to say that. The same can be said of playing a game - there’s a literal layer and a symbolic layer, not just to what happens (mainly, things the developers wrote) but also to what you do as a player. Analyzing the stuff that happens in cutscenes and dialog is no different from analyzing literature or film. But the things that you do, the actual interactive process of choosing to do something, is something few people know how to analyze. It’s mainly just the designers themselves who know what they were trying to say. The problem is, there’s no easy way to learn how to analyze the process of playing - either you practice by thinking very deeply about a game you know well, or you read things other people have written and learn bit by bit.

        It’s something you have to design for, though, because it’s not like every game has “meaningful” gameplay. Shooting someone in Call of Duty doesn’t symbolize a whole lot beyond power fantasy. On the other hand, killing a colossus in Shadow of the Colossus has a lot of symbolic meaning. The thing is, you need a certain amount of “literacy” in the medium to get that. Otherwise, it’s just a thing that you do. If the developers don’t incorporate some sort of literal reference or hinting to the symbolism of the player’s actions most players won’t notice. So why design something most people won’t understand? I think that point of view is holding back a lot of games.

        Still, we do get the occasional shining example in mainstream games, and there are plenty of fantastic indie games with deeper meanings. Although we usually find out about their deeper meanings on developer blogs and interviews. Meanwhile, we’re getting more and more sources for deeper analysis and discussion among industry folk. Now all we need is a liberal arts degree where you do nothing but play games and write essays about their deeper meanings, and we’ll be a real legitimate art form!

Maps: The Strengths and Weaknesses of jRPGs4

I haven’t been able to actually finish many tumblr posts lately, though I’ve started plenty or set articles aside to write about. I’ve been working through my Read It Later list, finally, and it’s great reading long internet articles on my Kindle. Anyway, I’m going to try writing shorter posts and see how that goes.

        This is kind of a bittersweet article for me, because I like jRPGs and he puts a lot of the reasons behind that into words. But then at the end, “our games are for kids,” is so terribly disappointing to me. May as well give up on Final Fantasy now, apparently. Hopefully they figure that out before dumping millions of dollars into development.

        It’s not all bad, though - Square-Enix may suck at console RPGs now, but they’re not the only ones making them. The DS is chock full of great ones, and hopefully the 3DS can continue that. The thing about the DS is that it’s dirt cheap to develop for, but I doubt the 3DS is. Actually, very few current gen jRPGs have been very good… At best, they’re just prettier PS2 games and that makes them pretty mediocre. Stuff like Hyperdimension Neptunia, Ar Tonelico Qoga, and Record of Agarest War appeal mainly to their dedicated existing fan base, if at all.

        I’ve got enough of a backlog to play through that I’d never notice if no good games were released ever again, but still. It would be nice to see something fantastic. Something like, say, Cthulhu Saves The World, which is literally the best jRPG I’ve played in recent memory. And it’s three dollars, and comes with a second game. WHY AREN’T YOU BUYING THIS? It’s less than a stupid Starbucks coffee!

Improve the world, and be happy!

[Alternatively titled: How I Learned to Stop Being Suicidal and Love Life]

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me they were feeling suicidal. Don’t worry - things have turned around completely, and this friend is feeling happy for the first time in a long while. Still, it made me think about the way I used to feel when I was suicidal - how I felt when I was 10, and the slightly more refined thoughts I had during junior high and high school. It made me realize how much I’ve grown up, and I thought it was worth sharing. I’ll try to be concise! Sometimes you have to explore a few tangents, but I’ll try to keep them relevant.

        I gave a quick history in my Depression post last year, and I touched on my suicidal thoughts as well. One thing I forgot to mention was the feeling that I had nothing to live for. When I was 10, I thought that I was so smart and wanted to do great things - but I knew that the world doesn’t work that way and figured I’d wind up in a crappy office job, living a “normal” life. I was just a kid, you know? The life of an adult, in my mind, consisted solely of their job. It never occurred to me that I could have a normal job, and still do great things.

        I wanted to improve the world, though, and since I wouldn’t do it at work, I thought it was impossible. Then I thought I could do it by taking myself out of the picture. When I realized that would only make things worse, I looked for other ways to make the world a better place. I figured that if I could improve at least one thing, no matter how small, I would have lived a worthwhile life. When I met Brittany in junior high, I decided my one thing would be to help her. I figured I could help her with her problems, and then she’d go off and be happy and it would all be thanks to me. I didn’t think that would take too long, and after that, even if I killed myself, I would have made the world a better place. It never quite worked out that way, but I held onto the idea that I could make people’s lives better in some small way and live a good life.

        I knew that I couldn’t kill myself if anyone would be left behind to mourn me and blame themselves for my death, so I decided I would have to disappear quietly. The day no one would notice I was dead, I could slip away and that would be that. I figured that I could leave home after high school and gradually lose contact with my family, and then I’d just have to make sure they couldn’t trace my identity after I died. I felt that it was inevitable that everyone in my life would leave me, so when that happened, I’d be free to end it. “Unfortunately” for my tenth grade self, I’ve made new connections and gotten closer to everyone else, more or less foiling this plot.

        You know how sometimes you can’t figure out whether something actually happened, or you just had a dream and thought it happened? I get that sometimes, except I can’t remember whether I said something or just thought about saying it. Either way, in high school I once said (or thought I said) that I “wanted to be happy when I grew up.” Which is super dramatic, and sad, and that’s what really made me want to say it. I was also trying to say that it didn’t matter what I “was when I grow up,” in terms of what career I chose - as long as I had enough to survive and something else to make me happy, I’d be ok.

        What I realized, thinking about all of this, is that I’ve done it. I grew up. I’m happy with my life, and I’ll still be happy no matter where things go from here. That’s not to say that everything is perfect; I just know that I can deal with and overcome pretty much anything. I’m happy with who I am, and I think I’m a good person. I doubt I’m radically changing the lives of everyone I meet, but I’ve made good friends and I’m helping out whenever I can. Enough to say I’m a net positive influence on the world, at least, which was always the plan. And that’s enough to make me happy!

Old friend, new roommate

Should I apologize for not posting while I’m on vacation? I feel guilty about it anyway, but I’m thinking most people focus on their vacation and don’t post at all. Well, I love you too much to stay away for long. Also, I can’t help but think up tumblr posts when I should be sleeping, and the best cure for that is to actually write one before bed.


        If that’s not a significant caveat, I don’t know what is.

        Anyway, I have news! News big enough for its own post, even. It’s a big change, technically, but at the same time I’m hoping for a minimal amount of changes to accommodate it. If that makes sense. Ideally, I’ll be able to continue working at the same pace I have been and life will go on as usual, except with an extra person living in my house.

        I’ll skip the long story of how we got to this point and summarize: Brittany is moving in at my mom’s place, and she’ll stay there while I’m at my dad’s. I’m giving up my bedroom, but I prefer to sleep on the futon in the basement anyway, so all that’s left is to figure out where I’ll move my “office.” No big deal, although everybody’s worried about us living together, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.

        If you’ve been reading my tumblr long enough, you probably know Brittany as my ex-girlfriend. But we broke up two and a half years ago now, and I don’t think our status as an ex-couple (do people say that? makes sense to me) defines our relationship anymore. I mean, yeah, we dated and we broke up - but there’s no tension, no unresolved issues, none of the things you would expect when you’re meeting someone’s ex for the first time. And the more time I spend with her now, the more comfortable I am with the way things are - we’re friends, the same way I’m friends with Vael, Sebastian, or Max.

        I’ve been offering to let Brittany stay with us pretty much since we decided to move to Ottawa, mainly because I’ve always thought her family treats her terribly. Her mom has been threatening to kick her out recently, or at least make her pay rent, which is difficult considering how few jobs are available in Summerside. Ottawa, on the other hand, has many more opportunities. So I asked my mom if she could stay with us, because it would be cheaper for her than getting an apartment in Summerside, and she’d have better odds of saving up money for school. Fast-forward to our vacation, and Brittany came out to dinner with us. One of the first things my mom says is “so Brittany, are you coming back to Ottawa with us?” At first she said maybe, and then there was much discussion and working out of details, and now the answer is yes.

        I figure I’ll be introducing her as my friend from now on, and that’ll avoid plenty of awkward situations where people misunderstand or assume things. Not like it’ll be a secret that we dated, but if it comes up, I’ll just say she turned me into a newt and then I got better. Or something along those lines. I just want to say that I got better and make it clear that it’s a Monty Python reference.

        Anyway, that’s that. There’s not really a whole lot to say aside from re-assuring everyone about the way things are between us now, so there you go. Consider yourself assured!

        tl;dr: my ex-girlfriend is going to be my roommate, but it’s not what you think

In case you’re wondering why Google is changing things.

vael:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/evolving-google-design-and-experience.html

And no, no one seems to like the grey bar at the top. You either go completely grim or don’t attempt at all, Google.

I like the grey bar at top, it fits perfectly with my firefox theme and at first I actually thought it was influenced by my Gmail theme. I hated the white bar with the little blue highlights before, so this is awesome.

I’m too busy doing things/not having internet access to tumbl, but I’ll get around to it soon, I swear!

3net slum

Username Origin stories

Lots of stuff going on ‘round here, but I’m feeling pretty tired and thought of something somewhat interesting to post. The origins of my tumblr’s name and url! Or my account name, or whatever you call the x in x.tumblr.com. And on a related note, the origin of the “Demi” name you’ll see people refer to every once in a while.

        “The lows are low, but the highs are home” is a quote from the song Chasing Hamburg by Polar Bear Club, the title track from their 2009 album. Apparently the song is about one specific gig they played in Hamburg, the idea being that it was an awesome show and they’re “chasing” that kind of fantastic feeling. What I took from that specific line was sometimes life is shitty, but that’s not the point - you’re living for the high points, which more than make up for the lows. It’s not just optimism for the future, it’s having the resilience to deal with the crappy stuff on the way.

        “lamattgrind” is an anagram of my first and last names, in the sense of “this is about the daily grind of my life.” University is a bit less monotonous than high school was at times, but it’s still pretty grind-y. Go to class, study before going to the next class, repeat once or twice before going home. Then prepare for tomorrow’s classes. It’s not so bad, but there’s a definite predictability to it. Which sounds pretty depressing, but it’s not actually that bad.

        As for the Demi thing, that’s a bit of a longer story, but I’ll try to skip the boring parts. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a browser based game called MonBre. You needed to pick a first and last name for your player character, so I went with “Rakki Lesthys” - the names of two characters I’d used in a story a long time ago, and continued to use in party based RPGs. Eventually I decided to change to a more masculine name, and at work grabbed inspiration from a box of pastries. “Demi Lune” seemed like a great name at the time, despite being more feminine in retrospect and thus defeating the purpose of the change. As I became close friends with the creator of MonBre, a certain Vael Victus, he decided I qualified for adoption into the Victus family and the name changed to Demi Victus.

        Did you want to know any of these things? Probably not, but now you do! I’d planned to do a similar post on the origins of all my various interests and hobbies, which would either be far more interesting or far more boring. If I get the itch to finish that, you’ll see it when it’s done.

vael: “ I’m really happy that Crate went back to blogging. thegreatcrate: “ Last night I finished reading Island by Aldous Huxley, and all I have to say is wow. The first three-fourths of the book were a bit of a struggle to get through, but the...

vael:

I’m really happy that Crate went back to blogging.

thegreatcrate:

Last night I finished reading Island by Aldous Huxley, and all I have to say is wow. The first three-fourths of the book were a bit of a struggle to get through, but the final fourth of the book was so delightful to read I want to go back and read the whole thing again. The very last chapter left me speechless. I haven’t felt that kind of an effect from reading a book in a long, long time (or ever?). The entire book feels like it builds up until the very final word on the very last page, which is a perfect summary of what this book is about.

[………..]

I think what made this novel such a joy to read were the ideas Huxley presented that are so simple, yet vastly superior to anything in the modern industrialized world. One example is having children be raised by many families at once in what he calls a MAC (mutual adoption club), so instead of having one mother and one father a child of Pala might have twenty-two mothers and twenty-two fathers. The benefits of this would be astounding; no more parents brainwashing their children with their own twisted beliefs. If a parent is being unruly to a child or the child needs a break from their home, they need only go live with one of their other parents for a change of environment. It creates a sense of community where everyone only wants what is best for everyone else.

I used to think, with my nice growing-up-teenager brain, about the community raising of a child. I’m hoping/assuming Demi can chime in with some psychology guidance, but from what I know, children need very tight bonds to their parents. Perhaps that’s because of social conditioning, but I swear I’ve read somewhere as a criticism to Brave New World that “community raising” was one of the worst things you could do for a child because they have no defined role model, and the lack of stable environment that doesn’t offer independence will basically make them dependent on others.

Nearly every solution I have to a problem these days is to simply not live in an industrial society, so I won’t give any suggestion beyond that.

Well, if I must… Attachment is kind of a complicated thing to get into, and it seems some of the older research may have been flawed, but it’s pretty fair to say that parental bonds are very important. I say it that way because I might turn out to be wrong some day, and I’m acknowledging that, but evidence seems to suggest… There’s a lot of argument about how much parents have an influence on their children in the long run, and so on, but let’s not get into that.

        Harry Harlow’s awful, awful experiment with rhesus monkeys showed that children need more from their parents than just food. Physical comfort actually mattered more to them than survival! Unsurprisingly, without proper parenting, the monkeys had a lot of problems. Some of them were allowed to have children, and those babies probably fared worse than the original batch. Unfed at best, or flat out murdered by their parents… After being isolated, they just didn’t understand basic social concepts.

        It may seem like I’m rambling, because isolation is different from having two dozen parents. Isolation, being the worst case scenario, shows what happens without any parental attachment. Without dedicated parent(s), that they’d spend enough time with to form solid social bonds and to act as good role models, they might end up with any number of problems. I’d sooner teach good parenting than crowdsource it. Why rely on good parents to balance out the bad, when you could eliminate bad parents entirely?

        Granted, it’s a lot harder to do that for seven billion people than a few thousand or however many live on this island utopia. I just don’t think there are that many benefits to sharing a child and leaving them without a real family - and having a family certainly doesn’t exclude the possibility of being a part of the community. So I don’t see what, if any, benefits there would truly be compared to actual good parenting.

3net slum·Source: thegreatcrate

Now that I’ve started tagging my posts, I’m getting followers from random corners of the ‘net who are probably only interested in one portion of what I post. Unfortunately, this isn’t a dedicated gaming blog or a blog about anime or any one specific thing. It’s my personal blog, so it’s only about those things insofar as they’re a part of who I am. I wouldn’t bother to follow someone if I wasn’t interested in most of their posts, but that’s just the way I do things.

        As I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t some expertly curated internet persona. I’m not trying to present some ideal version of myself and get thousands of readers. I’m just sharing myself with anyone that’s interested, including my flaws (not that I have many… right?!). Looking back, there are some posts that I probably shouldn’t have made, and a number that I wouldn’t have bothered to make now. But that’s ok, because they’re wholly representative of who I was when I wrote them. I can read them and remember how I felt at the time or think about how much I’ve changed.

        Just keep that in mind if you ever decide to brave my archives.

————————————————————-

        On an unrelated note, I’m starting to feel a bit guilty about how I’ve been spending my time lately. Having failed spectacularly thus far to establish a new circle of friends in Ottawa, I’ve got nothing to do other than hang out by myself and do whatever I feel like doing. Watch a bit of anime, play three different games for an hour each, whatever. It hasn’t been particularly stressful, but it’s not like I’m having the time of my life.

        I’m looking at forcing myself to do something productive, but I… don’t really want to. I guess I should mention that, for better or for worse, I do have a job. More on that later. It doesn’t start until July, though, so I’ve got some time to relax. Should I really spend that time working on something I don’t really want to do, like learning C? I guess that could help me get a job next summer. But I have a hard time caring right now. I don’t think I’d feel particularly fulfilled if I were working on that. Which is what I’m looking for, really - something I can be proud to have accomplished. Just not sure what that is at the moment.

Game review scores lol4

You’re expecting a lengthy diatribe, right? For once, you’re (mostly) wrong!

I’ve used the terms “better” and “for the most part” several times in this review, and I think those two terms sum up inFAMOUS 2 well. It’s not perfect, and it’s not quite a great game, but it’s better than its predecessor and for the most part very good. It’s a game with plenty of enjoyable content, and it’s one you won’t regret buying. It is, quite simply, a good time.

That’s the ending paragraph of the review, and here’s the score: 87/100. I played the first inFamous, and here’s what I’ll say about it: it’s your average third person adventure title. After playing the demo of inFamous 2, I have this to say: it’s still your average third person adventure title. But now it’s a sequel. I doubt I’ll even rent it, because I’ve got other, fantastic games to play.

So why is this game, one that’s pretty much average, not quite great, but still pretty fun, getting 87/100? Why is every review it receives going to give it an 8 or 9, with the most blasphemous heathens stooping to a 7? Ask any self-respecting critic, in any other medium, what score they’d give to something fun, but not quite great. They’ll probably say 6 or 7. And they’re right. It’s game reviewers who are wrong.