If it doesn’t fit anywhere else, put it here! Blogs, links, games, music, whatever floats your boat. If we get a lot of a specific genre, then next Media post, it can have it’s own sub-thread.
In the TV show Bones, one of the main characters, Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, is portrayed as a genius intellect and very rational. They use the word ‘rational’, ‘rationality’, and ‘hyperrational’ nearly every episode, always in an attempt to show its failings along the lines of Spock; classic Straw Vulcan.
In discussing this with my family (my mom and aunt watch the show), I tried to explain that what they’re showing isn’t rational, that emotions are capable of being part of a rational decision, that whenever they try to portray the character as being rational they’re meaning something different, that social skills can be learned, that people with intelligence should be better at figuring this stuff out than others, etc.
I got so frustrated that I mocked those who might enjoy such a script by assuming a ‘low class’ voice and saying, “Stupid smart people! Huhuh!” Everyone started laughing hysterically and agreed that I had hit the nail on the head: most people are entertained by realizing how “stupid” such “smart” people can be. I was merely frustrated.
This sort of thing is why the word “rational” has such a bad image.
The complete works of Capsule. They started as annoying indie hipsters and have slowly turned into a sort of Japanese answer to Daft Punk. They appear all but unknown outside Japan, and that’s just wrong. I got into them after suffering sufficient repeat exposure to “PONPONPON” (which is very big with the 4yo demographic in my house) and determining to track down the people responsible. Yasutaka Nakata also turns out utter cheese (Perfume and Coltemonikha make Kyary Pamyu Pamyu look like Motorhead), but is nevertheless clearly brilliant.
Lots of old stuff I liked in the ’80s and am now listening to in high quality on decent headphones. Hearing detail I wasn’t aware of from my memory and with the benefit of twenty-five more years’ experience listening to music. This is why there’s a market for reissues.
Many have probably already heard of this game, but Dominion is an excellent strategy card game that I quite enjoy. You can play it online for free. The basic premise if that you start with three estates, which are worth one victory point each, and seven coppers, which are worth one dollar each randomly shuffled into a deck, like Magic: The Gathering. Each turn, you draw five cards. The game (and all of it’s expansion sets) consist of specific cards, of which you randomly pick 10 for each game. Most of these cards are action cards, and will do special things. You can buy these cards with your money, putting them into your deck or you can buy better money, (Silver - $2, and Gold - $3) that will let you buy more expensive cards, or you can buy Victory cards (Estate − 1 VP, Duchy − 3 VP, or Province − 6 VP) that will help you win the game. The person with the most victory points in his deck at the end of the game wins. The game ends with you run out of three of the cards you can buy OR when you run out of provinces. (As a note, each victory point deck starts with 8 cards in the pile, and every other deck starts with 10, except coppers, silvers, and golds, which for all intents and purposes, don’t run out.)
For a more detailed explanation of a turn: Each turn, you start with one action, one buy, and you draw five cards from the top of your deck. (Technically, you draw at the end of your previous turn, but that’s largely irrelevant for understanding.) Action cards can give you additional actions, letting you play even more action cards that might let you, for example, draw more cards. This allows you to build very powerful decks based on the synergies between different cards. Once you run out of available actions or available action cards, you can automatically play ALL of your treasures. Lets say you played a Silver, Gold, and a Copper, for a total of $6, and had an action card that had given you $2. This would give you $8 total to spend, so you could buy one $8 card, or IF you had gotten an additional buy from an action card, two $4 cards.
I hope it’s clear (it’s probably not) why this game is so awesome, but if it’s not, I’d encourage you all to try a couple games. It’s confusing at first, especially when you have to look up what the cards you’re playing with do, but it’s really quite a fun game.
If anyone’s over at isotropic, my ID over there is rlumley—hit me up if you ever see me around, I’d love to play. (I actually saw a guy named Methods of Rationality, which made me think of posting this here, but he joined a game before I could say hi.)
I started playing this game thanks to you and was addicted immediately. I just woke up after having dreams about Dominion, after playing 35 straight games in a row with no breaks. I may have gained the ability to play basic games subconsciously.
Other Media Thread
If it doesn’t fit anywhere else, put it here! Blogs, links, games, music, whatever floats your boat. If we get a lot of a specific genre, then next Media post, it can have it’s own sub-thread.
In the TV show Bones, one of the main characters, Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, is portrayed as a genius intellect and very rational. They use the word ‘rational’, ‘rationality’, and ‘hyperrational’ nearly every episode, always in an attempt to show its failings along the lines of Spock; classic Straw Vulcan.
In discussing this with my family (my mom and aunt watch the show), I tried to explain that what they’re showing isn’t rational, that emotions are capable of being part of a rational decision, that whenever they try to portray the character as being rational they’re meaning something different, that social skills can be learned, that people with intelligence should be better at figuring this stuff out than others, etc.
I got so frustrated that I mocked those who might enjoy such a script by assuming a ‘low class’ voice and saying, “Stupid smart people! Huhuh!” Everyone started laughing hysterically and agreed that I had hit the nail on the head: most people are entertained by realizing how “stupid” such “smart” people can be. I was merely frustrated.
This sort of thing is why the word “rational” has such a bad image.
Music:
The complete works of Capsule. They started as annoying indie hipsters and have slowly turned into a sort of Japanese answer to Daft Punk. They appear all but unknown outside Japan, and that’s just wrong. I got into them after suffering sufficient repeat exposure to “PONPONPON” (which is very big with the 4yo demographic in my house) and determining to track down the people responsible. Yasutaka Nakata also turns out utter cheese (Perfume and Coltemonikha make Kyary Pamyu Pamyu look like Motorhead), but is nevertheless clearly brilliant.
Lots of old stuff I liked in the ’80s and am now listening to in high quality on decent headphones. Hearing detail I wasn’t aware of from my memory and with the benefit of twenty-five more years’ experience listening to music. This is why there’s a market for reissues.
Many have probably already heard of this game, but Dominion is an excellent strategy card game that I quite enjoy. You can play it online for free. The basic premise if that you start with three estates, which are worth one victory point each, and seven coppers, which are worth one dollar each randomly shuffled into a deck, like Magic: The Gathering. Each turn, you draw five cards. The game (and all of it’s expansion sets) consist of specific cards, of which you randomly pick 10 for each game. Most of these cards are action cards, and will do special things. You can buy these cards with your money, putting them into your deck or you can buy better money, (Silver - $2, and Gold - $3) that will let you buy more expensive cards, or you can buy Victory cards (Estate − 1 VP, Duchy − 3 VP, or Province − 6 VP) that will help you win the game. The person with the most victory points in his deck at the end of the game wins. The game ends with you run out of three of the cards you can buy OR when you run out of provinces. (As a note, each victory point deck starts with 8 cards in the pile, and every other deck starts with 10, except coppers, silvers, and golds, which for all intents and purposes, don’t run out.)
For a more detailed explanation of a turn: Each turn, you start with one action, one buy, and you draw five cards from the top of your deck. (Technically, you draw at the end of your previous turn, but that’s largely irrelevant for understanding.) Action cards can give you additional actions, letting you play even more action cards that might let you, for example, draw more cards. This allows you to build very powerful decks based on the synergies between different cards. Once you run out of available actions or available action cards, you can automatically play ALL of your treasures. Lets say you played a Silver, Gold, and a Copper, for a total of $6, and had an action card that had given you $2. This would give you $8 total to spend, so you could buy one $8 card, or IF you had gotten an additional buy from an action card, two $4 cards.
I hope it’s clear (it’s probably not) why this game is so awesome, but if it’s not, I’d encourage you all to try a couple games. It’s confusing at first, especially when you have to look up what the cards you’re playing with do, but it’s really quite a fun game.
If anyone’s over at isotropic, my ID over there is rlumley—hit me up if you ever see me around, I’d love to play. (I actually saw a guy named Methods of Rationality, which made me think of posting this here, but he joined a game before I could say hi.)
I started playing this game thanks to you and was addicted immediately. I just woke up after having dreams about Dominion, after playing 35 straight games in a row with no breaks. I may have gained the ability to play basic games subconsciously.
We should play together sometime.