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Chris

Idle Weekend August 21, 2016: Magic, Mister Worf

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Idle Weekend August 21, 2016:

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Magic, Mister Worf

It's a detail-oriented weekend for your hosts, who spent this episode delving into the mysteries of the Whorfian hypothesis, their gaming compulsions, and the beauty and flaws of The Magicians. On that note, don't play racing sims without getting a note from your doctor.

Discussed: F1 2016, Splendor, Seven Wonders, Cities: Skylines, SimCity, Boom Blox, Poly Bridge, The Caine Mutiny (novel), The Magicians

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I don't really have anything to add but I just wanna say, as someone who struggles with the concept on a near-daily basis (often from a perspective of feeling guilty about not wanting to feel guilty about feeling guilty (??)), I really appreciated your discussion about exoticism and appreciating the differences in other people. It was nice to hear many of my inner thoughts echoed by some smart people.

 

Have I said I like this podcast a lot? Because I do!

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I don't really have anything to add but I just wanna say, as someone who struggles with the concept on a near-daily basis (often from a perspective of feeling guilty about not wanting to feel guilty about feeling guilty (??)), I really appreciated your discussion about exoticism and appreciating the differences in other people. It was nice to hear many of my inner thoughts echoed by some smart people.

 

Have I said I like this podcast a lot? Because I do!

 

Seriously, thank you so much! I sometimes get nervous about the reception of our more sensitive discussions, because I want to be sure that we're approaching everything thoughtfully (not scared to say what I feel, just, trying to be aware and a responsible citizen in my tiny little corner of the world!)

 

Also, thanks for listening!

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Great episode as always. I got something for Rob, but there is no way to post a URL. Can't paste it. And the URL link brings up a complicated dialog that doesn't work, and you can cancel out of it so that you can't edit whatever you typed here. The only way to get out of that dialog is to leave the forum and come back. What an irritation.

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As for Sapir-Whorf, I must say that I am impressed by how well Rob and Danielle (with help of the letters) represented and discussed the theory. I am a cognitive psychologist working in language sciences, and the relationship between language and thought (I prefer to frame it as the relationship between verbal and non-verbal behaviour) is an important part of my work. I would just like to mention one concept which I find useful, namely "thinking for speaking". If you consider how much we are used to sharing our thoughts verbally, it wouldn't be a surprise if our language biased us towards structuring thought in a way that is best suited to it, at least in communicational settings (which include writing an article or letter). The concept of thinking for speaking supports of a weak Whorfian hypothesis, and indeed weak effects have been found in several experiments including some on color perception and orientation in space (though there is some disagreement about the methods).

 

I know analysis paralysis quite well from games in which death is of big consequence. I spent way too much time with FTL paused, trying to think of the next step and slightly afraid of pressing the play button. I made similar experiences with XCOM Ironman mode. I have played a bit of Arma 3 lately, a military sim in which one bullet can kill you (Arma is most famous for spawning DayZ). So there I am, hiding in the bushes, looking at my map, trying to figure out how to best flank the enemy while my commander tells me that the clock is ticking.

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re: language influencing culture versus language influencing thought

it's rather a case of six of one, a half dozen of the other isn't it? it seems to me lived experience influences thought and culture is part of lived experience, no?

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Confession: the whole time the Sapir-Whorf discussion was happening, I honestly thought it WAS named after Star Trek's Worf, as it's such a ubiquitous TV show and Klingons do, indeed, have their own language.

 

So, you know, that's me........

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I know analysis paralysis quite well from games in which death is of big consequence. I spent way too much time with FTL paused, trying to think of the next step and slightly afraid of pressing the play button. I made similar experiences with XCOM Ironman mode. I have played a bit of Arma 3 lately, a military sim in which one bullet can kill you (Arma is most famous for spawning DayZ). So there I am, hiding in the bushes, looking at my map, trying to figure out how to best flank the enemy while my commander tells me that the clock is ticking.

 

I find Invisible Inc. quite hard to play because of this. Since everything is deterministic, and the situations your agents find themselves in are complex, your play needs to be very carefully considered. Plus, if you screw up, there's no random numbers to blame- it's all on you. The ever increasing alarm level means conservative play is eventually heavily punished, so don't think you can just take it easy. I sometimes end up staring at a tough room for a while then just save and walk away. Too much pressure to be perfect. 

 

Whereas in XCOM, another turn based game with complex situations and hefty consequences for failure I don't have nearly as much problem. Eventually I have to roll the dice and take the shot, and leaving part of the outcome to the digital dice means I don't feel as bad when things go wrong.

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I get the dopiest version of that in RPGs, where I keep reloading to check conversation paths to decide my ideal path, and then I never play them a second time.

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Nothing major to add to the conversation. I'm just really really happy Rob and Danielle can geek out on the F1 sims as much as I do. <3

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