Galen wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:27:31 -0500, "Frank J. Lhota"
> <FrankLho.NOSPAM@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> We're wandering a bit off topic here, in that we're moving from Sci-Fi
>> cartoons to Sci-Fi in general. But this discussion is too interesting
to
>> drop.
>>
>> Galen wrote:
>>> The internet ... Asimov's Multivac, which predicted a computer
>>> over Niagra Falls using the water for both power and cooling,
>>> and connected to everywhere via TELEX.
>>> Gerrold's _When Harley Was One_ included the idea of a National
>>> Data Bank.
>>> As for a decentralized computer system, I'm not seeing anything
>>> before Christopher Stasheff's _The Warlock In Spite of Himself_
>>> (1969) - but that was idea that nearly everyone in a (democratic)
>>> Galactic civilization would have an AI information manager.
>> You bring up an interesting point. A huge, globally accessible
>> electronic repository of information has been forecast in a number of
>> Sci-Fi stories. But most writers envisioned this repository as being
>> owned and maintained by some central authority. What is rare is a
>> depiction of a distributed, decentralized network of computers.
Stasheff
>> is one of the few visionaries to see this possibility.
>>
>> Check out the book "Orwell's Revenge" by Peter Huber. Huber is a
>> committed scholar of "1984" author George Orwell. As Huber noted,
Orwell
>> correctly predicted the im****tance of electronic communication. Huber
>> makes the case that Orwell erroneously assumed that telecommunications
>> inherently required central control, and hence Orwell worried that the
>> new technology would facilitate an authoritarian state. "Orwell's
>> Revenge" analyzes how electronic media ended up being a medium for the
>> rapid exchange of ideas, and includes a re-write of "1984" where Big
>> Brother is undermined by the very tele-screens it used to distribute
>> propaganda.
>>
> Stasheff did predict that communications would initially be
> centralized, and that this control would lead to a dictator****p;
> the rebellion developed a decentralized system as an essential
> component of the rebellion itself, and preserved it as part of
> the new government. His argument was that a democratic
> civilization couldn't exist unless communications were free -
> that the right to free speech was essential.
>
> He also predicted that games would become truly educational
> though - would have to be, that there is too much people have
> to know for the classroom to teach it all - but has that happened?
Yes it has. Many schools and some adult institutions use games as a
teaching tool.
> World War II was a major unit of US History, and there are several
> games about re-fighting it - some of which even include the
> economic factors that decided the real war. Is there a War of
> the Three Kingdoms game for Chinese History?
>
> And then we have Civilization for world history.
> Carmen Sandiego for geography ... any others?
> Phoenix Wright for Law ... or wait; if you followed
> his example in an actual court, you'ld be pilloried.
"Carmen Sandiego" has often been praised as an excellent educational
game. Several television adaptations have been done, including the
animated "Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?". Yay! We've veered back on
topic! (Well, not quite: "Carmen" was not Anime and was not shown on CN)
As for "Phoenix Wright", not even the game's most ardent fans would
claim that the game is a accurate ****trayal of any real court system. An
actual courtroom would actually have more problems with the game's
prosecutors than with attorney Wright. Real prosecutors are not
permitted to introduce last minute surprises, and real instances of
perjury has *much* more serious consequences.
BTW when will we see a "Phoenix Wright" TV series?
> Math, ironically, is all about computing algorithms
> by hand, and is purely rote instruction until late
> high school introduces geometric proofs. (Although,
> the best math teacher I had in high school was my
> Drafting instructor - geometric solutions of algebra
> problems for the win. The geometry class itself taught
> only theory of proofs and never mentioned that the
> techniques even could be used to solve problems.)
> Altough a game could be based on riddles, as Lewis
> Caroll did during the Victorian era. Unfortunately,
> math instruction in the US has somehow reached
> a point where a majority of adults take pride in
> not being able to balance their own checkbook.
>
> What we need are some good games about
> real economics - Trader on the Silk Road,
> Lemonade Stand, Tycoon, Loan Shark, and most
> of all: Land Shark (lending swindles are breaking
> the US economy). Oh, and a variant on Operation
> where the players try to come up with the money
> to pay for it before their relative dies.
You have some interesting ideas here, but now that the discussion has
moved from Sci-Fi to more general issues with politics and education, we
should probably continue exploring this train of thought on other
newsgroups.
> -Galen
--
"All things extant in this world,
Gods of Heaven, gods of Earth,
Let everything be as it should be;
Thus shall it be!"
- Magical chant from "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenoba****"
"Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome,
Time for this one to come home!"
- Mr. Wizard from "Tooter Turtle"
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