Bucky tutorials

I'm to be starting an OU degree soon in computer science until then I am tutoring myself through Bucky Robert's site:

http://thenewboston.org/

 For those of you that do not know who Bucky Roberts is, he is a YouTube educator that runs you through the basics of pretty much every language out there as well as some other tutorials on random stuff like how to make a go-kart from scratch and how to survive in the wild. The guy is extremely engaging and really simplifies the basic of computer programming, a real must for someone whos finding the languages of the coding world a little to alien.

 To help keep the learning of Computer Science interesting I decided to adopt a cool side hobby in 'game design'. Being naively unaware of how much work and complicated computer practice goes into game design I went in search of a little help and stumbled upon another great YouTube educator 'BergZerg'.

BergZerg's YouTube channel 'BurgZergarcade' hosts a unity RPG Game tutorial which runs you step by step through the creation of a full RPG game. Its very basic in terms of visuals so don't be expecting to whip out the next WoW (as you'll soon find out how ridiculous an idea that is) but in terms of being introduce to the demands of game design it is amazing.

His actual site has the original videos and a few more on different topics so worth a quick nosey if you like his work.

http://www.burgzergarcade.com/

^I find the combination of these two tutorials especially the newboston C# tutorials and the bergzerg game design tutorials, really allows you to understand the applications of the simple codes you learn and how they work in a wide variety of scenarios. If you are interested in game design regardless of age or experience I really recommend checking these both out. 

Life 2.0

 A user based documentary on Second life players.

http://www.putlocker.com/file/BDBD149C71AE0F6B#

I personally am not the biggest fan of Second Life but this documentary is for anyone who loves the internet as it really explores life's lastest dimension in so many brilliant ways. What should be a 'nerdy' documentary ends up becoming a very philosophically and emotionally challenging short film, you really do engage with the users and their lives for a short time draw parallels to your own. Definitely worth a watch.
Its main themes surround addictions, affairs, exploring sub-conscious feelings, ignoring real-life, the losers, the winners and the business of the second life world. It also poses many interesting philosophical questions about reality.

Tell me if the link goes down, I'll find a new one. :)

Human reasoning errors

 Having been quite an introspective person naturally I began reading into how to improve cognition, basically make my mind more efficient. The main method through both experience and 'fact' is meditation (I use the term fact loosely as its in part borderline 'pseudo-scientific' claims and theories). I could rant and rave all day about the therapeutic benefits of mediation but this is a blog about computing so I'd recommend you to have a look up yourself, I think it helps sort your head out in all kinds of good ways.

 Back to the topic at hand, human reasoning errors, what I mean by this is how we make those super fast judgements and find alot of them to be massively wrong and some of them to be completely correct, with no seeming order to this process. So I went on an internet adventure exploring what is really going on when these weird processes happen with no seeming conscious control. It turns out conveniently enough that the mind is very similar to a computer in that it stores data based on past experience and relays them automatically to fit similar situations in the present. Sometimes this saves time sometimes it doesn't. This process is labelled under a subject known as Heuristics.

Incredibly interesting article explaining the reasoning behind heuristics and cognitive biases;

http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/works/heuristicsandbiases.htm

 A quick summary from this article; essentially the human brain has so much sensory input to handle that it has its own coping mechanisms which aid it in its daily function. The mechanisms are based, so we believe, on a kind of complex association system in which a certain action (e.g opening a door) is stored in the long term memory and when a similar scenario is encountered again for example reaching another door, the mind automatically assumes that this door must be like the 'door' object of previous encounters so the same principles are assumed to apply and the same action is therefore executed. Whilst this system is very economical and efficient it obviously has numerous limitations.

 An example demonstrated in the text is 'a group of people asked to work out a sum by way of a 5second guesstimate .The example shows just how we will engage our brains to apply previous rules and assumptions to the problem.

 The Question:
    Consider the product of the series:

9 x 8 x7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x3 x 2 x 1 = ?
vs.
1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 = ?

 The typical answers: 

9*8*7*6*5*4*3*2*1 'usually comes out at an average of 4000'
however,
1*2*3*4*5*6*7*8*9 'usually comes out at around 500'

The actual answer is 362,880.

This very basic example shows just how the association function is sometimes limiting and how easy it is to engage it.
The article also explains the different categories of heuristic failure and when and how they are limiting. Examples such as logic assumptions and ignorance to statistics due to emotive association (terrorism vs cancer).

 Worth a re-read every now and then to avoid problem solving genercism as it will occasionally be defeatist.
Shown below is the cognitive process by which people are encouraged to avoid bias.

 

 If this doesnt make immediate sense, consult your mind in an introspective manner, or read the article