So, here I am in a PC Bang… Korea’s full-on blippy bleepy gamers’ version of an Internet salon. It’s amazing, how connected Korea is, and I keep commenting on it because it does amaze me. It’s like out of an SF novel or something, really. Sometimes, computers are amazing machines: I can say this without hesitation when I think about the friendships I’ve formed across many kilometers and even on the far side of the world; when I think of how much I’ve learned; and when I consider how powerful they can be, these machines. That’s probably true. But I …
Neil Stephenson, Christianity, Informational Hygiene
This is the weirdest writing I have ever seen on computers and knowledge. The idea of memes is basically one of the materialist’s most powerful arguments against Christianity, after all – for memes claim religion is an idea-complex virus just like fashion and art and anything else. How can one use memes to defend religious ideas? I don’t get it. I hope this person got some medication or psychotherapy or something.
Back from Seoul
I am back from Seoul and having a hard time getting my computer to behave. It’s semi-stable, but there are little functions that are not working, to my great consternation. Anyway, I’ll get it working. Gotta de-frag the drive and I am thinking about getting a new, bigger hard drive. But I’ll need to make some specifications before buying it, since my PC doesn’t have a floppy disc drive (so I will need BIOS installed on it, or on a CD-ROM anyway… which might be possible, I don’t know, to install BIOS from a CD-ROM. I shall have to ask …
Games, Simulation, and Learning
The Adrenaline Vault | The Developers Corner This little blurb made me think of my sister’s job, teaching kids about what it means to be a refugee basicallyh by inflicting on them a slightly padded experience of being a refugee. It’s her comments about that which make me wonder about how effective electronic simulations can be for many many types of learning. After all, in games one can learn to shoot people to pieces, but I am not sure it’s so easy in real life. The visceral part is missing, and sometimes (often?) that is the most cruciual thing. Still, …
Nice Things From This Week
Here are some nice things that happened this week: – I ate Tang Su Yuk (“Chinese fried pork”, Koreans claim this is) without getting ill. It was what gave me food poisoning three (3!) times last year but I worked up the courage to try it again when the school put some out after teacher training finished. I did NOT get sick. I am pleased. – I managed to get this computer working again (I think), which is nice despite the fact I lost months and months of email archives. – My friend Young Ja helped me not only to …