Class Notes April 25th 2011

class notes
from the forum:
Hillary_B: I was reading an interview and made me think about this class and communication. Having dark corners, interested in making you see how true to yourself you are.
Anne: being cautions of knowing too much. danger?

Leamirella's conversation with Chorost:
He mentions something about being able to “turn on& off” he talked about how you can chose what info to put out there. And then talked about really good anti virus and security  yet there’s always a  way to get around.
Lea’s question: becoming more aware, thinking about being part of the internet. Do you as human, id you had all this technology in your brain, wouldn’t it change the creativity o f your self.
Haraway talks about breaking the binary, physical and non-physical. We’re taught from the beginning that you are an individual, you are special. I have a hard time to understand something that is not known.

Issue w/ Tron: Legacy:
Sadie: Privileges the programs being more intelligent.
CLue wants to take over as a program, but he doesnt understand the users seeking perfection. He can’t ever progress. wont be good enough, because he doesnt have the knowledge.
there was a hierarchy b/w the users and programs.

Anne: dont the isos break the binary?
Sadie: no, they’re cyborgs on their own. They’re special.

Anne: Does breaking the binary refuse the binary human vs. machine, arethere no distinctions to be made? In Haraway’s cyborgian world?

Julia: One of the issues if we wanted the binary to go away, or just change the meaning. The general consensus, is to have the words to get around but not the negative connotations.
It is a matter of changing the judgement.

Leamirella: we’re using the wrong word. not binary variations. there are variations of this user program; some programs can be like users and vice versa. Variations on how much you would take from that binary.

Anne: The role of consciousness. We are programs, unconscious things we still do. I like the language of variation. to replace the notion of the binary.
Into Anda’s game which crosses the boundaries between.
Questions of the programers and users.

How many of us are gamers?
game players (play video games, not a gamer) vs. gamers?
What can you tell us about experiences. Why do you do it? Are you aware of your surrounfing.

Ashin:rewarding  seeing your character grow, gain more money. Because in real life it’s not the same. It’s easier.

Why else?

Leamirella: how are we defining gaming? casual gaming? regular gaming?

Anne: We should say what we do.

Tiffany: not a gamer, but I usually play tricks and combos, with controlers. vry fast pace. intense and hard to get used to it.

Kate: I play console games. Wii, PSP. and online games too. Mostly zombie games. independantly and with other people.

Anne: how solitary and colaborative

Maria: console w. othe rpeople. And other dull games: farmville  I literaly stayed up to keep leveling up.

Julia: for stress relief. online pc games. and after working on homework it woudl be nice to defend a base.

Hilarry_G: my brother raised me to be a cool gamer. Masively multyplayer online World war craft. Online playing fictional worlds. I was bored then i had stuff to do an i stopped.

pherNic: I play MMO dungeons and dragons.  play by myself. Hack and slash. fight a lot but i enjoyed playing alone. I get to solve puzzles. I buy muscle. In the game you get treasure if you solve a request. with actual players. I dont play for money, i play for free, you can support myself with

Riki: console; nintendo, Zelda, Mario.. now im mostly one player games.. sandbox (no sequence) style. I dont like playing online w/ other people. You ply online people would do bad things to your body...

Anne: How many though about the larger economy of gaming?

Julia: they send out updates on which companies come out with what.. one company, takes player input.. and things you would change about the game..

ashin: ive traded all my items with cash, I made my parents buy expensive items to then sell them.

Kate: did that too.

Anne: How many you know anda’s game? describe it?

Emma: 8 year old boy, live in a future society, chosen to be progeny, war b/w humans and aliens. He’s trained to be the new savior of humanity by fighting these creatures. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. he just thinks he’s playing games, while he’s directing the army.. he does win in the end.

he’s told at the end:
"A hundred years ago, Ender, we found out some things. That when a commander's life is in danger be becomes afraid, and fear slows down his thinking. When a commander knows that he's killing people, he becomes cautious or insane, and neither of those help him do well. And when he's mature, when he has responsibilities and an understanding of the world, he becomes cautious and sluggish and can't do his job. So we trained children, who didn't know anything but the game, and never knew when it would become real. That was the theory, and you proved that the theory worked."

He does so because he doesnt realize that he’s saving humanity..

Kathryn: he learns in the game that if you sacrifice some ships you gain in return...

Anne: interesting last text, we spent so many classes agonizing about our identities. Keeping thing private, not letting people into our individual uniqueness. how to redo solidify our identities w/ networks..

Anne: Think beyond our own identity issues. The kids in the game, Anda did not know what to do about them...What should she do?
Sadie: instead of working for the corporation, she was going to try to defend the kids. Although they would still be working for these companies, so I dont think that would solve the problem.

Jlebouvier: they would still keep coming back to work everyday. Maybe create some type of movement amongst the children workers. This have been tried and didnt work. for her to protect them is to feel she’s doing something else... maybe using this girl she has as a gamer to keep peole from approaching the games.

Anne: What happens to the money she makes?

pherNic: the way games are set up is different. The way the leveling is set up, there is a sanctioned auction, but it’s all game gold. you can get improvements from your store, but they’re limited.

Anne: maybe the outcome is to think about the global economy in whitch the game invents.
Kate: game within a game.. placing the avatar. can’t sell the items you get.
Anne: possibilities of technology. Technologies mad eus think about way in which we become human.. people who are different than the rest of us in this room.

pherNic: we’re the same in some ways, if it’s the structure of the game, get people who would play by these rules.. people who want to be part of that economies would play. it’s social contract. Seeing how people interact with eachother.

Cara: It’s good to be aware where the money is going.

The mplication of this conversation the story on your experience.

ashin: when i bought the games i never thought about the other end.

Anne: what the story is asking to do, think about the implications of our gaming.

Leamirella: How she talks about BFG, I assumed it’s a British text. The name of a book by Roll Dalls  something occurs to me, trying to make the connection b/w the book and the outside world. when reading the description i started to close read.

Anne: a story of the genre of children.

Performances:

Jaquieline and Marine:

Group excersise, needs computers.
transmission of info, how subconsiously we
how the human brain makes sense out of random algorithms.

Website: http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/PoemGen/PoemGen.htm

Samples of poems made by students in the class:

Where is the dead machine?
Lord, relationship!
Where is the rough cyborg ?
Grow calmly like a small computer.


Why does the gender evolve ?
Never love a robot.
Why does the gender grow?

Explanation by Marina and Jacqueline: 

Random algorithm, some of them kind of made sense, it shows how these algorithms as a result of choices, the brain tries to make a meaning out f them.

Realize how automatic the interpretation is. When you know it’s not.