Best products from r/pbsideachannel

Oh hay! I was actually just reading something that was mentioning this intersection of politics and language. I was reading "The Art of Not Being Governed" in a section describing the process of how people or groups would deliberately avoid or remove themselves from the power of the state by a process he calls "dissimilation" (as opposed to assimilation). "State Space" for Scott isn't just that area under political state control, which could be rather small. It would project itself beyond the boundaries under direct control through cultural influence: religious ideas that would emphasize a divine king, social structures that emphasized hierarchical organization, and critically common languages that would allow people to easily communicate, trade, negotiate, or command if enslaved. So various peoples, both expats from the state and outsider peoples who resisted domination, would not just "run to the hills" to put physical distance between themselves and the state but also emphasize, embrace, or in some cases wholly construct separate cultural identities to "dissimilate" themselves from the culture of the state peoples. This would go as far as for a non-state people whose language would be linguistically similar to a state people language to claim ignorance, as though they're not speaking the same language, similar to how African and Indian slaves in the Americas would resist their colonial masters by claiming not to understand instruction.

So in opposite to the Nation-State idea of a shared cultural identity creating a political system, this is a political system creating a shared cultural identity.

Also random related question: I know in America-land, when people want to emphasize the differences between each other (for political or other reasons) we will quite often first emphasize the "weird" way the other talks. Like how resistance to the Bush administration loved to make fun of Texan accent, or rural populists will exaggerate an almost posh-like accent for city-folk. Is that also true for other languages/places?

I just finished reading Chris Kohler's 'Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life' so a lot of my thoughts probably derive or have been influenced by that. But if you want more reading, that is probably a good place to look.

On one hand, while Nintendo doesn't really push the boundaries of graphical fidelity, I would argue that they do push the boundaries of technical mechanics. They invented/pushed the boundaries of the d-pad, analog thumbstick, shoulder buttons, the save system (beyond passwords), controller rumble, portable gaming, touchscreen gaming (before smartphones), motion control and the use of gyroscopes/accelerometers, VR gaming (hellow Virtual Boy), and probably more. The visuals of a video game are only one of the ways in which you interface with the game. Nintendo simply chooses to refocus their efforts of player-game interface away from visuals and more to tactile UX. One of Miyamoto's earliest jobs at Nintendo as a designer was to improve the design of a driving wheel for a game, making it able to be used both left and right handed, and changing instructions from short text blocks to more universally understood icons.

Speaking of Miyamoto, I think another contributing factor of the overall cohesive aesthetic that Nintendo has is the long continued leadership by frankly some geniuses of the industry. This may stems from the Japanese mentality of loyalty to one's company. Takeda started at Nintendo since 1971, Miyamoto at Nintendo since 1977, Iwata at HAL laboratories in 1980, Taijiri at Game Freak since 1981, Aonuma at Nintendo since 1991, Sakurai at HAL Labs since 1992 and so on. This allows for a continued vision that can last throughout the decades. A Zelda or Mario game from today has the same "feel" as that of the early years, even if many things have changed because the same creative talent behind the two games are the same. That sort of institutional knowledge is invaluable in keeping a cohesive feel between and within franchises.

Nintendo's desire to also create a game that plays well and feels right is also invaluable. See modern games that basically are beholden to hit specific deadlines and have a sequel out every year, and compare that to how Breath of the Wild was continually delayed in order to "get it right." The "polish" that often describes Nintendo games is a result of that. Miyamoto often talks about the "feel" of how it is to play Mario games has to be right and is constantly being tweaked. Again, this is a focus on gameplay and mechanics as the defining feature of a game, as opposed to graphics. It bears noting that one of Iwata's famous speeches at GDC is the "Heart of a Gamer" speech. Not to say that other game developer studios don't have the same passion for games. But I think the fact that Nintendo has control as both publisher and developer over the game development process is pretty key. When as a developer you don't have to care about hitting a publisher's imposed deadline because you are the publisher, you have more liberty to apply the polish or push back things as necessary. Blizzard and Valve's success with Overwatch is another example of this success where publisher and developer are the same.

I also will point to, as Kohler does in his book, the Japanese tradition of visual storytelling. Ukiyo-e woodcuts and later manga point to this. Yes we have comic books and cartoons here in the States as well, but I think culturally it isn't quite as ingrained as it is in Japanese culture. See how the haiku as a Japanese form of poetry is meant to convey the imagery, feeling and emotions of nature in such a limited scope. This tradition carried onto video games. Before Donkey Kong, the most "narrative" there was to a video game was Pac-Man. However Donkey Kong really pushed that idea of narrative in a video game with cut scenes in between levels and with a full three-arc narrative. This narrative was carried on between games in Donkey Kong Jr. Obviously other games have caught on, but this idea of story telling even with limited technical limitations has always been part of Nintendo's DNA. Even with only 8 bit graphics, they were creative enough to figure out how to convey Mario's features. That's why he has gloves and a moustance. Link has a green hat in order to tell direction. I think Nintendo clings to the adage - Constraints breed Creativity.

As others have pointed out, this idea of a cohesive aesthetic within and between franchises is not exclusive to Nintendo. Square Enix does this as well, with Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest, as does Atlus with Persona.

Mike Rugnetta made a few stretches or mistakes in explaining Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" yet the corrections still could have been used to explain the misuse of quotes or the way meaning is lost through translation both literally and through people and time.

The first is error Rugnetta mentions 'I think, therefore I am' doesn't mean I think therefore I have a body, it means I think and therefore there must be stuff, stuff which I'm comfortable labeling me thinking all them thoughts." It would have been better to quote Descartes himself (Yes, I will get to how Descartes is speaking as the I next) explicitly stating, "this 'I,' that is to say, the soul through which I am what I am." (Does Popeye owes Descartes royalties?) Thus the I is the soul and in a secular way a "placeholder". This may seem minimal but would a placeholder continue to exist if the body were removed? Descartes say this is separate from the body and thus continues despite a body being( if the body never was because "Descartes” says I is a soul not a physical thing.) The use of the word “soul” is perfect as today it connotates a religious, in but outer body thing and that is what Descartes is writing about in that Part IV of Discourse on Method.

Say Whaaaa?

Yes. Not only is this a portion of Descartes’ search for the truth (knowledge) but Part IV is about proving “the existence of God and of the human soul, which are the foundations of his metaphysics.” (This quote is from the beginning of the discourse and in in italics. I don’t know if this was from an early editor or friend or pompous Rene Descartes himself). He is constantly drowning the reader with I because he is expelling to the reader how and why he arrived at writing the Discourse. When you learn a little about Descartes’, you suddenly see how parallel the Discourse is to his early life. Thus to say the cogito’s I isn’t really a person speaking” is to ignore Descarte’s definition of I as the soul and thus a person with or without a body.

This leads me to correct Rugnetta’s claim that the Discourse’s avoidance of “you, us or we” was an omittance of the other yet applicable to the other. Descartes is completely redefining philosophy and thus the pre-science days of science. At this time, you were taught to listen, read, memorize and repeat. Scholarship was not thinking critically as we view it today (or some of us) but of absorbing the scholastics. Descartes found much of this during his youth most unsettling when he attended a Jesuit high school which taught the opposite: independent thought. There he began to seek the new topics that were banging on the gates to Universities such as mathematics and later on would conclude he needed to start anew and wipe all predisposed through teaching and get at the essential building blocks: I think, therefore I am.

Why did I tell you all that? To go to the next misused quote, I’m sure there’s something in all of Descartes’ life you could have connected the two (I don’t know much of Sartre so good luck). With No exit, I think there might have been a way to tie it in.

Anyway… Thanks Mike. Thanks for making me pull out Descartes’ Discourse on Method (Hackett, 3rd Ed), The Scientific Revolution by Steven Shapin (Uni. Chicago), and my notes from “The Age of the Scientific Revolution”, a course studying the 1500s and up. Today we call it the Scientific Revolution but to those living at the time they called it philosophy, natural philosophy, and mathematics. Wait, I take back that sarcastic thanks and replace it with a sincere thank you. It was enjoyable to reread sections of the old course material. Made me miss that course actually. Now why the hell did I spend an hour writing this crap?!! WHo'll read it?! Psh!

With mathwashing and related discussions on algorithmic bias, you guys have scratched the surface of an amazing discussion on bias and the ethics of Big Data. Cathy O'Neil is an awesome writer to follow on this topic. Just last week she released a new book Weapons of Math Destruction that discusses how algorithms are used to oppress and marginalize people throughout their lives and the guise of 'objectivity'. Here is a link if you want a quick review or countless others.

I'd love to hear more from Mike on this topic and the injustices perpetuated by algorithms for the sake of efficiency.

Oh jeez.

I actually kinda want to revisit that DDoS episode for a couple reasons. Not to least, my friend Molly, who helped with that ep, just released her book on the subject which is AMAZING. If you're looking for some reading, highly recommended.

Pairs well with another colleague's book about Anonymous that just came out, if you need new reading times two.

> a germ of a suspicion

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

There are evil people in every group, but they're always the minority. For example, as a fat white basement dwelling neckbeard who enjoys My Little Pony so much he bought the MLP RPG the very minute he saw it in store, I can assure you that A) I have no interest in Nazi MLP anything, much less MLP porn and B) Those of who have no interest in that sort of thing outnumber those that do a thousand to one, at least.

You mentioned

> I think a significant subsection of gamers don't handle nuance or emotionally complexity very well.

but I have to wonder what you mean by significant. Do you mean that there's enough to count? Well I'm right on board. You also say

>I think the majority of OW rule 34 stuff originates from the same source of insecurity, I guess, as a group like gamergate or redpill

Which is probably accurate, in the sense that all art stems from the human condition and base emotions.

But if you're suggesting that the whole is dangerous because of the few, or that the minority is significant enough that we need to do something about the majority, then you're wrong. You shouldn't feel too embarrassed, though-
It's the same wrongness we've visited on each other time and again all throughout human history.

Somewhat disappointed that this episode (or the comment episode) makes no mention of Project Itoh's award-nominated SF novel Genocidal Organ. That book is possibly another perspective on the same idea but without so much linguist hogwash as it deals with the ideas mentioned in MGSV but without the trapping of specially, say, English. I say another perspective because Project Itoh and Kojima/MGS is intrinsically linked
http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Project_Itoh

It's not to knock books like Snow Crash and others that brought up the idea about the power of language in a SF/fantasy setting, but this one has a lot more to do with the geopolitical nature of language (especially one that resonates with Japanese readers, perhaps--Genocidal Organ is one of the best selling SF novels in Japan in the 00s), and I bet Kojima's read it...

The book is now available in English via Viz/Haikasoru
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ZVNXYQ/

I'm going to challenge your assumption that non-violent 'protest' was ineffective against Nazis.

There's a book called Eichmann in Jerusalem, The Banality of Evil.

Amongst the many interesting things, it details how the holocaust was accomplished, and it wasn't through German engineering as it's often portrayed, but by simple local compliance. In other words, in regions that cooperated with the Nazis, extermination rates were upwards of 90%, in those that simply refused to turn in the neighbors, or actively harbored Jews from discovery, the rates were very low.

Non violence in Nazi occupied Europe was actually very effective a thwarting Nazi goals, and this is where the banality part comes in. We're comforted by the idea that evil is thrust upon us by overwhelming force, but the truth is far more insidious. It accomplished by simple cooperation. As impressive as the Nazi war machine was, it can't make people tell the truth or rat out their neighbors, and it's that kind of corporation that gets things done. The Nazis relied on local law enforcement and local institutions for control. They couldn't send an S.S. unit to every village.

The most controversial parts of the book even detail how Jewish organizations themselves helped seal their fate.

There wouldn't have been a holocaust if people had just refused to cooperate. Effective non-violent resistance is rarely about holding signs or posting graffiti.

War, by contrast, is sort of after the fact, and collateral damage is inherent to the process. Even "the good guys" engage in serious injustices. At all levels it represents the greatest of human failures, which is sometimes necessary, but only at the cost of much better solutions.

Ok, speaking as a someone who works in manufacturing, I don't think this will really break things all told.

Lets look at what traditional paper printers did to copyright. Say you want some art to put on your wall. Lets Say The Mona Lisa Now you can go to amazon and pick one up for 5$ (Boy, did I pick the wrong painting for this example, oh well.)

Or you could just take that image, throw it up in MS paint, and do the job yourself for a few pennies worth of paper and ink. Or take it to Kinko's and have them do it for a couple bucks if you want the full size.

This is my same view on 3d printing. Yes, you could buy a desktop model, and print whatever your heart desires, to the skill you might have (Calibration and printing issues are a thing. My local makerspace had no end of trouble with their makerbot) that the work envelope would allow. Now, yes places like shapeways would have to worry about the leaglease of it, but I have never heard of a print shop turn away something because you couldn't prove you had ownership of the image.

Oh, and his example about airplane replacement parts? Yea, that entire scenario is completely against the current FAA Regulations. The sourcing requirements for Aerospace parts are ridiculous.

Anyways, my view is as such. Currently in manufacturing, if you need something made in your city, there are a multiude of shops where you can get it done. As long as you have a print, people will probably make it for you (Assuming it is not a stolen print from a regular client. You would probally get blown in for that) With 3d printing, You have the models on Thingiverse (Unless you roll your own) and a place like shapeways that makes them. As it stands, there are currently 2 points of failures for the major supply chain here. Now, imagine a thingiverse competitor with the ethos of the pirate bay? If you can get the models anywhere, all you need to do is find a place to print them for you. And hey look, here is a site that will point you in the correct direction

tl;dr Yes, copyright might be a thing for the big national printing houses. I don't think it will actually do anything to stop smaller one off pieces. If you are going to do grey market stuff, don't advertise it or get to big.

If anybody is willing to spend a littttle more, I've been told this is a far better translation

Also, to what extent is having a working knowlege of Christianity/Christian texts necessary for understanding this particular work?

• Anything by Issac Asimov (esp. The Roving Mind and Foundation novels)
  
• Mike suggested The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
  
• S by Dorst and JJ Abrams is a fantastically complex story on a story in a story

looks like it exsists, to some extent amazon.

I recommend reading "You Died".

Here is the mobile version of your link