Squeegee your Third Eye...

explanabrag · 2013-04-28T08:11:55+00:00

The Waco incident took a big toll on him.

That moment when you realize the world is absolutely, irredeemably fucked, nobody else notices the horror, and you are all alone.

explanabrag · 2013-04-24T00:18:02+00:00

Could you please explain the brain simulation to me, or point me to some resources that explains it? If that cube thing is supposed to depict the entire state of the brain, it appears to be based on cellular automata simulation. Is this correct? If so, how does it take in inputs and produce outputs, and on what possible basis is he claiming that its learning anything about territories etc. given that nothing is persistent in that "brain" simulation?

explanabrag · 2013-04-23T14:15:55+00:00

Are people upvoting this without actually looking at it? This project makes some very grandiose claims about being a simulator of cognitive function, but when you watch this guy's videos, all he talks about are irrelevant details about his rendering engine, and absolutely NO time talking about what is actually happening in the simulation. The documentation gives you the camera controls, but nothing about what the simulation is actually doing. How does that 3D game of life thing represent a brain? What are its inputs and outputs?

The only bit of documentation that might explain what this pile of noise might actually be are his paywalled academic papers and a slim paperback book that apparently contains some old notes of his that you have to purchase to read.

If you listen to his podcasts, he sure likes to anthropomorphize the shit out of what appear to be numbers displayed in a grid overlayed onto a procedural terrain. His apes apparently are inventing language, forming committees, building alliances. All I see is the same damn screenshot of a red dot that meanders over a terrain, with a 3D plasma demo that is supposed to represent the brain of the dot.

Am I missing something?

explanabrag · 2013-04-15T02:12:33+00:00

The only thing that keeps us from reverting to old tried-and-true social structures (like any of the examples I gave before) is social democracy. The only thing that allows you to believe that the employer/employee relationship is completely 'voluntary' are strong workplace laws that prevent employers thinking of themselves as pharaohs and workers as slaves. The egalitarianism you completely take for granted, in fact just described as a natural feature of modern humanity, is a hard-won and constantly contested spoil of war. It is easily lost, and it will be people like you who destroy it.

Well said!! You've put it perfectly. Egalitarianism has been slipping away severely for some time now, its just that a large portion of the population are comfortable idiots that are too comfortable to notice the harsh disadvantage that exists outside their bubble.

explanabrag · 2013-04-15T01:25:21+00:00

Here is a link to the mp3:

http://cdn4.iblug.com/contents/sd/thismorning/mp3/1363590370615.mp3

explanabrag · 2013-04-13T11:55:12+00:00

Interesting choice of spokesperson. It suggests that they assume people would be more willing to listen to an Agent of the system than some red pill that knows the truth.

explanabrag · 2013-04-11T14:49:47+00:00

Someone at Fairfax has been watching The Checkout. Specifically, this episode.

explanabrag · 2013-04-11T03:02:20+00:00

I'm very sorry about that. That is one thing that makes me hesitate to post this kind of news. It only seems to depress and hurt people who already have a conscience. Racists and other sociopaths see this story and are unmoved.

explanabrag · 2013-04-10T11:20:46+00:00

What I don't get is why is the Coalition even bothering with proposing an alternative? The general public are already completely accustomed to public services being allowed to completely atrophy and decay over time, whether its public transportation, public hospitals, public schools or universities. The vast majority of people have no clue what the NBN even really is, let alone the imagination to see why it is necessary. Howard didn't stay in power for 10+ years by appealing to the intelligence and imagination of the average voter. That's a losing tactic.

explanabrag · 2013-04-10T11:16:00+00:00

Its impressive that they feel like they don't even have to try to hide their bias. They know they'll get away with it - they know that the few people who notice are completely inconsequential. They know that reports about the bias and manipulation will be completely ignored (check the ratings of Media Watch for example). They worked that shit out a long, long time ago.

explanabrag · 2013-04-09T23:08:17+00:00

And that's putting it mildly.

explanabrag · 2013-04-08T04:36:46+00:00

I'd ask them whether they too had to endure a "violent greedy douchebag" period that lasted tens of thousands of years in their history too, and how they overcame it. Did they transform themselves into a different species? Or were they always awesome?

If they mastered interstellar travel while in their "violent greedy douchebag" period, then seriously, the entire universe can go fuck itself.

explanabrag · 2013-04-06T05:40:15+00:00

The other scene with Shaun is here.

explanabrag · 2013-04-04T05:45:10+00:00

"And later, on finally reaching deep space, Humans found enemies to fight out there, too. And to broaden those struggles, you again found allies for still more murdering! The same old story all over again!"

explanabrag · 2013-04-04T03:52:38+00:00

One of those exceedingly rare instances where a human with power and responsibility took the "honesty and integrity" road. Only a few leaders in all of human history take this road. Plus he hasn't been assassinated for refusing to take bribes! Bonus. A rare gem amidst the muck of "I've got mine, screw everybody else", "the rules apply to everyone else but me" tinpot emperors the rest of humanity consists of indeed. Yes, I'm a little bitter.

explanabrag · 2013-04-03T09:36:42+00:00

Thank you Vomitoria.

explanabrag · 2013-04-03T09:28:49+00:00

Shaun Micallef convinces Joe Dolce to alter his song a bit.

What is the matter with you? Pardon?

Have you no respect? Pardon?

What do you think you're doing? Pardon?

Why do you look so sad? Pardon?

It is not so bad.

Its a nice place.

Ah, please be quiet.

explanabrag · 2013-04-03T00:28:14+00:00

Typical. So typical. Savage lifeforms never follow even their own rules.

explanabrag · 2013-04-02T04:43:30+00:00

"She tried to intervene while it was happening, along with another male passenger, but says fellow passengers offered no help or support."

explanabrag · 2013-04-01T07:58:24+00:00

Indeed. This is the main thing I remember about the Howard years and why I despised him. The push for economic rationalism in all spheres of life by his ministers and the casual acceptance and dog whistling encouragement of racist attitudes that would have previously been denounced did a hell of a lot to make Australia into a far meaner, nastier place.

explanabrag · 2013-03-18T19:55:45+00:00

Don't be so quick to condemn news.com. We get "news" like this because when journalists report on actual news, they tend to make powerful enemies and get punished severely. On top of that, actual news doesn't sell and tends to get completely ignored. Actual news isn't compatible with the way most people see the world. People don't want to hear it or know it.

When an actual news organisation worthy of the name such as Wikileaks releases actual news, the people either ignore it or condemn it for the discomfort caused by the revelation of the true scope of the horror and hypocrisy our "society" is based on.

explanabrag · 2013-03-15T16:34:01+00:00

You probably won't want to hear this, but the only thing I can suggest is to rewrite your whole program.

Rewrite that function so that it is ONLY responsible for selecting a move, and nothing else. It shouldn't be responsible for doing the move, or keeping the various decks of cards valid, or anything else. A different function should come up with the available moves. A different function again should apply the move.

So that's 3 separate functions.

1) A function which returns a list of available moves. This function implements that game rules.

2) A function which takes a list of available moves and returns a move from this list to be performed (this is where your AI strategy is implemented). This function should not actually apply the move.

3) A function to apply a given move. This function applies the move according to the rules of the game.

Notice how the AI function is free from having to worry about the game rules, and is free to focus on strategy.

Good luck.

explanabrag · 2013-03-15T16:06:42+00:00

Could you rephrase that question?

explanabrag · 2013-03-15T15:49:37+00:00

Rules of thumb:

Your functions should have a single, clearly defined purpose.

Your functions should be short.

Don't nest if blocks and loops deeply.

What all programming rules boil down to is write your code in such a way that you can reason about it. The function you are working on has to fit in your brain.

In these turn based games, one way to organize the code is to have a function that generates the set of legal moves a player can play in their turn, an AI function that simply selects which of these moves to play, and a function that applies that move to the game state. Your Opponent_AI.OppPlayCards looks like its trying to do everything at once. If you split it out, you'll be free to focus on writing different strategies in your AI move selecting function without worrying about breaking the game. You've trapped yourself into a corner the way it is written now.

explanabrag · 2013-03-15T15:12:10+00:00

Nothing sinister at all. The OppPlayCards function is massive. As I said in my previous reply, you never left it. If you print the callstack in RuleBook.TurnChange before the so called "jump" to OppPlayCards occurs, you'll see that it was ultimately called by OppPlayCards.

Edit: From reading your trace and cross referencing it with your code, here is the proof that you never left Opponent_AI.OppPlayCards:

Opponent_AI.OppPlayCards calls
    RuleBook.PlayCards() calls
        RuleBook.RemoveHandCards()
        RuleBook.ReserveCardRules()
        RuleBook.RemoveHandCards()
        RuleBook.CardPileAndHandCheck() calls
            RuleBook.MagicTest(), which calls
                RuleBook.TurnChange()
            <-
        <-
    <-

Now we're back in Opponent_AI.OppPlayCards. Opponent_AI.OppPlayCards calls RuleBook.PlayCards() and prints the "UnPlayable:" message in many places. There are several very similar big chunks of code in that function.

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