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July 24 2010
Insufficient data [Charles Stross]
SF writer Charles Stross tackles the question of how many people it takes to maintain our technological civilization [he guesses at least 100 million] and the political implications thereof. One consequence is that autonomous space colonies aren't feasible because they'd need huge numbers of people to keep their technology going.Insufficient data [Charles Stross]
SF writer Charles Stross tackles the question of how many people it takes to maintain our technological civilization [he guesses at least 100 million] and the political implications thereof. One consequence is that autonomous space colonies aren't feasible because they'd need huge numbers of people to keep their technology going.October 09 2009
Introduction To Game Theory
An introductory article on the mathematics of game theory (prisoner's dilemma, Nash equilibria, zero-sum, etc.) Looks fairly nontechnical and clearly-written. 39-page PDF.August 12 2009
EVE Online creates exotic financial instrument to combat gold-farming - Boing Boing
More proof that real life is slowly transmuting into a Charles Stross novel. "EVE Online is trying to combat gold-farming (working on repetitive in-game tasks to amass wealth and levels that can be sold to wealthy, time-poor players) by tinkering with its monetary supply, creating a special instrument call the PLEX that entitles a player to an extra 30 days' playtime."February 02 2009
Life at Wal-Mart - Boing Boing
Wired magazine writer Charles Platt takes a job at Wal*Mart to see if it's as bad as people say: “I read Nickel and Dimed, in which Atlantic contributor Barbara Ehrenreich denounces the exploitation of minimum-wage workers in America. Somehow her book didn’t ring true to me, and I wondered to what extent a preconceived agenda might have biased her reporting. Hence my application for a job at the nearest Wal-Mart. [...] “The job was as dull as I expected, but I was stunned to discover how benign the workplace turned out to be...”January 30 2009
Creating Balanced In-Game Economies [Gamasutra]
“EA Maxis designer and programmer Soren Johnson (Spore, Civilization IV) visits a wide variety of games both past and present to examine the complex issue of desigining player economies”January 26 2009
Why Obama should play boardgames
“What would it look like if we had a president who played boardgames? There are many good lessons a president could learn from playing boardgames. ... “A strong economy is necessary but not sufficient to win the game: Most of my favorite games have an initial build-up phase while players maneuver to construct ways in which to increase their income. As the game progresses, money becomes less and less important and players spend their cash freely to earn victory points to win the game. In these games (such as Puerto Rico, Dominion, Saint Petersburg, and Race for the Galaxy) the most important decision players face is when they should switch their focus away from earning resources and instead put their efforts into gaining points. The US economy is an important thing and the president needs to be trying to find ways to improve it, but it shouldn’t be the end-all or be-all of his concerns. ...”November 26 2008
Overprice Tags
Homemade price-tags to stick onto journals at academic libraries. “Overprice tags are a great way to alert researchers to the ridiculous price that institutions are paying for access to scholarly works. Picking up a journal with $25,000+ USD price tags raises eyebrows. In some cases, it even outrages people. Done well, overprice tags will channel this outrage into a range of productive open access activities and pressure that will ultimately end in a more equitable arrangement for scholarly publishing.”
Reposted by
sofias
sofias
October 24 2008
Is maths to blame?
A nice overview of the math[s] behind the financial schemes that led to the current crisis. (From the math blog Plus.)September 28 2008
Living through Interesting Times [Charles Stross]
Superb, thought-provoking new essay on near-future politics/economics from an SF perspective, by one of the best current SF writers. And read the comments, too — they're all good, including Stross's responses. "We are living in interesting times; in fact, they're so interesting that it is not currently possible to write near-future SF ... it can take three years for a writer's idea to find its way onto the bookshelves. Pity the authors responsible for the rash of cold war novels that came out in 1990-91". "Put yourself in the shoes of an SF author trying to construct an accurate (or at least believable) scenario for the USA in 2019. Imagine you are constructing your future-USA in 2006, then again in 2007, and finally now, with talk of $700Bn bailouts and nationalization of banks in the background. Each of those projections is going to come out looking different."
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