sparksbet's recent activity
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Comment on What are your favorite casual puzzle games? in ~games
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Comment on What are your favorite casual puzzle games? in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentMy understanding is that among Zachtronics games, Opus Magnum is frequently recommended as a good one to start with because it's one of the easiest to get into! Which says a lot about their games...My understanding is that among Zachtronics games, Opus Magnum is frequently recommended as a good one to start with because it's one of the easiest to get into! Which says a lot about their games in general lol
I'll agree, it's a pretty difficult puzzle game by normal standards, but you will know quickly if it scratches the right itch, and if it does it is very satisfying to tinker with until you manage to find a solution.
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Comment on KeenWrite 3.6.3 in ~comp
sparksbet Link ParentTo be clear, I'm absolutely not against having pdfs with documentation and examples included -- I am against having that as your only or even principle form of documentation.To be clear, I'm absolutely not against having pdfs with documentation and examples included -- I am against having that as your only or even principle form of documentation.
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Comment on KeenWrite 3.6.3 in ~comp
sparksbet LinkThe website doesn't really give me a strong pitch for why I should be using this instead of alternatives. There are existing markdown-to-pdf rendering options for very simple documents without...The website doesn't really give me a strong pitch for why I should be using this instead of alternatives. There are existing markdown-to-pdf rendering options for very simple documents without stringent formatting requitements, and I'm not sold on this being equally powerful as just using LaTeX myself. I highly doubt it's even possible for me to do an interlinear gloss in KeenWrite, since doing one in LaTeX requires using one of several different dedicated packages that I doubt can currently be represented in KeenWrite's Markdown interface. Interlinear glosses are the reason my professors first told me to learn LaTeX back in undergrad, so they're non-trivial for the field. I'm not sure whether the charts available using KeenWrite can replicate syntax trees either. While my main perspective is of course informed by my field, I suspect other fields have similar important features that might not be adequately included in a project like this.
Also, I know it's popular within the LaTeX community to put all the documentation into pdfs, but it's incredibly annoying. Some documentation in a pdf that demonstrates the outputs in situ is fine, but we've long since reached the era of searchable online documentation.
As for finding something to replace LaTeX (which I've used enough to be well aware of its flaws), I'm much more on-board with projects like Typst rather than what amounts to a wrapper around TeX. A more readable alternative to LaTeX is definitely desirable, but the people working on Typst didn't sacrifice power and versatility when designing it. I actually already have switched to Typst from LaTeX for my personal projects, and any other pdf typesetting project would have to really impress me for me to consider it close to the same caliber.
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Comment on An AI social coach is teaching empathy to people with autism in ~health.mental
sparksbet Link ParentThis is very true -- writing is a technology external to the actual meat of human language -- but I don't think the difference is super relevant to many of the skills involved here. Learning the...Learning to write in a foreign language and being able to hold a conversation in that language are not entirely unrelated, but they involve different skills that both require practice.
This is very true -- writing is a technology external to the actual meat of human language -- but I don't think the difference is super relevant to many of the skills involved here. Learning the right thing to say to seem empathetic to a neurotypical person is definitely something that can transfer between spoken and written contexts to at least some degree.
Anecdotally, as someone with a recent autism diagnosis, I do find written communication a lot easier than spoken communication, in large part because there's a bit more time to respond even in highly synchronous textual communication, which lessens my anxiety a lot. But I both have social anxiety and have never really been considered unempathetic even in spoken contexts, so I've probably not got the same flavor of symptoms as the autistic people who benefit most from this type of coaching. So, y'know, grain of salt.
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Comment on Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT in ~health.mental
sparksbet (edited )Link ParentWe do not have remotely the evidence that it is something that can be measured in any objective way, including with future technologies, because there is nothing even close to sufficient evidence...There's nothing logically stopping a objective measurement of a person's brain state and formally determining whether someone is or is not depressed.
We just don't currently understand the human brain well enough or have the technology to accurately measure its state. Its not technically impossible, it's just completely infeasible with where we currently are in neuroscience.
We do not have remotely the evidence that it is something that can be measured in any objective way, including with future technologies, because there is nothing even close to sufficient evidence that depression would be directly observable from the state of one's brain. Currently the evidence I'm aware of points to the symptoms we classify as depression not necessarily all being caused by the same sources physiologically -- different people with depression could have completely different things causing it underlyingly. Heck, that's already obviously true to some extent -- I had depression that was caused at least in part by my thyroid not working properly.
It's not impossible that eventually we'll develop the ability to directly test for and measure some mental health problems through neuroscientific methods. But it's also not remotely unlikely that for many mental health conditions, doing so is indeed not possible.
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Comment on Call of Duty: Ghosts – Power, paranoia, and orbital tungsten rods in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentThis is the other talk I watched and it was really funny lol! I doubt it'll be getting its own video like the Call of Duty: Ghosts one, but imo it was also much more fun to watch the recording.This is the other talk I watched and it was really funny lol! I doubt it'll be getting its own video like the Call of Duty: Ghosts one, but imo it was also much more fun to watch the recording.
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Comment on Call of Duty: Ghosts – Power, paranoia, and orbital tungsten rods in ~games
sparksbet Link Parentidk, Why It's Rude to Suck At Warcraft may have technically come out a couple years ago, but it's one of his more recent videos given the pace at which he uploads (it came out after Line Goes Up)....he moved on from gaming content years ago
idk, Why It's Rude to Suck At Warcraft may have technically come out a couple years ago, but it's one of his more recent videos given the pace at which he uploads (it came out after Line Goes Up). And that's if you don't count the Decentraland content as being about gaming. I wouldn't characterize him as having moved on from gaming content at all; it just hasn't been the focus of his last four or five videos.
He gave two recent PAX talks that I've seen recordings of, and iirc one of them was about Call of Duty: Ghosts, so I'm interested in seeing how he's refined it for a video!
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Comment on I had an idea for a Crusader Kings, but about rich families in Victoria-Modern Era. What could go wrong? in ~games
sparksbet Link ParentI think in terms of how the systems you build tell stories through the incentives they create, there's a lot of interesting stuff you can do there. I think having incentives for the...I think in terms of how the systems you build tell stories through the incentives they create, there's a lot of interesting stuff you can do there. I think having incentives for the player/characters to do things that were bad in real life isn't necessarily a bad thing -- you just need ro be very conscious of the story those incentives are telling about real-world history. This can be more complex in a simulation game like this than it is in a lot of other types of game.
You mention slavery, so I must link to this video that goes over how various Paradox games handle slavery. It's relatively short and iirc very good in how it analyzes the way different Paradox games treat the issue, and there are great comments analyzing the issue further too. It comes from the perspective of a Paradox fan as well, fwiw. He also goes through a lot of interesting history as context as well! The section on Victoria 3 is particularly apt imo.
Definitely mostly a design question for once you've got the basics up and running, as opposed to this stage in development. But I encourage you to explore what your mechanics say about the history when making a game like this -- there's a lot to sink your teeth into there!
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Comment on McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again in ~food
sparksbet Link ParentThe words "saturated" and "trans" do not appear in my comment or in the comment I replied to. The idea that someone "shouldn't want" them is absurd. Your body's hunger signals and cravings are not...The words "saturated" and "trans" do not appear in my comment or in the comment I replied to. The idea that someone "shouldn't want" them is absurd. Your body's hunger signals and cravings are not granularly distinguishing types of fats like that, and your body does actually need fats in general. Much like it also needs salt.
Also, don't tell me what I should and shouldn't want. It's not your place.
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Comment on McDonald’s is cutting prices of its combo meals to convince customers it’s affordable again in ~food
sparksbet Link ParentSometimes your body does need fat and salt, though. Not always, of course. But insisting that certain things -- especially basic nutrients like these -- are universally bad and evil to eat doesn't...Sometimes your body does need fat and salt, though. Not always, of course. But insisting that certain things -- especially basic nutrients like these -- are universally bad and evil to eat doesn't actually help improve people's health. In fact, fucking up someone's relationship with food by moralizing too excessively is potentially far more harmful to their health, as it can absolutely itself lead to unhealthy or even disordered eating habits.
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Comment on Famous cognitive psychology experiments that failed to replicate in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentI've been hornier when ovulating at times for sure (though it's far from as consistent as a lot of people make it out to be), but I haven't noticed it changing who I am attracted to on any axis.I thought that women just find every guy attractive when they're ovulating.
I've been hornier when ovulating at times for sure (though it's far from as consistent as a lot of people make it out to be), but I haven't noticed it changing who I am attracted to on any axis.
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Comment on Thoughts on wallpaper? in ~life.home_improvement
sparksbet LinkWe removed wallpaper from one of the bedrooms in my childhood home -- wallpaper that was definitely not remotely as old as the 60s to 80s... it was from the 90s at the oldest, and it was an...We removed wallpaper from one of the bedrooms in my childhood home -- wallpaper that was definitely not remotely as old as the 60s to 80s... it was from the 90s at the oldest, and it was an absolute ordeal that took at least a week of full-time work from multiple people (though admittedly all family members rather than professionals). I think you are underselling how bad removal can be.
Aesthetically, wallpapering all four walls often doesn't fit my sensibilities, but there's so much variance there based on personal taste that it's harder to weigh in there.
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Comment on What heritability actually means in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentAh, yeah, that's a fair enough observation. It's a common thing to hedge a little when making claims, just in case you happen to be mistaken or have gotten something wrong (I know I do this a lot...Ah, yeah, that's a fair enough observation. It's a common thing to hedge a little when making claims, just in case you happen to be mistaken or have gotten something wrong (I know I do this a lot myself), so it's refreshing, straightforward writing to not hedge at all and just say "I'm right." And in this case, I think the author backs it up enough that it pays off!
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Comment on No comply: private equity and skateboarding, or how private equity is gutting skateboard culture in ~finance
sparksbet Link ParentThe vast majority of people who argue for a return to the gold standard are weird crackpots (or fans thereof parroting them), so I'd take it with a pretty big grain of salt.The vast majority of people who argue for a return to the gold standard are weird crackpots (or fans thereof parroting them), so I'd take it with a pretty big grain of salt.
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Comment on What heritability actually means in ~science
sparksbet Link ParentNot really sure why, tbh. The LLM is responding in accordance with common human assumptions/misconceptions in the same scenario -- I too immediately assumed English's heritability would likewise...Not really sure why, tbh. The LLM is responding in accordance with common human assumptions/misconceptions in the same scenario -- I too immediately assumed English's heritability would likewise be zero at first because I didn't take second language learning into account.
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Comment on ‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened in ~life.men
sparksbet Link ParentI mean that's just something people actually say all the time lolI mean that's just something people actually say all the time lol
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Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentFor undergrad, I attended one of the few US universities (perhaps the only one?) with a non-Minimalist focus when it came to syntax. I still remember how much fun it was when they invited a...For undergrad, I attended one of the few US universities (perhaps the only one?) with a non-Minimalist focus when it came to syntax. I still remember how much fun it was when they invited a Minimalist from another university to give a talk -- I did formal semantics/pragmatics, so I didn't really care much about the finer points, but no one bickers like the syntax guys.
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Comment on What's a question you could ask to determine if someone is an expert in your line of work? in ~talk
sparksbet Link ParentGod asking someone if they're a generativist is such a boringly broad question to ask at the theoretical linguistics parties. At least ask about UG to get a real fight going.God asking someone if they're a generativist is such a boringly broad question to ask at the theoretical linguistics parties. At least ask about UG to get a real fight going.
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Comment on Germany legal case alleging adblockers violate copyright in ~tech
sparksbet Link ParentThe German legal system is notably not a common law system, but a civil law system. One of the principle differences is that German courts are not bound by the precedent of previous court decisions.I don't know how the German legal system works, but the US legal system is common law, meaning the law is heavily defined by precedent.
The German legal system is notably not a common law system, but a civil law system. One of the principle differences is that German courts are not bound by the precedent of previous court decisions.
Zachtronics games tend to fall into one of two categories -- the ones that are this kind of... assembly puzzle, for lack of a better term? and the ones that are more coding/computer science-y. In my experience what people typically recommend for beginners is Opus Magnum as the first of this kind, and Exopunks as the first of the more coding-y type. I've really enjoyed both (and will probably move on to more Zachtronics games once I'm done with them) but I can definitely see other people only vibing with one kind or the other.