Computers are All Tactics and No Strategy
Chess computers don't have psychological faults, but they do have very distinct strengths and weaknesses, far more distinct than any equivalently strong human player would have. Today, they are so strong that most of their vulnerabilities have been steamrolled into irrelevancy by the sheer speed and depth of brute force search. They cannot play strategically, but they are too accurate tactically for a human to exploit those subtle weaknesses decisively. A tennis player with a 250-m.p.h. serve...All Play Takes Place in Temporary Worlds
All play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally, deliberately or as a matter of course…. The arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc., are all in form and function play-grounds, i.e., forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain. All are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an a...The Boundaries of a Game Versus Boundaries of Other Kinds...
What does it mean to say that games take place within set boundaries established by the act of play? Is this really true? Is there really such a distinct boundary? In fact there is. Compare, for example, the informal play of a toy with the more formal play of a game. A child approaching a doll, for example, can slowly and gradually enter into a play relationship with the doll. The child might look at the doll from across the room and shoot it a playful glance. Later, the child might pick it u...An Algorithm for Predicting Longevity
For the test, participants exercised on a treadmill at increasing speed and incline. While they were exercising, the researches measured peak heart rate (%MPHR) and their ability to withstand physical exertion. On that latter point, they measured metabolic equivalents, or METs, which gauges how much energy the body expends during exercise. The more intense the exercise, the higher the METs (e.g. slow walking = ~2 METs, whereas running = ~8 METs). [...] FIT Treadmill Score = %MPHR 12(M...You can get your MPHR for your age here. I found a chart of METS here for various exercises.
Activity | METS | Activity | METS |
Aerobic Dancing | 6.0 | Running 12 min/mile | 8.5 |
Backpacking | 7.0 | Racquetball | 8.0 |
Badminton | 7.0 | Rugby | 8.3 |
Basketball | 6.0 | Skating ice/roller | 7.0 |
Bicycling - 24mph | 5.0 | Skiing cross country | 8.0 |
Calisthenics | 4.5 | Soccer | 8.0 |
Golf | 5.0 | Softball | 5.0 |
Gymnastics | 5.5 | Swimming | 6.0 |
Handball | 8.0 | Tennis | 7.0 |
Hockey | 8.0 | Volleyball | 4.0 |
Horse riding | 3.5 | Walking | 3.5 |
Running 8 min/mile | 12.5 | Weight lifting | 4.5 |
Stage | Minutes | % grade | km/h | MPH | METS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 10 | 2.7 | 1.7 | 5 |
2 | 3 | 12 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 7 |
3 | 3 | 14 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 10 |
4 | 3 | 16 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 13 |
5 | 3 | 18 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 15 |
6 | 3 | 20 | 8.8 | 5.5 | 18 |
7 | 3 | 22 | 9.6 | 6.0 | 20 |
Total Durations = 21 minutes
So, if I'm understanding this correctly. If I reach a 160 heart rate out of 179.0 MPHR predicted for my 41 years of age while running 12 minute miles worth 8.5 METS. My score would be:
83.7 12(8.5) - 4(41) = 21.7
The same heart rate for my age running 8 minute miles:
83.7 12(8.5) - 4(41) = 69.7
The Sacrifices Necessary to be a Sports Star
But it’s better for us not to know the kinds of sacrifices the professional-grade athlete has made to get so very good at one particular thing... the actual facts of the sacrifices repel us when we see them: basketball geniuses who cannot read, sprinters who dope themselves, defensive tackles who shoot up with bovine hormones until they collapse or explode. We prefer not to consider closely the shockingly vapid and primitive comments uttered by athletes in post-contest interviews or to cons...A disturbing revelation. Possibly an overstatement or anecdotal, but the idea that total devotion to kinesthetic intelligence comes at the cost of other forms of intellect makes sense.
Francis Bacon on Mathematics
In the mathematics I can report no deficience, except it be that men do not sufficiently understand this excellent use of the pure mathematics, in that they do remedy and cure many defects in the wit and faculties intellectual. For if the wit be too dull, they sharpen it; if too wandering, they fix it; if too inherent in the sense, they abstract it. So that as tennis is a game of no use in itself, but of great use in respect it maketh a quick eye and a body ready to put itself into all postur...He likens it to tennis, not useful in itself, but teaches skills useful elsewhere in life.
The Mother-Infant Dyad
In a more evolutionardy appropriate infant-caretaker scheme, the infant is a social partner, part of a dyad. Both mother and infant are interested in being in equilibrium, that is, in a stable and contented state. This goal is adiieved by mutual regulation, by reciprocity, and by keep¬ ing tabs on each other. This system nicely describes the infant-caretaker pair, and as I have presented in Chapter Two, there is a great deal of evidence that infants and those who love them are attuned to eac...There is a reciprocal relationship between mother and baby and dysfunction occurs when one side does not reciprocate.
Cybernetics as a Trait of Living Organisms
One of the most characteristic properties of all living organisims, from the smallest to the largest, is their capacity to develop, operate, and maintain systems which set a goal and then strive to achieve it through the cybernetic process of trial and error. The discovery of such a system, operating on a global scale and having as its goal the establishment and maintenance of optimum physical and chemical conditions of life, would surely provide us with convincing evidence of Gaia's existenc...The feedback look, sensation and response to it, are a crucial characteristic of living beings. We feel that cold is a punishment, prompting us to find warmth, while learning skills involve feedback loops of rewarding.