09 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Video Games Require the Scientific Method
Video games aren’t as easy as they seem
to the uninitiated. One cannot simply
sit down and immediately begin
shooting those aliens. One must first
learn how to play the game. Gee (2003)
suggests that skilled players learn to
play using a four-step probing process
(p. 90):
1. The player must probe the
virtual world by looking around
the current environment, clicking
on something, or engaging in a
certain action.
2. On the basis of the probing
results, the player must form a
hypothesis abou...Folksonomies: scientific method gamification
Folksonomies: scientific method gamification
1 
notes
notes18 APR 2014 by ideonexus
Early Statement on the Scientific Method
The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration and not the sayings of human beings whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to...Folksonomies: science scientific method
Folksonomies: science scientific method
1 notes
notesFrom Alhazen.
24 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
MMO Players Use the Scientific Process
In MMOs, individuals collaborate to solve complex problems within the virtual world, such as figuring out what combination of individual skills, proficiencies, and equipment are necessary to conquer an in-game boss dragon in the example above. As part of developing efficient and effective solutions, players are customarily expected to research various game strategies and tactics by consulting on- and offline manuals, databases, and discussions, as well as by using such knowledge as the basis ... 1 notes
notesThey hypothesize, collaborate, experiment and test their ideas in the virtual worlds to learn how they work.
22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Ask Nature Many Questions at Once
No aphorism is more frequently repeated . . . than that we must ask Nature few questions, or ideally, one question at a time. The writer is convinced that this view is wholly mistaken. Nature, he suggests, will best respond to a logically and carefully thought out questionnaire; indeed if we ask her a single question, she will often refuse to answer until some other topic has been discussed.Folksonomies: scientific method investigation
Folksonomies: scientific method investigation
1 notes
notesAgainst the common wisdom of asking one question at a time.
22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
The Three Principal Means of Investigation
We have three principal means: observation of nature, reflection, and experiment. Observation gathers the facts, reflection combines them, experiment verifies the result of the combination. It is essential that the observation of nature be assiduous, that reflection be profound, and that experimentation be exact. Rarely does one see these abilities in combination. And so, creative geniuses are not common. 1 notes
notesEach is a virtue, and strength in all three is rare.
21 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Science Does Not Require Talent
Anyone of common mental and physical health can practise scientific research .... Anyone can try by patient experiment what happens if this or that substance be mixed in this or that proportion with some other under this or that condition. Anyone can vary the experiment in any number of ways. He that hits in this fashion on something novel and of use will have fame .... The fame will be the product of luck and industry. It will not be the product of special talent. Folksonomies: scientific method process
Folksonomies: scientific method process
1 notes
notesIt is a simple process of thoroughness, any discoveries are just luck.
15 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
The World is a Black Box
The world with its quarks and chromosomes, its distant lands and spiral nebulae, is like a vast computer in a black box, forever sealed except for its input and output registers. These we directly observe, and in the light of them we speculate on the structure of the machine, the universe. Thus it is that we think up the quarks and chromosomes, the distant lands and the nebulae; they would account for the observable data. When an observation turns out unexpectedly, we may try modifying our th...Folksonomies: scientific method empiricism
Folksonomies: scientific method empiricism
1 We don't know how it works, we only see the inputs and outputs and must extrapolate hypotheses from what we see.
15 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Observations are Grounded in Language
What are observations? Some philosophers have taken them to be sensory events: the occurrence of smells, feels, noises, color patches. This way lies frustration. What we ordinarily notice and testify to are rather the objects and events out in the world. It is to these that our very language is geared, because language is a social institution, learned from other people who share the scene to which the words refer. Observation sentences, like theoretical sentences, are for the most part senten... 1 notes
notesNot senses.
08 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Primitive Scientific Mind
There is no sort of savage so low as not to have a kind of science of cause and effect. But primitive man was not very critical in his associations of cause with effect; he very easily connected an effect with something quite wrong as its cause. “You do so and so,” he said, “and so and so happens.” You give a child a poisonous berry and it dies. You eat the heart of a valiant enemy and you become strong. There we have two bits of cause and effect association, one true one false. We ca...Folksonomies: scientific method cognition
Folksonomies: scientific method cognition
1 notes
notesIt was concerned with cause and effect, but established many wrong connections.
13 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Bayes' Theorem Means Scientific Consensus Should Converge
One property of Bayes’s theorem, in fact, is that our beliefs should converge toward one another—and toward the truth—as we are presented with more evidence over time. In figure 8-8, I’ve worked out an example wherein three investors are trying to determine whether they are in a bull market or a bear market. They start out with very different beliefs about this—one of them is optimistic, and believes there’s a 90 percent chance of a bull market from the outset, while another one i... 1 notes
notesAs more and more tests are carried out, scientific opinions should converge around the truth.
