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Comment Vending machine knows you better than yourself (Score 1) 216

Now the vending machine just needs face recognition so it can base recommendations off of previous purchases...and who your facebook friends are.

And I want a badge saying I'm the "mayor" of a vending machine if I buy more sodas there than anyone else.

I want a virtual pet that I can buy virtual sodas for. He will gain experience points and armor and will battle other pets.

Comment What we need is video lectures in a university (Score 1) 393

Clearly video lectures and a university setting each have much to offer. With video lectures you can pause and rewind, go at your own pace, learn from the world's best lecturers rather than your professor who is usually just average, even select a lecturer whose style you prefer. I say we switch to self-paced courses based on video lectures in university classrooms. The professor will still be there in the classroom but he will be focused entirely on his one irreplaceable contribution: answering questions and providing direct feedback to students.

Comment Probability: The Logic of Science by Jaynes (Score 2, Informative) 301

FTA: "In the 1950s and 60s, artificial-intelligence researchers saw themselves as trying to uncover the rules of thought. But those rules turned out to be way more complicated than anyone had imagined. Since then, artificial-intelligence (AI) research has come to rely, instead, on probabilities -- statistical patterns that computers can learn from large sets of training data."

From the viewpoint of Jaynes and many Bayesians, probability IS simply the rules of thought.

Comment Taking notes is a distraction (Score 1) 569

Taking notes has always detracted from my understanding of a lecture. A considerable portion of my attention is spent keeping things in short term memory until you can write them down. Meanwhile, the professor is already saying new things.

I rarely manage to write down the special insights that the professor says out loud but does not write on the board, even though these are often the most valuable parts of the lecture.

Now days I take notes with an electronic pen that records audio along with the notes I'm taking, and can play them back synchronized. But it's not as good as a video lecture would be.

Comment Number Munchers (Score 1) 160

Number Munchers was a great game that truly made you better at arithmetic in a practical way. I'd like to see a modern, 3D Number Munchers where you can level up, earn badges for achievements, unlock levels, and compete online.

Alcumus at artofproblemsolving.com is an innovative learning tool that is almost a game.

I'd like to see an RPG where the lead is a hacker, and the player must literally write programs that work in order to pass parts of the game. There is already a website for contest programming with a robot judge that tests the validity of programs students have submitted. This just needs to be incorporated into a game.

Don't water down the educational content. It doesn't have to be as fun as a normal video game. Aim for the students who want to learn. If a teacher makes you play an educational game in school, that is still a lot more fun than most classroom activities.

There is huge potential for educational games to revolutionize education, along with video lectures and other internet content.

Comment Ross program (Score 1) 87

Who tagged this "get a life?" You shouldn't even make a joke like that.

To the student--check out the Ross Young Scholars Program and other similar summer math programs. Also, if you haven't already, check out artofproblemsolving.com.

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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed -- it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer. -- A.J. Perlis

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