But it IS a life skill. It's not comparable to reading or writing maybe, but it is comparable to financial planning. People don't learn to write budgets properly so they go broke. People don't know how computers work, even just the basics, but operate these machines every day as part of their work and their home life. Knowing how to use a command line to look for viruses, how to monitor your home network, or even what a bit of code looks like - enormously useful skills that make you a more savvy, thoughtful, and protected citizen.
See, that is a thoughtful, reasonable argument. No ad hominem attack, suggesting someone "[gets] off on making beginners feel like they're worthless for attempting something".
Consider writing a blog post that actually responds to Jeff Atwood's post, rather than a straw man constructed from his title?
Wherever you want. It's your life, learn what you want to. You don't have to wait for some internet celebrity to tell you what you should or shouldn't be learning.
Herein lies the rub, though. We have to choose what we want to teach our kids. That's how the current system is established anyways.
The current system does not let you "learn what you want to."
It teaches you an established core curriculum.
Personally I think an overhaul of the education system would be far more productive than letting internet celebs duke it out until their agenda gets pushed down the throats of K-12 students.
I disagree with movie theatres, mice, and phone numbers. Phone numbers are convenient as a primary key for people and are already ingrained in our consciousness, why would we get rid of them?
Movie theatres are more about the common experience, and I think will continue to be so. The author misses the point, you don't go to watch a movie, you go to the movies. It's so ingrained in our culture and has grown to be such a bigger thing than just passive watching. When it comes down to it, people like lining up and hanging out with people for something exciting and new. Look at Apple releases and video game releases, people still line up and dress up to go do things collectively.
And mice are just more accurate than touch and less cumbersome for navigation.
I actually logged on to make the point that the author is behind on the phone number front. In the context of his example, (asking a girl on the bus for her phone number), phone numbers were dead when I was in high school. (10 years ago) Back then, for me, it was AOL screen names. That's what you asked for. that's how you communicated. today, I think it's morphed back to phone numbers, so you can TEXT. And kids LOOOOVE their texting.
but I guess the author does have a point, that we dont need to remember numbers anymore. I dial by user-name (or, simply, name), if you will...
I was going to suggest this, it's excellent and exactly what you're talking about. He encourages creation as it gives you a focus and goal for consuming online. Great stuff.
The author isn't talking about games though, nor is he really talking about "storytelling." He's saying that the philosophical bent and diversity of the game makes it the most important sci-fi universe. Your argument has a great angle, but as for godless diversity and the insignificance of man, Vernor Vinge has definitely been there before.
Magicians have this unspoken rule that whoever popularizes a trick owns it. Maybe the author, like me, didn't have the fortune of being exposed to Vernor Vinge. But be that as it may, there must be something commendable in how Bioware has chosen to integrate these concepts that Vernor pioneered and package/tweaked and EXTENDED it into something that is palatable to the masses (the new younger demographic at that) I am quite certain they needed to tone down hardcore parts of it for the game to be somewhat entertaining as you can see in their more in-depth exploration of the universe thru novels and comics. The future movie is a result of the success of the game. Hence the concepts of godless diversity and insignificance of men will have reached and incepted more minds. That is why its very important. But 'important' is a very subjective word so disagreement and put-downs are to be expected.
