Mindscape 169 | C. Thi Nguyen on Games, Art, Values, and Agency
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- čas přidán 17. 10. 2021
- Patreon: / seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.preposterousuniverse.com/...
Games are everywhere, but why exactly do we play them? It seems counterintuitive, to artificially invent goals and obstacles just so we can struggle to achieve them. (And in some games, like Twister, the fun is in losing, even though you’re supposed to try to win.) C. Thi Nguyen is a philosopher who has developed a theory of games as an art form whose medium is agency. Within each game, we have defined goals, powers, and choices, and by playing different games we can experiment with different forms of agency. A dark side of this idea is to be found in “gamification” - turning ordinary-life activities into a game. Games give us clarity of values, and that clarity can be seductive but misleading, leading people to turn to conspiracy theories about the real world.
C. Thi Nguyen received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently associate professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah. He has written public philosophy for venues such as Aeon and The New York Times, and is an editor of the aesthetics blog Aesthetics for Birds. He was the recipient of the 2020 Article Prize from the American Philosophical Association. His recent book is Games: Agency as Art.
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Sean Carroll channel: / seancarroll - Věda a technologie
After Sean said: "and he has a theory..." I totally expected him to say "a game theory"
This episode is so good, it's probably one of my all-time favourites!
I am a simple man, professor Caroll upload a video, I click.
Hope you feeling amazing.
Thank you for having such a broad range of topics with everything you do!
That was fun! I didn't expect such a broad scope. Thank you both
it's like I don't want to listen to this because I will run out of Sean Carroll content!
Very good stuff, amazing topic, really enjoy listening to smart people speak
I feel he's very excited and passionate about his work, I agree, very intriguing and I love his energy
Terrific! One of my favorite episodes. Helpful discussion of how to know which experts to trust or distrust.
Nguyen thought he was on Joe Rogan's podcast :)
great conversation. Thank you so much for keeping it game. :)
Listening to this while playing a game 👍
Prof Nguyen just gamed Mindscape. In terms of sheer ideas per minute, F bombs, and brillant synthesis, I think we have a winner. "and that is my TED talk"
Super interesting topic(s)! Thanks Sean
Again two wonderful minds and not to forget brilliant speakers... In light of new gained knowledge, I grant gryffindor 60 points!
Great episode
14:00 Great point!
I can already tell this is gonna be a good one lol
Interesting topic!
Love this talk
Professor Nguyen is a very charismatic and interesting guest, this episode made me interested in his work.
same here, just went and bought his book.
I too see that qualitative based games (collaborative and subjective economies, rather than competitive and centralized economies as in money and "likes") along with meaningful storytelling as the key to our planet emerging out of the dark ages of human-level single cellularity, and into the light of a global organism. To start, I use a simple (heh) inquiry process called Speaking Up that is effectively the learning/grieving process of moving through fight, flight, freeze, and flow.
Loves: What are my most precious persons and places that I most want to take excellent care of?
Losses: How have they not been able to get what they needed to flourish in the past?
Dreams: In what ways would I most love to honor them or support their needs in the future?
Needs: What basic resources do I most need to achieve this goal?
Yes
I'm only 10minz, but I want to understand the elements of cheating at games & the implications of doing so¿
when he talks about playing against his wife and finding startegy guides, that is kinda like 'cheating' so he doesn't read them, because the goal for him is the challenge of the game, making his own strategy, not exactly about cheating, but it touches on it
@@Flum666 cheers for responding 👍🏻 👌 🖖
Two further (possible?) arguments for striving play, in the video game context at least: 1) video games have difficulty sliders. If games were solely for achievement, then why don't many players (most?) not play the game on the easiest difficulty for the easiest/guaranteed win? If all that matters is winning, then I see no reason not to do that. Yet, most don't play on the easiest and want a decent challenge. 2) Some games have cheat codes, but not everyone uses them. Even if they do, they usually do so after beating the game first. If all that matters is achievement, then why don't we all use cheats to win in the easiest matter (which most don't do at first).
Games
Squid Game.....
This was an interesting podcast for sure.
Here’s the criticism. I admit it’s probably trite to most people and I am the old man yelling at the kids to get off my lawn.
If I had a dollar for every “ like” he used, I’d beat the inflation rate.
Almost said cut to the chase at the beginning!!! Plus worst pot cast ever!! Thank👀