有些问题很难回答。在研究生涯里，我回答了不少关于“长进”(improvement)的问题。比如在星际争霸的研究中，就有人问 ： 是否玩游戏对玩家有益处？ 星际争霸不是普通的游戏。 它挑战玩家多方面的所长。比如思考逻辑，反映能力， 和持久练习的能耐。但至今的访问中，多数人认为 － 没有益处 （但也无害）。游戏就是一个消遣。
为了解游戏本身，我也玩起星际来。 这游戏是战略性游戏。需要玩家思考经济建设，战略部署，和战斗攻略等问题。 两个玩家之间争战中，游戏是实际时间运行，所以玩家需要在短时间内考量并采取有利行动。为了玩好（主要不要太差），我也思考了许多玩法问题。 比如说，如果我要在游戏的第六分钟完成建立某种成分战斗部队，那经济建设和部队训练上要怎么分配？
有人提出一种理念，叫做 微小优势论 (marginal advantage)。 比如，我可以建立五个采集小组（发展经济），或五个战斗部队，我会怎么样的选择，这一切由我的对手决定。怎么说？如果我的对手选择3个采集，2个战斗；我可以选择4个采集，1个战斗。当对手的2个战斗部队到达我的阵营，我已有足够经济建设多一个战斗部队。及时打成平手，我的经济已占了 微小优势。整个星际争霸游戏就是在每个决定上慢慢促进你的优势而最终取得胜利。
微小优势论 本身让用者 思考两个切身问题。第一，我有多少资源／财力？ 第二，我要怎么运用这些资，好让我建立我对竞争对手的 微小优势？如果我在经营一间公司，手上有一笔投资，我要用多少资源建立强有力的开发团队，多少资源建立销售网络？我可以参考我竞争对手的手段，再做考量。
玩星际游戏玩多了，可能就会在这种考量上 成熟些。至少在这新的一年里，我觉得我对事物的思考模式被微小优势论影响不少。
如果有研究人员问我，玩星际游戏有用吗？我会回答： 无用。 做为研究者，我的访问中并没有游戏有用的证据。 这些玩家说： 无用， 我就如是回答。 如果朋友问我，我玩游戏后长进了吗？ 有，那肯定有。
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Poor beast
I like princess movies. The reason lies in my heart belief, that good people should have good endings. So I was watching Beauty and the Beast again after umpteen years. I enjoyed the movie, but can't help feel pity for the Beast - in this Disney's version at the least.
In this version of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast will remain a beast forever, when he reaches his 21st birthday. The Beast was a prince, magically cursed and turned into a beast by a beautiful enchantress, whom was turned away by by the prince when she needed shelter. The problem is, according to a song in the movie, this event happened 10 years ago. Wow, the prince was only 11 years old! The poor prince was probably home alone at that time and his parents had asked him not to open the castle door to strangers. So he, who had done the right thing, was punished!
Poor Beast! May he and Princess Belle live happily ever after.
In this version of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast will remain a beast forever, when he reaches his 21st birthday. The Beast was a prince, magically cursed and turned into a beast by a beautiful enchantress, whom was turned away by by the prince when she needed shelter. The problem is, according to a song in the movie, this event happened 10 years ago. Wow, the prince was only 11 years old! The poor prince was probably home alone at that time and his parents had asked him not to open the castle door to strangers. So he, who had done the right thing, was punished!
Poor Beast! May he and Princess Belle live happily ever after.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Acting Right from the Heart
I have ended my four years of being a Ph.D. student. I successfully defended my dissertation last Tuesday. The feeling that I have passed was surreal. Looking back, I have had many experiences, of doing research, of living in a new place, of having a son, of knowing new people, but yet nothing salient comes to mind.
My past four years were by no means dry and barren. I have a son, now 15 months old; published 6 papers with 3 more in writing; I had spent a whole year visiting Disneyland every week; I have played World of Warcraft, Starcraft I & II, Counterstrike, Sims 2 & 3, Dragon Age: Origin, Crysis; we have friends we spent countless weekends. Yet, when the four years were marked with a period, few memory stood out.
Someone wise once said: The moment you are dying, only images of personal relationships come to mind.
This word of wisdom suggests that things such as money and career matter little at the time our life journey ends. However, many lying on the death bed will regret they had not treated other people better.
We tend to remember our acts which flow right from our heart. We as humans are social animals. We naturally care about other human beings. Yet, our society constructed artificial institutions and legalities that organized us into a more productive social group. In the process, we lost touch with many things we would have chosen to do, e.g., caring about other people, watching as time goes by, and not worrying about what is going to happen next.
Life is perhaps like a game. You start the game application, play according to the rules, complete the game, and end your role as a player. Next moment, you are already playing a new role: as a worker, a father, or a friend. Whether you relive the game depends on whether the experience touches you. I remember Dragon Age best, because the storyline is rich. I remember little of World of Warcraft, because I played it out of my research needs.
Yesterday, I spent one whole day with home improvement and watching television at my new home. These activities brought me joy because I was doing them right out of my heart. After that, I took pictures and told people whom I met of what I had done.
I do enjoy research, and I remember many moments of eureka. These are moments when I found something that surprises me. Yet research is not all joyful. Research ends after these moments of discovery. The next stage, of publication and writing, is painstaking and done purely to inform others of your new found fact.
When daily activities became overwhelmingly laden with instituted activities, life also becomes detached with the way we were designed to live. In a way, I had not lived in the best way I could. I do not intend to push my responsibilities away, for they are important to those whom the institutions serve. Yet, there are many snippets of moment between time that we could savor in a better way. Such times include when we walk through a park, talk to a stranger, or spend time with a love one. Each of these moments may seen short, but you can be surprised how many of them are there in a day. We can turn these snippets into a continuous stream of joy - by learning to constantly act right from the heart.
My past four years were by no means dry and barren. I have a son, now 15 months old; published 6 papers with 3 more in writing; I had spent a whole year visiting Disneyland every week; I have played World of Warcraft, Starcraft I & II, Counterstrike, Sims 2 & 3, Dragon Age: Origin, Crysis; we have friends we spent countless weekends. Yet, when the four years were marked with a period, few memory stood out.
Someone wise once said: The moment you are dying, only images of personal relationships come to mind.
This word of wisdom suggests that things such as money and career matter little at the time our life journey ends. However, many lying on the death bed will regret they had not treated other people better.
We tend to remember our acts which flow right from our heart. We as humans are social animals. We naturally care about other human beings. Yet, our society constructed artificial institutions and legalities that organized us into a more productive social group. In the process, we lost touch with many things we would have chosen to do, e.g., caring about other people, watching as time goes by, and not worrying about what is going to happen next.
Life is perhaps like a game. You start the game application, play according to the rules, complete the game, and end your role as a player. Next moment, you are already playing a new role: as a worker, a father, or a friend. Whether you relive the game depends on whether the experience touches you. I remember Dragon Age best, because the storyline is rich. I remember little of World of Warcraft, because I played it out of my research needs.
Yesterday, I spent one whole day with home improvement and watching television at my new home. These activities brought me joy because I was doing them right out of my heart. After that, I took pictures and told people whom I met of what I had done.
I do enjoy research, and I remember many moments of eureka. These are moments when I found something that surprises me. Yet research is not all joyful. Research ends after these moments of discovery. The next stage, of publication and writing, is painstaking and done purely to inform others of your new found fact.
When daily activities became overwhelmingly laden with instituted activities, life also becomes detached with the way we were designed to live. In a way, I had not lived in the best way I could. I do not intend to push my responsibilities away, for they are important to those whom the institutions serve. Yet, there are many snippets of moment between time that we could savor in a better way. Such times include when we walk through a park, talk to a stranger, or spend time with a love one. Each of these moments may seen short, but you can be surprised how many of them are there in a day. We can turn these snippets into a continuous stream of joy - by learning to constantly act right from the heart.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
The World is Not What It Seems
A criminal is a freedom fighter losing his cause.
A dictator is a man for himself--like any capitalist.
Science is the religion of the modern time; hundreds of years later, people will think that our science today is superstition.
A government is made up of its people; when you have bad government, the people usually aren't very good either.
A modder is a hacker hacking legally.
The best way to help yourself is to help others.
A dictator is a man for himself--like any capitalist.
Science is the religion of the modern time; hundreds of years later, people will think that our science today is superstition.
A government is made up of its people; when you have bad government, the people usually aren't very good either.
A modder is a hacker hacking legally.
The best way to help yourself is to help others.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
不爱拚命
我拼过命。但再也不会这么做了。
拼命--拼什么？拼时间，拼精力，拼体力。我们拼命大概都是拼这些。
为何要拼命？拼命往往都是因为我们在和别人争某些东西。东西只有那么多，但想要的人很多。所以要拼命。
拼时间，拼精力，或 拼体力 都好，这意味着我们在为某些利益拼命的当儿，正在失去另外某些东西。这些东西就是这些流失的时间，精力，和体力的牺牲品。
你可能会想，什么东西那么重要，我不能戈下为利益打拼呢？有的，那就是 志。
宁静致远，淡泊明志。志 就是志向，就是判断对错，就是看清是非的能力。如果失去了志，我觉得就是变成人不像人，鬼不像鬼！即使家财万贯，名声远大，也是浪得虚名，或可能对社会有害。
志是从淡泊的处事态度所得来。而淡泊的态度则来自广阔而清晰的思维。而广阔清晰的思维则来自一颗平静，无畏，无著，无染的心。这颗心不易得到。得到了，也容易失去。时时都得好好保护。我每天都忙这些，哪有空和别人拼呢？
拼命--拼什么？拼时间，拼精力，拼体力。我们拼命大概都是拼这些。
为何要拼命？拼命往往都是因为我们在和别人争某些东西。东西只有那么多，但想要的人很多。所以要拼命。
拼时间，拼精力，或 拼体力 都好，这意味着我们在为某些利益拼命的当儿，正在失去另外某些东西。这些东西就是这些流失的时间，精力，和体力的牺牲品。
你可能会想，什么东西那么重要，我不能戈下为利益打拼呢？有的，那就是 志。
宁静致远，淡泊明志。志 就是志向，就是判断对错，就是看清是非的能力。如果失去了志，我觉得就是变成人不像人，鬼不像鬼！即使家财万贯，名声远大，也是浪得虚名，或可能对社会有害。
志是从淡泊的处事态度所得来。而淡泊的态度则来自广阔而清晰的思维。而广阔清晰的思维则来自一颗平静，无畏，无著，无染的心。这颗心不易得到。得到了，也容易失去。时时都得好好保护。我每天都忙这些，哪有空和别人拼呢？
Friday, September 24, 2010
心慌
天天在忙--忙得昏头钻向。好笑是，人人都觉得自己忙得值得。失去了方向，不成人样，人生也没了头绪。
生活为了什么？声明？利益？白了头，还不是死不带去？白了头的人，快乐吗？回过头来，黑发的年头是不是天天都感到充实，感到明明白白。还是分分秒秒是蒙蒙咚咚？
如果明明白白，今生的每一秒都收复在心里，心就充实了，就不会迷惘。要不，心就迷失了方向，不知所踪。找不到心，就慌了。
生活为了什么？声明？利益？白了头，还不是死不带去？白了头的人，快乐吗？回过头来，黑发的年头是不是天天都感到充实，感到明明白白。还是分分秒秒是蒙蒙咚咚？
如果明明白白，今生的每一秒都收复在心里，心就充实了，就不会迷惘。要不，心就迷失了方向，不知所踪。找不到心，就慌了。
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