Philosophy

Loved by some and derided by others, achievement systems are nonetheless as essential to the fabric of videogaming today as power-ups were from the days of Contra, Super Mario Bros., and MegaMan. It is a trend unlikely to go away anytime soon, given not only its commercial viability, but—perhaps more importantly—its grounding in human nature.

It’s not just fun and games, though. I believe that this is a matter of immense significance to the role of technology in our daily lives, with far-reaching implications into human morality in this brave new century.

As a product of evolution, we humans are cognitively endowed with the ability to make sense of nature. Yet, we are a pre-historic being in a post-modern world. So how do we make sense of everything? Well, among other things, we tell stories.

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve describes the way humans retain knowledge. Learning is, in a way, just a process of continually not forgetting things.

Earlier in the year, as is the tradition at Carnegie Mellon, there was an open contest to be the class speaker at commencement. As someone who never identified strongly as a student qua student, I knew my submission would be a long shot. It was, but how much better to have tried and failed.

Riding on the Caltrain enumerates the untraveled possibilities of my former voyeurism.

June 1st marks the beginning of the next big chapter in my life. Just 15 days after graduation, I’ll officially begin work with Cerego, in the heart of Shibuya, Tokyo.

Every January 1st, as is the custom for millions of Americans, we enter into a collective delusion to commit ourselves to vague truisms that we already know to be good for us. This time around, I’m ditching resolutions for simple accounting.