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What a [deleted] comment by Laurie. Does he really imagine people solve Sudoku puzzles just to get the answer and because they are too stupid to look at the so

by epo 15y ago

What a [deleted] comment by Laurie. Does he really imagine people solve Sudoku puzzles just to get the answer and because they are too stupid to look at the solved answer? Do we have any other insights from these people [edited]? Perhaps why go for a walk when you did the same walk last week? Or why eat food when you're only going to go to the toilet? And people wonder why geeks don't have friends. EDIT for tone.

imurray 15y ago
http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please: "Be civil.... When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names." There is something in Laurie's comment. You could have focussed on why people enjoy Sudoku anyway without being rude and sarcastic.
- epo 15y ago
  Apologies for the incivility. I disagree, the only thing in Laurie's comment as presented is elitist superiority, by quoting it Norvig evidently agrees with that attitude "why are you wasting your time doing that when you could write a program to do it instead?". EDIT Whereas IMHO writing a program to solve Sudoku just to prove how superior you are really is *$!%ing pointless.
  - Flenser 15y ago
    "why are you wasting your time doing that when you could write a program to do it instead?". That's exactly the feeling I had when I saw a computer play tetris.
esrauch 15y ago
Except that this isn't just showing that there is an alternate way to find an answer, it's showing that a pretty braindead algorithm can solve it. Comparing the difficulty in solving sudoku to something even as simple as Checkers (which took years of research and supercomputer time to solve) will show just how braindead and simple it is. I've never understood why people do Sudoku puzzles, you seem to know though. It actually seems like one of the least interesting hobbies someone can have; meaningless, rote and without any possibility of cleverness or intelligence or self improvement or improving your health or literally any other dimension that I can think of a hobby being evaluated on. Walks at least provide fresh air, a change in environment, and a great opportunity to reflect. What exactly is the attraction of sudoku? How is it different than doing long division for fun?

by epo 15y ago

imurray 15y ago

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please: "Be civil.... When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names." There is something in Laurie's comment. You could have focussed on why people enjoy Sudoku anyway without being rude and sarcastic.

epo 15y ago
Apologies for the incivility. I disagree, the only thing in Laurie's comment as presented is elitist superiority, by quoting it Norvig evidently agrees with that attitude "why are you wasting your time doing that when you could write a program to do it instead?". EDIT Whereas IMHO writing a program to solve Sudoku just to prove how superior you are really is *$!%ing pointless.
- Flenser 15y ago
  "why are you wasting your time doing that when you could write a program to do it instead?". That's exactly the feeling I had when I saw a computer play tetris.

esrauch 15y ago

Except that this isn't just showing that there is an alternate way to find an answer, it's showing that a pretty braindead algorithm can solve it. Comparing the difficulty in solving sudoku to something even as simple as Checkers (which took years of research and supercomputer time to solve) will show just how braindead and simple it is. I've never understood why people do Sudoku puzzles, you seem to know though. It actually seems like one of the least interesting hobbies someone can have; meaningless, rote and without any possibility of cleverness or intelligence or self improvement or improving your health or literally any other dimension that I can think of a hobby being evaluated on. Walks at least provide fresh air, a change in environment, and a great opportunity to reflect. What exactly is the attraction of sudoku? How is it different than doing long division for fun?