4 ms·

Media for Thinking the Unthinkable (2013)

59 points by danboarder 12y ago

adamzerner 12y ago
I made https://skimmablevideos.herokuapp.com/ https://skimmablevideos.herokuapp.com/ which lets users create their own "skims". Associated Show HN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8799166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8799166.
- TeMPOraL 12y ago
  This is uber cool. It would solve the biggest problem with videotutorials if it was to catch on.
voltagex_ 12y ago
Previously: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fworrydream.com%2FMediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable%2F&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fworrydream.com%2FMe...
danboarder 12y ago
I've seen this before too but its always good to think about how the medium (written text, radio, video, web, etc) shapes and constrains the message being communicated. This is not a new field of study* but new platforms like wearables could lead to new interactive mediums capable of helping us think in new ways. I'm sure the web is doing this in society already. * see the work of Marshall McLuhan http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan
dbpokorny 12y ago
How does it work when the subject matter is compilers, for example in the context of CompCert?
meesterdude 12y ago
Always thought provoking for me, as always with worrydream. Especially the bit about unthinkable thoughts - mind blown.
dredmorbius 12y ago
No idea what this is even about, but the website is a jumbled, unreadable, mis-layed-out mess. http://i.imgur.com/MwFZOsJ.png http://i.imgur.com/MwFZOsJ.png
- jdiez17 12y ago
  You probably have JavaScript disabled.
  - qnaal 12y ago
    An explanation perhaps, but hardly an excuse. LOOKING AT YOU, ALGOLIA SEARCH
    - dredmorbius 12y ago
      Don't even fucking get me started. JS hosting on arbitrary hosts doesn't fucking help in the least.
- DanBC 12y ago
  It's broken for mobile. http://imgur.com/ICVpOqM http://imgur.com/ICVpOqM
- Silhouette 12y ago
  It's about playing to a medium's strengths to better present information. For example, on a computer we can use live data and we can offer interactive ways to explore the data and what happens as it changes. We aren't limited to giving a static view of fixed data as, say, a book would be. Victor's key point is that better tools for exploring data can help us to understand new concepts that maybe we couldn't even conceive without that expanded frame of reference. This page is itself a subtle demonstration of the underlying themes. Victor gave a talk lasting 40 minutes -- which I encourage you to watch -- but he presents it here using a simple, elegant interaction style that also lets you scan a summary of the key points and get a feel for the key illustrations in far less time. This is more effective than either the full video, the slide show, or a transcript would be alone. That makes it more than a little ironic that you have chosen to reduce your browser to only showing static content by disabling JS, and then posted here just to complain about how the page is broken. If you had used your medium to its full potential, you would now understand how profoundly you have missed his point. :-)
andyjohnson0 12y ago
Interlude - There could be unthinkable thoughts Isn't this inevitable? Rather like the idea of computable and non-computable numbers [1] being a inevitable consequence of the nature of numbers and computation. If a thought is a mental state then, at any instant, a brain can only be in one of a large but finite set of states. Unless all brains are identical then there must be mental states that are inaccessible to some brains. Extending the state space of some brains by using new mediums, while useful, won't change the principle. (The question of whether there are thoughts that cannot be thought by any mentality is kind of hard for me to get my brain around. I suspect that such a thing might not qualify as a thought.) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computable_number http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computable_number
TeMPOraL 12y ago
Reminds me - is there any circuit design / electronics tool that would provide even remotely similar user experience to Bret Victor's interactive circuit diagram?

59 points by danboarder 12y ago

I made https://skimmablevideos.herokuapp.com/ https://skimmablevideos.herokuapp.com/ which lets users create their own "skims". Associated Show HN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8799166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8799166.

TeMPOraL 12y ago
This is uber cool. It would solve the biggest problem with videotutorials if it was to catch on.

voltagex_ 12y ago

Previously: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fworrydream.com%2FMediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable%2F&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fworrydream.com%2FMe...

danboarder 12y ago

I've seen this before too but its always good to think about how the medium (written text, radio, video, web, etc) shapes and constrains the message being communicated. This is not a new field of study* but new platforms like wearables could lead to new interactive mediums capable of helping us think in new ways. I'm sure the web is doing this in society already. * see the work of Marshall McLuhan http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan

dbpokorny 12y ago

How does it work when the subject matter is compilers, for example in the context of CompCert?

meesterdude 12y ago

Always thought provoking for me, as always with worrydream. Especially the bit about unthinkable thoughts - mind blown.

dredmorbius 12y ago

No idea what this is even about, but the website is a jumbled, unreadable, mis-layed-out mess. http://i.imgur.com/MwFZOsJ.png http://i.imgur.com/MwFZOsJ.png

jdiez17 12y ago
You probably have JavaScript disabled.
- qnaal 12y ago
  An explanation perhaps, but hardly an excuse. LOOKING AT YOU, ALGOLIA SEARCH
  - dredmorbius 12y ago
    Don't even fucking get me started. JS hosting on arbitrary hosts doesn't fucking help in the least.
DanBC 12y ago
It's broken for mobile. http://imgur.com/ICVpOqM http://imgur.com/ICVpOqM
Silhouette 12y ago
It's about playing to a medium's strengths to better present information. For example, on a computer we can use live data and we can offer interactive ways to explore the data and what happens as it changes. We aren't limited to giving a static view of fixed data as, say, a book would be. Victor's key point is that better tools for exploring data can help us to understand new concepts that maybe we couldn't even conceive without that expanded frame of reference. This page is itself a subtle demonstration of the underlying themes. Victor gave a talk lasting 40 minutes -- which I encourage you to watch -- but he presents it here using a simple, elegant interaction style that also lets you scan a summary of the key points and get a feel for the key illustrations in far less time. This is more effective than either the full video, the slide show, or a transcript would be alone. That makes it more than a little ironic that you have chosen to reduce your browser to only showing static content by disabling JS, and then posted here just to complain about how the page is broken. If you had used your medium to its full potential, you would now understand how profoundly you have missed his point. :-)

andyjohnson0 12y ago

Interlude - There could be unthinkable thoughts Isn't this inevitable? Rather like the idea of computable and non-computable numbers [1] being a inevitable consequence of the nature of numbers and computation. If a thought is a mental state then, at any instant, a brain can only be in one of a large but finite set of states. Unless all brains are identical then there must be mental states that are inaccessible to some brains. Extending the state space of some brains by using new mediums, while useful, won't change the principle. (The question of whether there are thoughts that cannot be thought by any mentality is kind of hard for me to get my brain around. I suspect that such a thing might not qualify as a thought.) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computable_number http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computable_number

TeMPOraL 12y ago

Reminds me - is there any circuit design / electronics tool that would provide even remotely similar user experience to Bret Victor's interactive circuit diagram?