11-Year-Old Genius Says Video Games A Waste Of Time

It's true, I would expect an 11 year old to be able to pass community college liberal arts courses

  thehauntingsoul said:

  Yegg said:

  Babar said:

 

Aww, he drags around a little trolley bag.

 

 

Video games are a waste of time, but that's the point, right?

:undecided:

 

Does anybody see the irony here? His argument against video games is that they are a waste of time and will not benefit humanity in any way. Then he sits down to play his keyboard, presumably to discover the musical cure to cancer

 

on the topic of video games, they are no less a waste of time than any other artistic medium. Film, television, music, physical art, all of these things serve absolutely no purpose other than to convey one individuals creative (but otherwise mostly useless) ideas to another.

no shit, but hes very obviously not allowed to play video games. if he was he'd discover that yes, 99.9% of them are utter wank but the rest are gold. which is exactly the same as any other creative medium be it film, books, art etc. the environment hes being brought up in is the same that says 'no, video games are bad and brainless'. he would say the same about films too if he was told 'no, films are all explosions and sexism'.

Not that there's anything wrong with explosions and sexism.

of course!

btw, why didn't you enroll for a degree in community college when you were 11?

actually i agree that video games are a waste of time. other artistic mediums can be also, but only if you watch trash movies or read trash books or listen to trash music. but there is plenty of art out there that can improve your life. video games on the other hand are (up to this point in their history) almost always shallow time-wasters. they're fine in moderation though.

  idrn said:

of course!

 

btw, why didn't you enroll for a degree in community college when you were 11?

Because I wanted to wait until later in life to be a smug nerd with no social skills. 11 is too young to be that.

  Al Hounos said:

actually i agree that video games are a waste of time. other artistic mediums can be also, but only if you watch trash movies or read trash books or listen to trash music. but there is plenty of art out there that can improve your life. video games on the other hand are (up to this point in their history) almost always shallow time-wasters. they're fine in moderation though.

give an example of trash music, movies, and books please

  nme said:

  Al Hounos said:

actually i agree that video games are a waste of time. other artistic mediums can be also, but only if you watch trash movies or read trash books or listen to trash music. but there is plenty of art out there that can improve your life. video games on the other hand are (up to this point in their history) almost always shallow time-wasters. they're fine in moderation though.

 

give an example of trash music, movies, and books please

  nme said:

  Al Hounos said:

actually i agree that video games are a waste of time. other artistic mediums can be also, but only if you watch trash movies or read trash books or listen to trash music. but there is plenty of art out there that can improve your life. video games on the other hand are (up to this point in their history) almost always shallow time-wasters. they're fine in moderation though.

 

give an example of trash music, movies, and books please

coming from NME.....

  my usernames always really suck said:

So you didn't like Twilight when you saw it?

Contrary to cliche, nme, you CAN judge a book (or movie) by its cover (or trailer)

oh, ok

  idrn said:

lets get to the basics, hes fucking clever and also dissing video games. people who have a hard on for video games like to think theyre clever, that being good at video games is directly because of agile mental abilities. so in effect hes turning around and saying "youre all thick" and everyone gets riled up. notice how a lot of people are also making pot shots to belittle his intelligence in this thread. total nerdflex.

qft, Precisely this

Sold my 360 last week on ebay and I don't regret it one bit. Managed to take out a book about the brain and read through that instead.. now that to me is using my time a little better than playing fallout 3 because I can apply my knowledge on neuroscience into every day living - whereas a video stays within the console and doesn't go anywhere. Plus it allows for me to branch out and choose other fields of research, to even contribute to a future career in science.. who knows? I know fallout 3 won't give me a career in science so why waste my time playing it?

douche

  Bread said:

  idrn said:

lets get to the basics, hes fucking clever and also dissing video games. people who have a hard on for video games like to think theyre clever, that being good at video games is directly because of agile mental abilities. so in effect hes turning around and saying "youre all thick" and everyone gets riled up. notice how a lot of people are also making pot shots to belittle his intelligence in this thread. total nerdflex.

qft, Precisely this

 

Sold my 360 last week on ebay and I don't regret it one bit. Managed to take out a book about the brain and read through that instead.. now that to me is using my time a little better than playing fallout 3 because I can apply my knowledge on neuroscience into every day living - whereas a video stays within the console and doesn't go anywhere. Plus it allows for me to branch out and choose other fields of research, to even contribute to a future career in science.. who knows? I know fallout 3 won't give me a career in science so why waste my time playing it?

lol, enjoy your 'book on the brain'

(mug)

  Bread said:

  idrn said:

lets get to the basics, hes fucking clever and also dissing video games. people who have a hard on for video games like to think theyre clever, that being good at video games is directly because of agile mental abilities. so in effect hes turning around and saying "youre all thick" and everyone gets riled up. notice how a lot of people are also making pot shots to belittle his intelligence in this thread. total nerdflex.

qft, Precisely this

 

Sold my 360 last week on ebay and I don't regret it one bit. Managed to take out a book about the brain and read through that instead.. now that to me is using my time a little better than playing fallout 3 because I can apply my knowledge on neuroscience into every day living - whereas a video stays within the console and doesn't go anywhere. Plus it allows for me to branch out and choose other fields of research, to even contribute to a future career in science.. who knows? I know fallout 3 won't give me a career in science so why waste my time playing it?

So reading fiction doesnt count as a useful way to spend free time? Watching documentaries doesnt count? Making music doesnt count?

only teasing. glad to hear youre feeling the better for your choice. out of interest though, how does a book on specifically neuroscience help with "every day life"? and isnt fallout 3 meant to be awesome?

I bet the kid's grades plummet after he registers for membership here.

Jesus, 4 pages about this kid

  Indicator said:

Jesus, 4 pages about this kid

Shush!

  idrn said:

  Bread said:

  idrn said:

lets get to the basics, hes fucking clever and also dissing video games. people who have a hard on for video games like to think theyre clever, that being good at video games is directly because of agile mental abilities. so in effect hes turning around and saying "youre all thick" and everyone gets riled up. notice how a lot of people are also making pot shots to belittle his intelligence in this thread. total nerdflex.

qft, Precisely this

 

Sold my 360 last week on ebay and I don't regret it one bit. Managed to take out a book about the brain and read through that instead.. now that to me is using my time a little better than playing fallout 3 because I can apply my knowledge on neuroscience into every day living - whereas a video stays within the console and doesn't go anywhere. Plus it allows for me to branch out and choose other fields of research, to even contribute to a future career in science.. who knows? I know fallout 3 won't give me a career in science so why waste my time playing it?

 

lol, enjoy your 'book on the brain'

 

(mug)

You have a brain, why not learn how it functions?

I stopped playing video games when they got rid of the watmm arcade.

  Bread said:

  idrn said:

  Bread said:

  idrn said:

lets get to the basics, hes fucking clever and also dissing video games. people who have a hard on for video games like to think theyre clever, that being good at video games is directly because of agile mental abilities. so in effect hes turning around and saying "youre all thick" and everyone gets riled up. notice how a lot of people are also making pot shots to belittle his intelligence in this thread. total nerdflex.

qft, Precisely this

 

Sold my 360 last week on ebay and I don't regret it one bit. Managed to take out a book about the brain and read through that instead.. now that to me is using my time a little better than playing fallout 3 because I can apply my knowledge on neuroscience into every day living - whereas a video stays within the console and doesn't go anywhere. Plus it allows for me to branch out and choose other fields of research, to even contribute to a future career in science.. who knows? I know fallout 3 won't give me a career in science so why waste my time playing it?

 

lol, enjoy your 'book on the brain'

 

(mug)

You have a brain, why not learn how it functions?

there are many ways of learning how the brain functions, video games among them, especially given their cultural context in the postmillenial brain.

  idrn said:

only teasing. glad to hear youre feeling the better for your choice. out of interest though, how does a book on specifically neuroscience help with "every day life"? and isnt fallout 3 meant to be awesome?

I genuinely feel a lot better without the 360 in the living room.

Neuroscience anaylses not only the biological side of the brain, but also reading up on things like what is good to eat? i.e glucose is a food substance, it acts as a chemical energy for the brain to carry out it's day to day functions. You can apply your knowledge of neuroscience to find the right balance in what food you eat. Eating fruits for example hold sugars that are good for the brain's activities, the sugars from fruit get released around the body slower than a chocolate bar. Also, analysis of sleep patterns/behaviours/pleasure/stress etc.. all lead into neuroscience, it is an incredibly diverse subject.

The brain is constantly rewiring connections between your neurons, strengthening the ones you use and weakening the ones that you don't. In other words, when you spend a day playing video games and lamenting the tragedy of your life, you aren't just whiling away your time. You're also training your brain to be a better video game player and chronic worrier to a certain degree. Perhaps if you fall into this pattern for a few years, your brain won't be the same.

isnt that like saying crossword puzzles and chess and stuff are bad for yr brain?