Why can't I get earthlink net? Some answers

CSGnet Archive CSG1999
1

[From Dick Robertson,991106.0745CST]

Richard Marken wrote:

[From Rick Marken (991105.0750)]

Dick Robertson (991105.0751CST) --

> Well, today I got into your site right away.?? I have trouble
> with some of the demos though. They go by too fast for following
> your instructions.

I think it's best to read the write up on a demo before doing
it; maybe I should have put the demos lower on the page?

I do read the write up first.

Which demos go by too fast?

I went down the list. They worked OK until the Behav Illusion. There
the figures flash on and off too fast for me to be able to see them
clearly. Ditto, for Detection and Levels.
On the Hierarchy there semed a delay between moving the mouse and its
appearance on the screen, so no reall control. On the Cost of Conflict
my moving the mouse didn't seem to control anytning., whether I kept
clicking it, or moved it without clicking it. When I hit run again,
nothing happened for so long that I returned here to the mail. I had
run the baseball before and it works OK. I'll try the other demos
tomorrow and give you a further report.. Hope this is usefull.

BTW did you see that 60 Minutes show? What did you think of my comment
about visualizing category control systems like in their metaphor of the
supermarket?

Best, Dick

···

> I wonder if it's that my machine is too slow? It's still only
> a 133hz job. I'm going to get a new machine sometime in the
> next couple of months. I hope that works better.

A faster machine should make some of the demos work better
(the Test for the Controlled Variable is positively creamy
on a 500MHz PC). There are timing problems on some of the
other demos that may not be improved by a faster processor.

These demos still need work. I would still appreciate getting
feedback about specific demos; I'm going to improve them
someday; certainly when B:CP is voted the Cognitive Science
book of the millennium and my site starts getting 1000
hits/day;-)

Best

Rick
---
Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates mailto: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken

2

[From Rick Marken (991106.0950)]

Me:

Which demos go by too fast?

Dick Robertson (991106.0745CST) --

I went down the list. They worked OK until the Behav Illusion.
There the figures flash on and off too fast for me to be able
to see them clearly. Ditto, for Detection and Levels.

That's puzzling. Sounds like the animation loop is weirding
out. I have found that the demos can affect each others'
performance on some browsers. That is, if you run a couple
demos, then run the next, the performance of that last demo
is worse than what it is if it's the first demo you run. This
seems to occur because the implementation of Java in some
early browsers didn't seem to do program threading properly.
Anyway, one way to check this is to quit the browser when a
demo is working funny. Then restart the browser, get the
demo again and see if it works any better.

On the Hierarchy there semed a delay between moving the
mouse and its appearance on the screen, so no reall control.

The circle/square configuration, movement and sequence in the
Hierarchy of Perception and Control demo is affected only by
the mouse button; mouse movement should have no effect.

On the Cost of Conflict my moving the mouse didn't seem to
control anytning.

This may be what's supposed to happen; when the conflict is
in effect (shortly after the start of the demo) it is impossible
to keep the cursor on target. You should, however, be able to
keep the cursor on the horizontal _or_ the vertical line; that
is, you can control in one dimension at a time; but you will be
in conflict with yourself if youu try to control in both
dimensions simultaneously.

Hope this is usefull.

Yes. Very! Thanks.

BTW did you see that 60 Minutes show? What did you think
of my comment about visualizing category control systems like
in their metaphor of the supermarket?

I'm sorry. I didn't see that 60 minutes show. What was it
about, again? And what was your comment about visualizing
category control systems?

Best

Rick

···

--

Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken/