Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

hn_throwaway_99

I think this interview that gets at a broader point that I find depressing/scary: that the availability of so much data and analysis has ended up "quantizing" creative endeavors to the point where formulaic output is just much, much easier, and that any truly innovative or "misunderstood" productions become much harder to sustain.

I really see this issue everyone nowadays, from movies, TV and music to things like the Olympics. Two good examples: to fix problems with subjectivity and unfairness (which were definitely problems) both gymnastics and ice skating moved from 'fuzzier' 10.0 or 6.0 scales to a 'code of points' model where every element has a fixed value. The result has been that the types of competitors that can win in this model are only the ones that can do the most impressive spins/turns/jumps etc. I mean, I'd be willing to be that you will never again see a 2x "women's" olympic figure skating champion, because you have these young teenagers doing quads now (who almost always lose this ability as they age and develop), but who retire from the sport before they hit 20. These feats are surely impressive, but they also crowd out other types of competitors.

I disagree, slightly.

Cinema during WW2 and the 15 years that followed was almost all cookie-cutter nonsense. For the handful of classics that we can tick off on our fingers today, there were dozens of stinkers.

Instead of computerized algorithms, they had fat walrus-like algorithms wearing well-tailored suits, big waistlines and stubby cigars trying to make the same picture over and over again (Grace Kelly, Liz Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, Bridgette Bardot, Veronica Saint, Jane Mansfield vs Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant vs Rock Hudson, etc.).

There is always money in capturing trends, and there will always be independent cinema. Lynch, Jones, Almodovar, Coppola (both), and new emerging stars will always find benefactors to make outstanding films for every 12 Marvel/DC stinkers modern hollywood craps out.

Yup, the classics always get more attention in retrospect because they're the ones that survive. If all the superhero stuff is depressing remember that from the invention of cinema until New Hollywood in the 70's every third piece of entertainment (if not more) was a western/cowboy movie/show.

Optimization is eating the world.

Premature optimization?

What would the other type of competitor be?

Those sports you mention like figuring skating and gymnastics already have execution scores 'style' if you will built in.

Personally, I have the opposite opinion. I prefer sports that are more quantified on difficulty alone (and the obvious 1st to finish). Looking at execution is one thing, like taking a step is clearly not as skilled as sticking it no debate there. But judging how pretty something is just doesn't seem fair to me nor personally as interesting as throwing hard skills.

Gymnastics in particular grinds me in that they have a lot of silly rules AND they actively decrement leading edge hard skills point value!

I mean, I don't totally disagree with you when it comes to sports, but e.g. then they should just get rid of the name "artistic gymnastics", get rid of the silly music, and just call it tumbling. Figure skating is probably more difficult to fix, but even there I'd prefer the simple fix of having "girl's" figure skating (say 18 and under) and women's figure skating separated. The current rulebook makes it nearly impossible to be competitive at a top level once someone develops breasts and hips.

yes! 1000% i'm totally on board with that change in gymnastics.

Age is an interesting point too. I don't know how I feel about that idea.

Though I do like that there are non-elite competitions (but still like .1% level..) with age groupings by decades that we can still fight in as we get older.

My sport is climbing. Like a lot of sports now it too has become a youthful competition (though you can be nearly 40 and still be world class on real rocks).

maybe because the type of climbing that competition climbing has morphed into (think jumping, parkour) is more gymnastic!

95% of the elite competitors are very young.

But maybe it's just because the crop of competitors my age didn't grow up with that style and we'll see today's competitors who did grow up learning it stay competitive longer.

The average age of the female Olympic gymnast is significantly older than the age requirement of the senior elite international gymnast. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320508493_CHRONOLOG...

The reign of quantity and the sign of the times.

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