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User:HMaloigne/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/2020-21/Seminar group 17/Truth

Truth in Suicide Prevention
England and Wales registered 530,841 total deaths in 2019. Research by the Samaritans show that this figure includes an astounding 5,931 suicides, 321 up compared to 2018. The suicide rate, which is now 11 per 100,000 inhabitants, is at its highest since 2000. It’s safe to say that these high rates of suicide are a pressing issue that requires solving, but with many different facts and truths to consider, that can be a challenge.

Positivist truth in suicide statistics
The foundation to monitoring health statistics on an international scale is the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), released by WHO. Chapters X60-X84 outline various methods and materials used in intentional self-harm. These classifications are important in ensuring that the same definition is given to suicide between different countries, thus allowing us to compare rates on a global scale.

Expressing suicide rates in numbers can, as seen in the introduction, be a very useful tool in understanding suicide. For instance, statistics show that more males committed suicide in 2018 than 2019 in the UK, and that both genders have seen an increase in 2018. This positivist viewpoint is very useful in detecting large-scale trends, and national suicide prevention programmes have been very effective in certain countries.

Constructivist truth in suicide prevention
Although large-scale prevention programs are very effective, it is impossible to establish a single program that encompasses all countries and social groups. Below are a couple examples of social constructs that influence how suicide is seen in different countries:

 * Religion. Most religions, like Christianity and the Islam, forbid the act of suicide. In turn, countries with higher religious population show lower suicide rates.
 * Gender. Numbers show that males are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than females. Among others, a possible explanation for this is that men are taught from a young age to bottle up their feelings.
 * Traditional suicide. Unlike western culture, the Japanese traditionally place more emphasis on society as a group rather than a collection of individuals. The harmony of the group was so important, that committing suicide to maintain it was considered virtuous. Samurai considered ritual suicide (seppukku) the ultimate demonstration of loyalty, and as a way to clear one's name of guilt. Although the government has since forbidden the act of suicide, study has shown that Japanese college students were more likely to accept suicide as a natural way to end one's life than American students. This is speculated to be due to the traditional values still living on in the younger generation.

In order to establish effective suicide prevention programs, social constructs like these must be considered carefully.

Perceived truth in suicide prevention strategies
A major hurdle in mental health problems is that they are subjective: the reason for taking ones life varies greatly between people: understanding how an individual feels is vital. This interpretive approach to suicide prevention is best seen in counselling sessions.

Truth in Astronomy: the Approach to Black Holes
The approach to truth in the discipline of astronomy is one that aims to create a mirror of reality. It is generally bias free and largely based on the rational understanding and mathematical calculations rather than the perspective matter of individuals. Observational and theoretical approaches are the most commonly used ones. An example of how these approaches are implemented is shown in the discovery of black holes.

Black holes are, by definition, objects in the universe that bend spacetime to a single point where gravity becomes so strong that no particles, not even photons of light can escape its pull. Therefore, black holes appear black to an observer from the outside and can't be seen directly.

Theoretical Approach
The theoretical approach is used to define the physical properties in astronomy and it is fundamental for potential observational discoveries. In 1915, Albert Einstein published the theory of general relativity, which suggests that spacetime is not linear, but it can be distorted by objects with mass. The distortion is then expressed as gravity. This theory is further explored by Karl Schwarzschild shortly after. Based on the general theory of relativity, he proposed that objects with mass exceeding a certain point would inevitably collapse into a singularity where the velocity needed to escape the body is higher than the speed of light so it appears as a dark object. This idea laid the foundation for the research around black holes.

Observational Approach
The observational approach aims to seek the existence of what is known as a theoretical object. In 2015, scientists were first able to detect gravitational waves formed by a collision caused by black holes. Due to the nature of black holes being invisible objects themselves, the only occasion to 'see' them is when matter close enough to a black hole gets accelerated by its gravitational pull to form a visible, energetic circle around the black hole. In 2019, the first photo of a black hole was captured using eight ground based telescopes around the globe. This photo acts as a significant proof for the theory of general relativity.

Truth and the Media
Truth is defined as the actual state of matter, conformed with facts or realities. Truths could be both subjective and objective in nature. Subjective truths are those which shed light on the human experience and objective truths are those which could be confirmed by scientific methods or occur in our realities. The media is a powerful tool to display the various truths of the world in the form of news, fiction, documentaries, books and reality TV. All media reflects some truths of the world and each genre of media follows specific epistemologies of truth.

Different Epistemologies of Truth in forms of Media
There are three main ways of thinking about truth- Correspondence theory of truth, Phenomenological theory of truth and Social Constructionist theory of truth.

Correspondence theory of truth aims to produce knowledge which reflects the realities that exist. An example of this in media would be documentaries and live footage. Phenomenological theory of truth depends on individual perceptions of subjective truth. This could be seen in movies and TV shows which often show a subject form of truth where it represents and investigates the human condition in particular situations allowing humans to learn and contemplate on certain behaviours. An example of social constructionist truth can be seen in news and the way news is reported. Social Constructionism represents all truths as social which is constructed through societies, where knowledge can be formed and acquired and truths could change over time. These epistemologies allow us to think about different truths in different contexts and acquire knowledge in different forms.

Distortions of truth in the media.
Distortions in media could be triggered by biases. Some examples of biases could be political, advertising, gatekeeping and perpetuating stereotypes. These distortions are harmful as they take us further from the truth and may convolute our understanding of various forms of knowledge. Distortions of truth by the media may serve specific agendas which impact the world and convince people to look at things in a way which may not be in their best interest.

The portrayal of Asian-American characters in Hollywood
This is an example of how the media distorts different truths by perpetuating untrue stereotypes and how this may snowball into a larger issue. For a long time, portrayal of Asian Americans in Hollywood have been one dimensional characters which perpetuate the model-minority stereotype. Asians are often shown as “nerdy”, “unsexy”, “shy” ,and “hard-working” which may in turn propagate the model minority myth. On the other end of the spectrum, some characters tropes like the “dragon lady” or “jealous smart student” propogates a negative stereotype called the “Yellow Peril” which further propagated racist and dated stereotypes of Asians being an existential threat to the West. These one dimensional representations in Hollywood are internalised as the truth by the vast audience which consumes these media. This may perpetuate racist stereotypes and may also further stress Asian Americans to conform to them. An extreme example of the such distortions of truth in history could be the 1992 Los Angeles riots, where there were extreme tensions between the Black and Korean community. This could be explained as how due to the “model minority myth”and “the urban underclass”, the two groups were pitted against each other. Such distortions are dangerous because they give us a false reality of things which not only creates more harm in society but also makes it difficult to contemplate important truths.

Truth in Ethnography
It is understood in contemporary anthropology that ethnographic research, the observation of groups or concepts through time and/or space, cannot ever be entirely objective. Like in all disciplines, observations are mediated by the experiences and perspective of the observer and the observed. Thus, identifying the objective or empirical ‘truth’ in such observations is not possible. This becomes increasingly apparent and problematic in anthropological study as it is underpinned by such observations . Ethnography, which characterises social and cultural anthropology, is research wherein typically an individual will immerse themselves within a community and conduct participant-observations of the group, before discussing their findings in a text. Whilst most modern anthropologists will endeavor to be free of implicit biases and prejudices which may inform their observations when conducting ethnography, the question of remaining ‘objective’ is often disputed within the discipline. This is famously associated with the conception of ‘postmodern’ anthropology, which called into question the appropriacy and efficacy of objectivity in field work. Postmodern scholars argued that knowledge in the social sciences is constructed intersubjectively, that is - as a product of the human interaction between both the subject and the object - and thus cannot be objective in the way the natural sciences can be. In such a way, modern anthropology has increasingly abandoned the notion of empirical objective evidence, in favour of a more realistic and ‘true’ conception of knowledge construction in the discipline.

Prior to this, following periods of colonialism in which research was plagued by bias, anthropologists had wrongly emphasised objectivity as the solution to colonial attitudes influencing the truth in the literature. This however, as postmodernists asserted, proved to be an ineffective methodology when studying human subjects in anthropology. Instead, ethnography now is marked by its amalgamation of object-orientated interviews and subject-orientated integration into the community, which attempts to provide a deeper and more accurate or ‘truthful’ insight into the lived experiences of that group being studied. In addition to cultural relativism, an approach first articulated by  Franz Boas in the late 19th century, which addresses and challenges  ethnocentrism, and particularly the  eurocentrism which defined early anthropology, in research. These elements of contemporary anthropology are reinforced by practices of reflexivity (social theory) and the evaluation of positionality adopted by post-colonial scholars. Decolonising methods call for ethnographers to appraise their position in the research with regard to power, gender and colonial dynamics, and to reflect on their personal feelings towards, conceptions of and practices within key phenomena in anthropology such as kinship, gender and religion, to better inform their observations.

Truth in Music
Music, and the study of music can be viewed as having basic underlying truths or frameworks in which the musician creates and can then share their art, these frameworks are certain truths that transmit their ideas. Music composition and performance can be approached from the epistemologies of empiricism or rationalism. These two approaches are almost completely opposed to each other, empiricism theorising that truths can vary based on individual experience whereas rationalism arguing that there are foundational truths that run beneath all individual experience to define reality.

Empiricist Truth in Music
Empiricism being the belief that all we know comes from experience and can only be applied to experience we understand; therefore we can only justify our beliefs with experience. An empiricist view of music would argue that interpretations of music would only be constant if their audience were constant, meaning that because individual listener would perceive the musical truth based upon their own personal experiences, no two listeners would experience the same truth. This argument is based, on the attachment of subjectivity to truth, that humans with certain experience may find certain musical qualities in a composition more enjoyable.

Rationalist Truth in Music
Rationalism is the belief that logic and reason are what make up all of reality and therefore knowledge, that there is structure of rational principles that guides are understanding of reality. Viewing music in this light would suggest that by having foundational principles of music: such as harmony, one can create and understand music based off of this principle. To further explore the rationalist approach of music, Levinson argued that the mathematical connections and foundations to musical structure could imply that music is predetermined, much like mathematics, and when composing one is only arranging these predetermined structures. This implies that much like with mathematics, humans have a predisposed ability to understand harmony or “what sounds good”. The Rationalist concept of truth follows a more objective understanding of truth, that there are foundational and preconceived rules to music composition that determines its value.

Truth in Law
The law system in the United Kingdom is composed of both legislation and precedents, found in case law. Indeed, in order to set precedent on law interpretation, a set of court decisions called Case Law are used. These are used to clarify and give some possible interpretations of the legislation in place.

The hierarchical relationship between Justice and Truth
Truth has a very peculiar role in the British legal system. A common error is believing that the courts of Justice final goal is to find truth. The real aim of trial court procedures is to find justice for the particular claims. Viscount Kilmuir, former Lord Chancellor, states this very clearly in a 1960’s article, writing “justice comes before truth”. Thus, the question of truth intervenes in verifying the facts used to justify the claim in question. Hence, the judge or magistrates are looking for positive statement, reflecting reality, to apply the law related with it. In order to encounter those, judicial findings of facts occur.

The Formal legal truth and the substantive truth
Two kinds of truth are to be considered in regard to law according to Robert S. Summers: The Formal legal truth and the substantive truth. The Substantive Truth is related to the Correspondence Theory of Truth, as it mirrors reality. In other words, it is what happened factually with no consideration to the manner truth was perceived. On the other hand, formal legal truth is defined as all the facts considered true by the judge or/and lay jurors. Formal legal truth in shaped by the testimony and facts reported by the two parts. In an ideal world, those two type of truth would be similar. Hence, the court aims to make these two correspond to be able to apply the right legislation or Case law and achieve a fair judgement. Indeed, as seen in the introduction, each rule is based on the application of both legislation and Case Law which is why the exactitude of the facts is significant. However, sometimes these differ for various reasons such as the unavailability of evidence causing a discrepancy between the degree of veracity of the facts in each case and the systems used.

Statements of truth
Despite these dissimilitudes, a relative truth is expected to be given by each party. This means that each person has to believe with sincerity that the claim made is true to his point of view. Indeed, false statements of truth can be found in statements of case, disclosure reports, witness statements and expert reports. If discovered, both the signatory and the person requesting the signature risk being contempt of court which can result in two years of prison.

Truth in Mythology
Mythology is considered to be a discipline on the borderline of anthropology, ethnology, literary theory, history, sociology, theology or religious studies. A myth is a story transmitted in the oral tradition, which had cognitive, pedagogical, sociological and religious functions. The word myth comes from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mȳthos), meaning 'speech, narrative, fiction, myth, plot' .Modern definition of myth states that it is a misinterpretation of truth. Although the etymological meaning of myth contains fiction, since ancient times this field of literature has served humanity in discovering the truths about the world and the mechanisms that govern it. The phenomenon of obtaining the truth through fiction has been observed and explored by two American literary icons and illustrates two different perspectives.

Mircea Eliade's Theory of Myth
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian-American historian of religion and a writer who defined the concept of myth. His interpretation of mythology recognises that myth tells a story which took place at the very beginning and is a holy tale, a report on what the Gods did, thus revealing the sacred mystery to the reader. Additionally, his perception assumes that myth shows the sacrum's interventions in the world, establish exemplary ritual aims and sets an example. In his view, mythology is a tool that establishes the absolute truth about the world and is a collection of answers to the existential problems of human beings, related to the passing away, the sense of life and death, the diversity of the world. It creates personal patterns and models of human behaviour. The appearance of similar myths independently, in different areas and cultures, was explained by Eliade's archetypical origin of mythology. His research was based on the theory of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and argued that mythology belongs to the collective unconscious of humanity and is a projection of the archetypes of transcendence. Mythology is, therefore, a "sacred story" for those who support Eliade's interpretation, which must be remembered and told in order to give meaning to the whole world and their own lives.

Joseph Campbell's Theory of Myth
Joseph Campbell was a prolific American author and editor whose works on comparative mythology examined the universal functions of myth in various human cultures and mythic figures in a wide range of literatures. His works were also influenced by Jung's thoughts, but he shaped them in a way consistent with the beliefs of his mentor Heinrich Zimmer. Zimmer taught Campbell that myth (more than a guru or a spiritual guide) can act as a personal mentor, because mythical stories provide psychological signposts for finding oneself in the maze created by the complexity of the modern world. Campbell's theory of mythology assumes that myths allows achieving the goal of cognition, it is only a reference and does not expose the absolute truth about the world, but only aims to introduce harmony and show that there is a top-down order. Myths are the key to the spiritual possibilities of life and tools for learning about oneself. Untrue mythological tales are, consequently, a means to know not the absolute truth but to discover the subconscious of the individual.


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Truth in Mathematics
Truth in mathematics is often thought to be objective. Something is considered true in mathematics if it can be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_proof#:~:text=From%20Wikipedia%2C%20the%20free%20encyclopedia,by%20a%20rule%20of%20inference. formally proved]. This means that unlike other disciplines, mathematics does not give rise to disputes or conflicting theories. This property has led to the debate of whether mathematics is a tool invented by humans to understand the world, like other disciplines, or something existing inherently in nature that we have merely discovered. Unlike other disciplines mathematics is not considered a social construct and so all mathematicians should be at a consensus on every theory. However, throughout history, evidence has arisen challenging this notion. Hilary Putnam (1975). Historia Mathematica 2: What is Mathematical Truth? pp. 529-533. Retrieved 29 October 2020 from [https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272588/1-s2.0-S0315086000X00900/1-s2.0-0315086075901160/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEPL%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQCdONEOg0sCltD74OI17jg%2FGonsGjjecc3p8MuQ0npt0AIgW2fIccsLvFlqsB8nE56N6POIi%2BENrfSOrzRMBXzVBU0qtAMIShADGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDNJ5F%2FSryivOw9%2B88yqRA2NquT%2BywUcSFuJ3ETHLScmwfYOwup3bov3WhYixKd5G4JpOxiPXpycGKAIA0UiyaZm9EDSaAdwM%2FjzE4wvYuUGPdfVbsZOtx3eH4b%2Fa0A12pGbdu653BynH6p2ACtca1uKDY9ugZj5V601KnFtX2unMJIcjjX04m7xrZ0xpErTz1tWuSO5BCgRi6epAl1JxGRl8025mmtO4Kc0fzgVeuYJv%2BkQ3k4AbNmZ2VMYCFtVl5yafvmJPsZ49JEzEYmBDJHkahnJS6B8stBTlEp9EGkeoep%2BREsynRHMk9KDz9m5q%2BYmAzz3C2WBgJ1QITr36dk5dsVv3L8e3%2B6uj%2FNV8TqE79n4RIOcggkQ9d2Dntcq1UkgoevzAKulNYJy2QOU4XOhAtwKK9zpE%2FJD%2FMQGnXjnNnAoQXFwmsU3gJbAXy%2BQt1RgFMPc1OkYNCVm5ZCrOymca8AjBPOdgVOXIHNtU0z42RdVG7whrwcsYV4EtWw%2BCF%2Fnj6aQHW%2BZlNuZYvPSgkZLrZq%2Bvq%2FPyyz9Ydho33vqsMNjx6%2FwFOusBSzSQbplPKzRmINBt1WoNbTs7Gtkj6oTtZoEVZGFOJeZBA9iJ8Ibd05U%2BrO4%2FKG8kMJXLJpHLyMGtUhnRKebHwAlP7Na0k7YrEVaGRSqdZZkEFd0hHxaQcVjeh6yG9TfVWDN2vNncKITeEaCgJMWYBGfUElczLnMD0kSqt6oEwcFWZGSITgQMQ%2FAYUH%2F9cwbg6X%2Bs7c5U%2Bq7pgm9YQBcHFrGXAxZ8Qk2itBUyNO266PcPA4UJQdAlQe9%2BKOJIr%2BfhLNTvEhuyPec6GA%2Bp2KkYNxjWpZz56zWiJmvTmFu6va5DPdfDtHn0dA%2BPUQ%3D%3D&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20201029T175343Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTYZENAN3YF%2F20201029%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=1830c73271e185f8998d1fa618fee381a8ab4182ee2dae8acc5ba7801caa0711&hash=4e59151719093c2641544105f6d147d1cd6487e9ea02b17ae65d88b0d81d45c5&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=0315086075901160&tid=spdf-6d6e1d62-14e8-4b7b-a5e7-9e53fc38e839&sid=dcfdbd823172d044a91b995-312842bae502gxrqb&type=client What_is_Truth_in_Mathematics?] Every relationship in mathematics can be formally proved using a combination of other simpler mathematical relationships which act like building blocks. However, this breakdown can only go so far. The ‘atoms’ of mathematics are a set of laws called ‘[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom#:~:text=An%20axiom%2C%20postulate%20or%20assumption,which%20commends%20itself%20as%20evident. axioms]’, the Greek word for assumptions. From this small set of very simple rules (in algebra there are five) we can derive all other laws of maths and prove or disprove any conjecture. However, we have no way of proving these axioms themselves. Although they may seem trivial, for example the symmetric axiom which states that if a=b then b=a or the first axiom in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_geometry#:~:text=Euclidean%20geometry%20is%20a%20mathematical,propositions%20(theorems)%20from%20these. Euclidean geometry] which states that a straight line can be drawn between any two points, we have no way of formally proving them. They are used either because everyone can reach a consensus on them or because we can observe them existing in nature. Therefore, it is difficult to justify that maths is objective if its fundamental rules were reached empirically. There have been cases where certain areas of mathematics have been found to be inconsistent and axioms have had to be added or changed. For example, the Russell-Zermelo Paradox found in set theory in 1903 and the creation of the axiom of choice.

In 1931, Kurt Gödel published [https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems#:~:text=G%C3%B6del's%20incompleteness%20theorems%20is%20the,by%20Kurt%20G%C3%B6del%20in%201931.&text=Also%2C%20mathematical%20ideas%20should%20not,include%20contradictions%20is%20called%20consistent. two theorems] about the incompleteness of mathematics and other axiomatic systems. The first proved that there would always be true statements within a consistent system that could not be proved nor disproved within the system and the second that a consistent system could not be used to prove its own consistency. This demonstrates that there will be mathematical relationships that might not be provable, for example the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldbach%27s_conjecture#:~:text=Goldbach's%20conjecture%20is%20one%20of,remains%20unproven%20despite%20considerable%20effort. Goldbach Conjecture], discovered in 1742 and yet to be solved. This initially caused division in the mathematics community but has now come to be accepted by all and has brought into question the infallible nature that mathematics has always been thought to have had. Hilary Putnam (1975). Historia Mathematica 2: What is Mathematical Truth? p. 529. Retrieved 29 October 2020 from [https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272588/1-s2.0-S0315086000X00900/1-s2.0-0315086075901160/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEPL%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQCdONEOg0sCltD74OI17jg%2FGonsGjjecc3p8MuQ0npt0AIgW2fIccsLvFlqsB8nE56N6POIi%2BENrfSOrzRMBXzVBU0qtAMIShADGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDNJ5F%2FSryivOw9%2B88yqRA2NquT%2BywUcSFuJ3ETHLScmwfYOwup3bov3WhYixKd5G4JpOxiPXpycGKAIA0UiyaZm9EDSaAdwM%2FjzE4wvYuUGPdfVbsZOtx3eH4b%2Fa0A12pGbdu653BynH6p2ACtca1uKDY9ugZj5V601KnFtX2unMJIcjjX04m7xrZ0xpErTz1tWuSO5BCgRi6epAl1JxGRl8025mmtO4Kc0fzgVeuYJv%2BkQ3k4AbNmZ2VMYCFtVl5yafvmJPsZ49JEzEYmBDJHkahnJS6B8stBTlEp9EGkeoep%2BREsynRHMk9KDz9m5q%2BYmAzz3C2WBgJ1QITr36dk5dsVv3L8e3%2B6uj%2FNV8TqE79n4RIOcggkQ9d2Dntcq1UkgoevzAKulNYJy2QOU4XOhAtwKK9zpE%2FJD%2FMQGnXjnNnAoQXFwmsU3gJbAXy%2BQt1RgFMPc1OkYNCVm5ZCrOymca8AjBPOdgVOXIHNtU0z42RdVG7whrwcsYV4EtWw%2BCF%2Fnj6aQHW%2BZlNuZYvPSgkZLrZq%2Bvq%2FPyyz9Ydho33vqsMNjx6%2FwFOusBSzSQbplPKzRmINBt1WoNbTs7Gtkj6oTtZoEVZGFOJeZBA9iJ8Ibd05U%2BrO4%2FKG8kMJXLJpHLyMGtUhnRKebHwAlP7Na0k7YrEVaGRSqdZZkEFd0hHxaQcVjeh6yG9TfVWDN2vNncKITeEaCgJMWYBGfUElczLnMD0kSqt6oEwcFWZGSITgQMQ%2FAYUH%2F9cwbg6X%2Bs7c5U%2Bq7pgm9YQBcHFrGXAxZ8Qk2itBUyNO266PcPA4UJQdAlQe9%2BKOJIr%2BfhLNTvEhuyPec6GA%2Bp2KkYNxjWpZz56zWiJmvTmFu6va5DPdfDtHn0dA%2BPUQ%3D%3D&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20201029T175343Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTYZENAN3YF%2F20201029%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=1830c73271e185f8998d1fa618fee381a8ab4182ee2dae8acc5ba7801caa0711&hash=4e59151719093c2641544105f6d147d1cd6487e9ea02b17ae65d88b0d81d45c5&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=0315086075901160&tid=spdf-6d6e1d62-14e8-4b7b-a5e7-9e53fc38e839&sid=dcfdbd823172d044a91b995-312842bae502gxrqb&type=client What_is_Truth_in_Mathematics?]

The Differing Approaches Towards Truths in Deontological Ethics
How and what ethical truths are true is still widely debated and contested within the discipline of ethics. In the traditional Western school of thought, it was common to derive moral truths from religion and its subsequent knowledge, giving rise to divine-command theory.

The theory asserts a deontological perspective on morality, where actions have an inherent quality to them based on divine authority. God dictates what is right and wrong, and it is this divinity which grants the validity of the commandments. Though contemporary views have shifted towards more secular belief systems such as the sciences, the theory can be seen as essentialist, providing an "objective" framework in which moral truths are generated. In essence, if God exists, and he is the creator of everything, he created moral truths. And through one's faith in theism, these ethical truths are revealed to them via bible scripture, religious experiences, revelation, etc.

Another deontological theory proposed by Immanuel Kant offers the concept of the categorical imperative. The moral law stating that one should "act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law". Kant is fundamentally telling us to treat everyone like you would be treated.

Relying on human reasoning instead of an external authority, the categorical imperative lays a principle in which a rational actor could assess whether an action is right or wrong. It is thus understood that moral actions are rational and not because God decrees its righteousness. However, it is not to say that religion is irrational or arational since deriving moral truths from the divine command theory is held on the basis that the ones who place their faith in their deity or deities see them as all good and all-knowing, thus whatever commandment is put forward by them, it must fundamentally be good and just.

Moreover, despite the difference in approaches, both theories can help us arrive at the same truths. One of God's commandments, "thou shalt not steal" could also be taken into account by the categorical imperative. If we were to universalise stealing, the idea of ownership would not exist, then stealing would not exist, contradicting the initial action of stealing, hence it is wrong as it is also irrational.

On the other hand, relativism contests that there are no objective moral truths at all, and that these so-called truths are culturally and temporally contingent. God's commandments under this assumption could be true to a catholic priest, but false to an evolutionary biologist.

Truth in Politics
Truth in politics is something we should consider to be a given as those in power act on behalf of their citizens. Politicians are entrusted to uphold virtues and being truthful and honest is arguably the most important virtue. However, more often than not, politics and truth can conflict. Politicians act in favour of their own interests rather than those of the people they represent and to do so resort to dishonesty and deceit. This has become such commonplace that, unfortunately, very many people associate politicians with being untruthful.

Hannah Arendt wrote an essay “Truth and Politics” for the New Yorker in 1967 and it still holds up today. She spoke of factual and rational truth. There is an important distinction between them. Rational truth is unquestionable, it is always reproduceable whereas factual truth can be destroyed with little chance of re-emerging. The evidence of factual truth is eyewitness accounts, documents, testimonies that describe events. It is extremely dangerous when this type of truth is discredited especially from a political perspective. In recent times, following the advent of social media and the Internet, a political culture known as “post-truth politics” has become widespread. It is not the simple act of falsifying facts but the relegation of the truth to be unimportant comparatively. A liar, knows the truth, but chooses to persuade people of an alternate reality. On the other hand, post-truth dismisses truth entirely and is not merely lying. Truth can be disregarded as smear campaigns and scaremongering whilst lies and misinformation override facts by appealing to people’s emotions. Notable instances which are associated with “post-truth politics” include the British EU referendum where figures were misleading and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign where there have been falsehoods and inaccuracies in Trump’s statements. This is further exacerbated by sensationalist headlines to entertain people’s limited attention span rather than quality articles. Additionally, different news companies have their own agendas creating distrust in news and leading people to look for alternative sources of information. There is not any moderation of information that is broadcast. The truth has become politicised and is no longer prioritised. What is factual and what is fiction? Reality has become blurry and the truth is hard to ascertain in this political climate.

When Truth Fails in Science
Scientific truth is positivist, absolute and objective. Since its truth arises from objectivity, results should also be unaffected by contingency over time. Replicability is key to objectivity, but the decline effect - where observations loose potency or results can’t be repeated in later years - threatens this and appears as ‘facts losing their truth’. E.g. in neutrons, the weak coupling ratio has decreased 10 standard deviations between 1969-2001. This happens in experiments where datasets should not give a dramatic regression to the mean so the explanation of early statistical anomalies getting cancelled out as the experiment is repeated doesn’t hold. This raises questions of if something is ever true in the discipline of science, even if it is hard to objectively prove/repeat? The neutron structure is still taken to be true, despite the lack of repeatability in results.

Publication bias can affect truth as scientific journals prefer to publish positive results that show effect rather. In his research into all published psychological studies T. Sterling found 97% had positive results. We can still observe this issue today in clinical trials as pharmaceutical companies don’t like null results.

Similar to publication bias is the file-draw problem where scientists submit positive results for publishing but put the null results in the ‘file-drawer’ to forget about, so those reading have a false view of the experiment.

Confirmation bias endangers repeatability and peer review, if a group of people all share the same preconception. Information that discredits a view can be subconsciously downplayed, perceived differently to someone with a opposite view, or ignored. It is easier to accept information that lets us reach the conclusion we want. E.g. the question of Acupuncture’s validity comes with cultural bias, its widely accepted in the East, yet is widely laughed at in the West. This shows in clinical trials as its effectiveness was concluded in 47 trials in the East, yet only in 56% of 94 in the West.

Funding bias has an impact on objective truth, meaning that depending who is funding scientific research, bias from the scientist is more likely. Future funding may be on the line so little tweaks may be done to the data/to the hypothesis to achieve results and a truth that is for the benefit of the funding body. E.g. while 93% of non-industry funded research showed concern about BPA’s harm, all industry-funded research concluded BPA causes no harm.

The lack of independency effects truth, for example members of regulatory bodies often have consultancy/ownership/funding interests to do with the same pharmaceutical companies that are going to them for approval.

Hype can also distort truth in science. How information is communicated to the public or scientific peers is a big factor in how much attention the research will receive, so exaggerating and dramatising is common meaning truth is falsified while still being promoted as truth.

Participatory Action Research and Truth Claims
Participatory Action Research (PAR) is an approach to research which seeks to understand the world with the aim of bringing about change. It is interdisciplinary, utilised in areas such as Sociology, Public Health, Community Psychology and Development, and determines to be ‘collective, self-reflective and empowering’.

It has been claimed that emancipatory research strategies, of which PAR is an example, lead to errors which undermine validity claims, and thus distort objective truths. However, such limitations are said to be accounted for by practitioners of PAR, since it is recognised that a flexible application of methods can be taken in order to determine ‘probable truths’ which serve pragmatic functions. Many factors influence the content and truthfulness of testimonies, including selectivity and memory bias, but also external constraints, cultural meanings, and the issue of translation. This is especially important when dealing with cultures which diverge significantly from that of the researchers involved. PAR approaches, such as that of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) are claimed to be particularly helpful in these contexts.

In areas of conflict resolution, it is seen as important to understand that social groups construct their own historical narratives, and thus attempt to identify where power dynamics distort perspectives by the construction of hegemonic narratives of ‘truth’ by those who occupy powerful positions within a particular context. Since emancipatory strategies seek to overcome such traps by being inclusive of marginalised voices, attempts to determine what can be reliably confirmed as true requires the utilisation of multiple methods of data collection which are subject to critical analysis and review. PAR thus utilises a flexible combination of methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus groups and interpretive discussions to enable access to various perspectives and experiences -including accounts which are conflicting- which are then subject to examination by cross-referencing with other sources, including archival and historical materials, and patterns of experience are also pursued to find areas of commonality which confer validity. Processes of triangulation are thus seen as useful for overcoming weaknesses. and are in line with the coherence theory of truth, which, in addition to the requirement of being logically consistent, necessitates that discoveries from investigations must be able support each other by being synthesised within a whole system of knowledge.

Within disciplines of development and conflict resolution, pragmatic theories of truth – which define truth in terms of utility - are also evident. Therefore, when dealing with partial truths, it is recognised that terminology matters. Referring to first-person accounts as ‘story-telling’ as opposed to ‘truth-telling’ diminishes the validity of experience. An understanding of truth as positional and multi-dimensional thus serves psychological and socially validating purposes, such as the reassertion of agency where agency has been undermined or diminished. An interpretive paradigm is useful in this sense, being based on principles of discovering in what sense autobiographical narratives can be described as true, and for what purpose.

Truth In Art
Unlike disciplines such as mathematics and the sciences where it is relatively easier to prove a belief is either true or false, things get trickier when we deal with the discipline of art. In mathematics, we can determine the truth via a priori justification (logic and deductive reasoning) to obtain an objective truth. In science, we have hypotheses and through the rigorous process of the scientific method, we can determine with certainty if the hypothesis is true or false and hence obtain the truth.

However, in art, there is no method to obtain an objective artistic truth. For example, we have no way to determine the truth on whether something is art or non-art, and we have no way to determine the truth on whether something is good art vs bad art. This is due to the nature of knowledge in art as it is an inherently subjective discipline. Despite these, there are some ways to attain some level of truth in art.

One of the main ways we find “truth” in art is via testimony from art critics. Art critics are seen as a reliable judgement of taste and hence their opinions dictate which works of art are good or bad. However, very often, there is no consensus within art critics. Furthermore, art criticism is subjective and as Kant and Hume says, is merely “a matter of taste”. Tastes change over time, which explains why some artists only became recognized long after their time.

It may be easier to objectively judge art within artistic movements or within a school of thought. For example, when comparing two realist paintings, it is possible to judge which painting is “better” by judging which painting is more realistic and by analyzing the form of the paintings. However, it becomes impossible when judging paintings across different artistic movements or across different schools of thought (e.g. comparing abstract expressionist art with realist art).

At the end of the day, we have to be satisfied that we can never attain truth in art. After all, art is meant to be subjective.

Truth in Physics
Truth in Physics does not refer to "true" judgements in the everyday sense of the world, it has a much more strong meaning referring to objective judgements. Physics appears to be one of the only discipline where truth seems to be unambiguous. We all share the same physical reality and it is applicable everywhere in life. Physics is a discipline that brings rational explanations for every phenomenon that occur in life. This discipline sets the background in which we resolve big issues and questions of social dilemmas but doesn't resolve them. To find the truth in Physics we follow a specific process. We start by " the process of verification", this process consists on accepting judgements into science. In physics we consider that no objective proposition is set as as axiom without proof, every proposition claimed as true should be provable. Starting judgements in Physics doesn't exist and there is no exception even for elementary judgements.

This process of verification of those judgements consists of the possibility of forming a "verification-chain' for each proposition that we try to prove. The possibility to do that constitutes the first criterion of assertion, we call it the "criterion of consistency". We then go through the "universal agreement" that refers to few laws including the domain of judgements to which it is applicable and the number of person's opinion that are relevant on the subject.

Finally to get the truth in Physics, we oppose the truth defined as the operational truth to the notion of truth defined by uncontrollable properties. In science only the operational truth is relevant to explain or understand phenomena.

However, even if Physics is one of the only discipline where truth is almost the most objective, absolute truth of a judgement doesn't exist and this notion is fictional and idealized. Indeed truth in this discipline could still be vague even in the best-established theories. As a relevant example the quantum mechanic has proved its worth but yet its interpretation remains incrustable.

The Journey Toward Scientific Truth
Science would appear to be one of the most objective and accurate arbiters of truth. The scientific method, coupled with Karl Popper’s famous conception of a scientific claim to be one that is falsifiable, creates an intuitive and sensible system to determine objective truth. Yet even if we accept this in theory, the practice of science is still bound to human error and bias, flying in the face of claims of objective truth.

A key example is the currently ongoing replication crisis. Replication is a key pillar in the scientific method, but it has been found that many scientific studies cannot be replicated, especially in medicine and the social sciences. Two key papers that precipitated this crisis found that researchers from two biotech companies attempting to replicate landmark findings in preclinical research succeeded in only less than 20% of cases. The effects of this crisis extend beyond just the studies in question; science is a collaborative process and many other studies have been built upon non-replicable results.

This crisis, to be sure, could indicate poor data analysis from scientists. Studies done by Daryl Bem, a respected psychologist, showed that people can predict the future through some sort of psychic ability. While his findings were provocative, his methodology and statistical data analysis were sound and standard in the field of psychology. Many felt that for Bem to use methods standard in psychology to produce an absurd result, something was likely wrong with the methods, casting doubt on the entire field of psychology. From an alternative viewpoint, this could be seen as subverting the scientific method to force-fit preconceived opinions on psychic abilities. Some subsequent attempts to replicate his findings have succeeded and some have failed; the debate over these findings, extending to the entire field of psychology, is clearly not over.

Perhaps a more insidious problem would be if the replication crisis cannot be pinned on poor data analysis that can be addressed with better use of statistics, but is an inherent flaw in the practice of science today – as the publication bias would suggest.

The publication bias occurs when the results of a study affects its chances of being published and hence contributing to the sum of public scientific knowledge. It is estimated that around 50% of studies go unpublished; a disproportionate number of these show negative results. In other words, the results of these studies do not support any relation between the studied variables. Through sheer probability, the results of a study could suggest a relation where there is none. This is not an issue in itself – the issue arises when this study is the only one to be published, while other studies refuting its findings remain unseen.

What then does this mean for the validity of science as a means of reaching objective truth? Evidently, science has not yet delivered a clear-cut objective truth in many areas. It would likely do us better to understand science not as a final arbiter of objective truth, but as a continual process. As more and more scientific studies are conducted, we can move further toward objective truth – perhaps never quite meeting it, but constantly progressing.

Truth in Media
Truth is defined as the real facts about a situation. However, there are actually two visions of truth in our society: subjective and objective ones. Objective truths are truths that are undeniable, proved by scientific methods. For example, the fact that the Earth is round is a truth: we could conduct a list of experiences that will prove it over and over again. On the other hand, Subjective truths are those which are based off of a person’s perspective, feelings or opinion. For example, “This girl is pretty” is a subjective truth. The media is really powerful in our modern society: with the news, documentaries, social medias, books, interviews, etc., it can influence us in believing some facts that aren’t objectively true. Media has a big power of giving information to people, information that they guarantee is true, but their notion of truth is sometimes subjective.

There are three main theories of thinking about truth: Correspondence theory of truth, Phenomenological theory of truth and Social Constructionist theory of truth. Phenomenological theory of truth depends is the closest to subjective truth: it is actually based on individual perceptions and thoughts. This can be seen in movies or series like The Walking Dead where we can analyse and see the reaction of the humans facing a particular situation that is unlikely to but can happen. Correspondence theory of truth aims to produce knowledge which reflects the realities that exist. For example, in the media, this can be documentaries. Finally, social constructionism assumes the truths as social, truths which were constructed through societies and their evolutions over time. For example, in the media, we could think of how the information is given, from magazines to cellphones. As we can see, these theories allow us to understand that there isn’t one truth, but a lot of different, and that is why there are so many conflicts.

False information and conflicts in media could be triggered by biases, which can be voluntary or not. Biases can cause political conflicts, false-advertising and perpetuating stereotypes or amalgames. The Media is what the people tend to trust: they have enormous teams of journalists and their documents seem official and trustful. But some media can use their influence in order to take the people further away from the truth and see the world in a way that may not be in our best interest but in their best interest. For example, some medias cut documentary videos and don’t show everything in order for the people watching them to see only the good/bad parts of the video (depends if the video is to promote/condemn). In fact, since media and the news were invented, it was always a mean to control the people by controlling the common truth: people need to have a critic sense and always verify the sources for the world to get smarter and to avoid conspiracy theories.

Truth in statistics
Statistics is highly valued in various disciplines. For example, statistical significance is the first publication requirement in many social sciences. Medical disciplines select treatments according to the best scientific evidence to date, which is often statistically-based evidence. .

Some say "numbers do not lie", but there is also a famous quote: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics" .Pure numbers certainly cannot lie, but the source of the numbers, the selection of the numbers, the methodologies and the presentation of the numbers are subjective. For example, a vast majority of the clinical research on medications is conducted or funded by pharmaceutical companies, which encounter a conflict of interest between producing good scientific statistics and the statistics that will create a niche market for themselves. . It is therefore needed to assess and interpret the strength of statistical evidence through essential quantities: the measure of the strength of the evidence, the probability that a specific study will generate a misleading evidence and finally the probability that observed evidence is misleading.

Therefore, while statistics can potentially reflect and reveal truths, it is inevitably subjective to some extent, and is frequently used to mislead the readers. Here are some of the criteria to help examine the truth in statistics:

1. Whether the differences in percentage findings are large enough to be meaningful. .

2. Whether the sample sizes are big and representative enough. .

3. Whether the survey design is clear and objective. To be more precise, the questions in the survey should not be ambiguous, leading or confusing. .

4. The scale of the graph. The same data can be presented to look different with changing of the scale of the graphs. .

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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History of video games/Platforms/Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming

Development
In 2015 Microsoft and Duke University develop "Kahawai" technology that reduces latency and bandwidth needed to stream games by performing some of the game rendering on device and using server technology to improve local output.

Launch
Microsoft xCloud officially launched on September 15th, 2020. The service was integrated with the Xbox Game Pass. Part of the reason xCloud was expanded was to improve the availability of the Xbox platform to those without the means to purchase a dedicated platform.

On February 15th, 2021, Microsoft began openly testing a browser version of the service.

In May 2021 the platform received media attention after Microsoft launched close integration of Xcloud with their dual screen Surface Duo mobile phone.

In 2022 compatibility expanded to the Valve Steam Deck handheld gaming device.

Technology
xCloud servers are based on Xbox One hardware and thus use GPUs made by AMD.

By February 2021 server blades based on the Xbox One S home game console were used for the service, with plans to use Xbox Series X hardware later in the year.


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History of video games/Platforms/Google Stadia

Development

Rumors of projects that would become Stadia date back to as early as 2016.

Around 2018 and 2019 rumors spread of a "Project Yeti" game console made by Google, and associated with Project Stream.

Stadia Games and Entertainment was revealed as a first party studio for the Stadia at GDC 2019. Several employees leading development on Stadia had previously worked on Gaikai or PlayStation Now.

Launch
Just prior to the announcement of the Stadia at GDC San Francisco in March of 2019 a gaming history exhibit featuring a number of products owned by the Video Game History Foundation was placed on display. This display included important retro gaming gear on pedestals with an empty pedestal for the new product coming soon, which would be Stadia. Though this generated important revenue from the foundation, as all the other pedestal items were commercial failures, some saw this mix up as a bad omen.

Google Stadia launched on November 19th, 2019. There were a number of issues on launch day, though many remained hopeful for the future of the service. Reportedly, the service would severely underperform expectations in the following year.

In late 2019 and early 2020 many developers expressed doubts about the Stadia, including a lack of incentives to port games, small user base, and the concern that Stadia might simply be discontinued. Reportedly major financial incentives were required to gain the support of major publishers.

Adoption & Struggles
In April of 2020 the requirement to own a $129.99 kit to play Stadia was removed to help people stay at home during COVID-19.

On October 1st, 2020 Stadia launched Crowd Choice, a feature allowing stream audiences to vote on the game roles of streamers. Later that October, Google tried offering free demos of Stadia games to build interest in the program.

In November of 2020 Google began allowing for cloud games to be shared between family members.

Due to app store policies, the launch of Stadia for iOS devices was delayed to December 16th, 2020 and launched in the form of a web app instead of a native app. As iPhone marketshare in the USA, Japan, and Canada was very high in 2020 this was an important market for mobile gaming.

In January 2021 some Google employees formed a union, becoming one of the few companies in the gaming industry with a union. The union had existed in secret for a year prior.

On February 1st, 2021 Google announced they were winding down their Stadia Games & Entertainment (SG&E) division to focus on supporting third party games only. This also included noted game producer Jade Raymond, the producer of the first few Assassins Creed games as well as the first Watchdogs game, also leaving Google. A notable struggle to retain Terraria as a Stadia game followed just days later for unrelated reasons, though it was ultimately retained by the end of the month.

In February 2022 it was widely reported that the service would switch focus from being a consumer focused service to become an enterprise focused service.

Discontinuation
On September 29, 2022 it was announced that Google Stadia would be shuttered on January 18, 2023, and that refunds would be issued to all official Stadia related purchases. At the time there was some concern among the gaming press about the preservation of Stadia exclusives. There was also concerns over e-waste generated by the discontinuation of the service, as the wireless controllers did not support an open standard for wireless communication.

After Discontinuation
Some saw the YouTube Playables platform as a successor to Stadia.

As of September 2023 improved support for the Stadia controller rumble was being added to Linux kernel 6.6.

Launch specs
Note that the following specifications are per Stadia instance at launch.

At launch each Stadia server blade contained a dedicated custom x86 CPU clocked at 2.7 gigahertz with hyperthreading, AVX2, and 9.5 megabytes of L2 and L3 cache. Stadia instances used a dedicated custom AMD GPU with 56 compute units clocked at roughly 1495 megahertz to produce a performance of 10.7 teraflops. Stadia server blades have 16 gigabytes of HBM2 RAM with 484 gigabytes per second of throughput.

Stadia servers ran a Linux based operating system. The Vulkan graphics API was used.

Major Ports

 * Human Fall Flat
 * Panzer Dragoon
 * SUPERHOT
 * Borderlands 3
 * Doom64
 * Octopath Traveler
 * Sekiro
 * Red Dead Redemption 2
 * Celeste
 * Crayta
 * Final Fantasy XV
 * Destiny 2
 * Baldur's Gate 3 - Did not launch while Stadia was on the market.

Exclusive Titles

 * Hello Engineer

External Resources

 * Google Stadia - Official website.


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History of video games/Platforms/PlayStation Now

History
Sony announced PlayStation Now at CES 2014. The platform initially supported streaming PlayStation 3 games.

PlayStation 4 game support was added in 2017.

In 2020 Sony upgraded the resolution of PlayStation Now from 720p to 1080p.

Technology
In 2014 Sony was using a custom rack server made of a custom motherboard containing the essential hardware of eight PlayStation 3 video game consoles.

By 2020 PlayStation Now was able to work with PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 games.


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History of video games/Platforms/Gaikai

History
In 2010 Gaikai was in closed beta, and was planned to use streaming playable games as an advertising tool.

In June of 2012 Gaikai partnered with Samsung for Smart TV streaming.

Sony Computer Entertainment spent about $380 million dollars to acquire Gaikai on July 2nd, 2012. This acquisition was noted for the patents this acquisition gave Sony.

In 2013 it was announced that Gaikai technology would be used in the Sony PlayStation 4.

title: History of video games/Platforms/Gaikai


text:
History of video games/Platforms/OnLive

Development
OnLive was in development for seven years before it was announced at GDC 2009.

At GDC 2009 the microconsole was publicly shown.

The company tried a number of strategies to entice users, including offering a $99 streaming microconsole, and having a $9.99 a month PlayPack subscription service for getting access to a library of games.

OnLive and semi-competing service Gaikai did not have a good relationship, despite reported attempts by Gaikai employees to be cordial.

Launch
On September 22nd, 2011 OnLive launched in the United Kingdom in preparation for a full European launch.

The Onlive Microconsole had a December 2nd, 2010 release date announced. The microconsole sold for $99 US dollars or 70 British pounds.

In February 2011 some microconsoles were given at now additional cost to users who preordered the game Homefront.

Legacy
By 2012, OnLive had nearly gone bankrupt, despite massive investments. Most OnLive staff were laid off, with the service only having at most 1,600 simultaneous users.

After being purchased by Sony, OnLive was shut down on April 30th, 2015.

Some in the industry saw the story of Onlive as one which jaded them to cloud gaming technologies, or as a cautionary tale of sorts.

Cloud system
Little is known of the technical specifications used by OnLive on the backend.

Compute
The OnLive microconsole uses a Marvell 88DE3010 SoC, which uses dual modified ARMv5 Architecture PJ1 Sheeva processor cores clocked at one gigahertz. The microconsole has one gigabyte of DDR2-800 SDRAM for system memory. Persistent storage on the microconsole is handled by NAND SLC flash storage with a capacity of two gigabytes.

The 88DE3010 SoC also included hardware video decoding capabilities. Compression used by the service on the microconsole was noticeable.

Hardware
The microconsole has an gigabit ethernet port for network connectivity as well as an HDMI port for AV output. Twin Component video output was supported with an optional adapter. Audio could alternatively be output over a 3.5" audio jack or optical S/PDIF port.

USB ports on the front of the microconsole allowed for alternate input devices.

The OnLive microconsole takes 12 volts DC at 1.5 Amps, drawing as much as 18 watts of electricity. However Engadget said in their review of the microconsole that the system only used 6 watts of power.

Controller
The controller was known as the "Owl".

The wireless controller reduced wireless latency by using a proprietary wireless protocol said to be similar to IEEE 802.15.4. OnLive boasted that their wireless protocol had a lower latency then a wired USB connection.

The controller had built in rumble support. The controller also featured a "BragClip" sharing button.

Notable games
Most games offered through OnLive were AAA titles.

Datacenter Locations
Proximity to Datacenters was important for OnLive users, as latency issues made the service suboptimal beyond 1000 miles (1609.34 kilometers) from a datacenter. Known datacenter locations for OnLive Include:
 * Virginia / Washington DC
 * Santa Clara / Bay Area
 * Atlanta / Georgia
 * Chicago / Illinois
 * Dallas, Texas

External Resources

 * Video Game Console Library - OnLive Game System page.

title: History of video games/Platforms/OnLive


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Luna

History
Amazon had been making strategic acquisitions which analysts suspected was a move to be getting into the home gaming industry since at least 2014. In particular roumors of a home game console developed by Amazon Lab 126.

Amazon Luna was announced in late September 2020.

Early access to the Amazon Luna service began on October 20th, 2020.

The business model Luna uses appears to be a monthly fee for access to a library of games.

In March of 2023 the service launched in Canada, UK, and Germany.

Compute
At launch Luna is intended to run on AWS EC2 G4 instances using Intel Cascade Lake CPUs, T4 GPUs made by NVIDIA, and a Windows operating system. Luna instances are expected to have about 8.1 teraflops of performance.

Software
The service had close integration with Twitch game streaming.

Controller
The Amazon Luna controller lowered latency by using Wi-Fi to bypass the client device and connect more directly to the server.

Alternatively, a smartphone could also be used as a controller.

title: History of video games/Platforms/Luna


text:
History of video games/Platforms/GeForce Now

Beta
GeForce NOW entered a beta phase for Shield products in 2015.

GeForce Now was announced at CES 2017.

Launch
On February 4th, 2020 GeForce Now was released to the general public. Initial relations with some developers over the service were rocky.

In 2022 it was announced that support for GeForce Now would be added to Samsung Smart TVs.

External Resources

 * Official Website


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History of video games/Platforms/Atari VCS

Development
The Ataribox was announced in June 2017.

The Ataribox was renamed to the Atari VCS in March 2019.

The new Atari VCS lead architect Rob Wyatt quit the project in 2019, claiming that invoices had not been paid for the six months leading up to his leaving.

The system was demonstrated at CES in January 2020. A March 2020 launch date for the VCS was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launch
The VCS began shipping to crowdfunding backers in December 2020.

Compute
The 2020 VCS uses an AMD Raven Ridge 2 Ryzan R1606G APU. The system shipped with either 4 or 8 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, and could be upgraded by the user to use up to 32 gigabytes of RAM. The system shipped with 32 gigabytes of eMMC flash storage, and contained an M.2 slot. 7 gigabytes of this storage was open for user use at launch. On early systems this slot is hard to access due to use of excess adhesive.

The VCS runs a modified version of Debian Linux called AtariOS. The Chrome browser is used by the system for running web applications.

Hardware
The system contains a number of communication subsystems. Radios are included for Bluetooth 4.0, as well as dual band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. The system also has a Gigabit ethernet port for wired network connections.

The system has 4 USB 3.1 ports, distributed evenly between the front and back.

External Resources

 * Atari VCS - Official website.


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History of video games/Platforms/ZX Spectrum Vega+

Development
A crowdfunding campaign was launched in February 2016 and raised 512,000 British pounds. Dickinson Associates, the company of Rick Dickinson, designed the system concept by Feburary 2016.

Launch
On May 8th, 2018 Sky decided to revoke the rights to use the Spectrum name. On August 1st, 2018 with some units having begun shipping it was announced that the company producing the handheld would loose the rights to use the Spectrum name on August 7th, 2018.

Legacy
During and following an extremely troubled launch, the console did not fare well. Indiegogo began seeking debt collection by June 6th, 2018. By February of 2019 Retro Computers LTD began to shutter itself through a "Wind Up" process.

Technology
The ZX Spectrum Vega+ an 169 pin BGA Freescale MCIMX233DJM4C ARM 9 architecture processor, 16 megabytes of DDR SDRAM, and 64 megabytes of SPI Flash Memory, essentially the same as the previous ZX Spectrum Vega with increased IO.

The GPL licensed software Free Unix Spectrum Emulator (FUSE) is used to emulate Spectrum games on the ZX Spectrum Vega+.

Games
18 games by Jonathan Cauldwell are included on the system.


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History of video games/Platforms/Xperia Play

Introduction
With the rise of the Smartphone came the rise of Smartphone gaming, a phenomenon that was recognized as posing a serious risk to handheld gaming consoles. The Xperia Play was a mobile phone game console hybrid concept that sought to bridge the two, leveraging the strengths of dedicated gaming hardware with the flexibility of a smartphone. While the Xperia Play was far from the first device to try this concept, it was the first Android Smartphone to try this concept, as well as the first gaming smartphone to use a major console brand in its promotion.

Launch
In 2011 the Sony Xperia Play launched as a gaming oriented Android 2.3 3G smartphone that was gaming oriented and could play classic PlayStation games. The critical reception of system was mixed, with reviews either tending to be lukewarm notes of a device held back by its shortcomings, or containing beaming praise for the potential of the device. The device was available in black as well as "Stealth Blue".

Legacy
Little is known about the market performance of the Xperia Play. However a followup device was never released.

In late 2020 images of a potential Xperia Play 2 were leaked online, but could not be verified.

Technology
The Xperia Play uses a 32 bit single core ARM Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon clocked at 1 gigahertz, with a Adreno 205 clocked at 266 megahertz, and a Hexagon DSP clocked at 256 megahertz.

The Xperia Play has 512 MB of LPDDR2 RAM. While this matches the amount of RAM used by Sony's PlayStation Vita, this was fairly standard in what Android phones typically offered in 2011, with several higher end phones offering a bit more RAM or even double this amount.

Xperia Play optimized games

 * Crash Bandicoot - PS1 Port and pack in.
 * Wild Arms
 * MediEvil

External Resources

 * Archived version of the official website in 2011.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/ZX Spectrum Vega

Development
The system development was handled by Chris Smith.

Launch
The ZX Spectrum Vega was launched in 2015 for 100 British pounds.

Technology
The ZX Spectrum Vega uses three chips, an 128 pin Freescale MCIMX233DJM4C ARM 9 architecture processor, 16 megabytes of DDR SDRAM, and 64 megabytes of SPI Flash Memory, specs it essentially shares with the Vega+.

An unconventional on screen controller is included through software.

Notable games
The ZX Spectrum Vega contains 1,000 games from the original ZX Spectrum, mostly freeware titles that were available online.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Pocket Dream Console

History
The Pocket Dream Console was released on August 3rd, 2006, retailing for $65. The console is sometimes instead known as the Conny PDC100.

Technology
The Pocket Dream Console is powered by a Sunplus 16-bit SPG 240 CPU.

The console has a 2.5" LCD and a TV output.

The system does not accept cartridges, so all games are built into the unit.

Games
The system has 100 games built in.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Mi2

History
The Mi2 was released as a successor to the Pocket Dream Console in October 2009 at a cost of either 69.99 euros or 99 euros in the Benelux region of Europe.

Technology
The Mi2 uses a MIPS CPU, 256 megabytes of RAM, and 16 gigabytes of NAND Flash internal storage with 512 megabytes left free for the user.

The Mi2 has a full color 3.5" backlit TFT LCD with a touchscreen and a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels. The system also has an AV out port.

The Mi2 has a microphone, 0.3 megapixel camera, and an accelerometer. The Mi2 is powered by a 1200 mAh battery.

Notable games
The system contains either 100 or 105 games depending on the model. In September of 2010 the ability to add downloaded games to the system was added.

title: History of video games/Platforms/Mi2


text:
History of video games/Platforms/DIFRNCE MGC01

History
The MGC01 handheld was the first console released by DIFRNCE B.V., a company based in the city of Woerden, Netherlands.

Technology
The MGC01 handheld uses a 2.7 inch LCD display with a resolution of 960 by 240 pixels. The console takes three AAA batteries.

Notable games
The console contains 100 built in games.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Coleco Sonic

History
The Coleco Sonic was among the first gaming devices to bear the Coleco brand since the ColecoVision of the early 1980's.

At launch in 2006 the Coleco Sonic cost $49.99.

Technology
The Coleco Sonic takes three AAA batteries or power from a DC input jack.

The Coleco Sonic supports play on televisions over it's AV out port.

Notable games
20 games from the Sega Master System and Sega Genesis are built into the console.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/DISCover

History
DISC was based in Long Beach, California.

DISCover was introduced at E3 2003. The system was again featured at E3 2004.

The ApeXtreme console was supposed to support DISCover technology, but it dropped by 2005.

A partnership between Digital Interactive Systems and Alienware was announced. In 2005 two Alienware media center computers including the DHS 5 were released supporting DISCover.

Technology
DISCover was a system designed to allow traditional PC games to be easily played in a console setting.

DISCover was a combination of a BIOS chip running DISCover software and a script database to optimize the running of certain games in a console setting, as well as to automatically update and patch games.

External Resources

 * Video Game Console Library - DISCover page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Cybiko

History
The original Cybiko was released in 2000.

The Cybiko Xtreme was released in October 2001.

Technology
The Cybiko uses a 32 bit H8S/2246 Hitachi CPU clocked at 11 megahertz, with a Atmel AT90S2313 coprocessor clocked at four megahertz, and one megabyte of RAM.

Games
There are around 430 official games released for the Cybiko.

External Resources

 * Centre for Computing History - Cybiko Xtreme page.

title: History of video games/Platforms/Cybiko


text:
History of video games/Platforms/GameKing

History
The GameKing was released in either 2003 or 2004, and ceased production sometime after 2006.

Technology
The GameKing I is powered by a 8-bit WDC 65C02 microprocessor clocked at 6 megahertz.

Notable games

 * Carlo Adventure Legend
 * Duckman
 * Trojan Legend

External Resources

 * Video Game Kraken - Gameking page.
 * Console Database - Gameking page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/GPANG

Launch
GPANG was launched by telecom company KTF in 2004 as a gaming service used on certain Korean mobile phones.

In late 2007 GPANG platform saw its final game releases. From April to May of 2009 GPANG held a baseball themed event. With many dedicated fans, Baseball has been among South Korea's most popular sports since the 1980s, making this a sensible tie in.

Legacy
As early as June 1st, 2009 the service was discontinued. By March of 2013, the GPANG website was offline.

While GPANG devices are obscure in English speaking countries, these devices show an interesting chapter in mobile gaming history before the rise of touch oriented smartphones.

GPANG also stands in stark contrast to the first Nokia NGAGE concept, by focusing on adding gaming functionality to a phone form factor, rather than phone functionality to a game console form factor. The relative longevity of the first GPANG platform in comparison with the NGAGE says quite a bit about which concept ultimately prevailed. While GPANG did not change much as a concept, the NGAGE concept ended up seeing major revisions and eventually became a similar platform itself. This approach is often seen still with most gaming oriented smartphones focusing on being phones good for gaming, rather than being primarily gaming devices that can also serve as a smartphone.

Technology
Unlike the N-Gage GPANG devices were focused on offering good phone functionality, with gaming being an add on feature.

Earlier generation GPANG phones could run 3D Games through software rendering, with later models using 3D hardware rendering.

GPANG Phones
Phones with known GPANG support.
 * SPH-G1000
 * LG-KV3600
 * SPH-B3200

Notable games
The developer Fathammer made several games for the GPANG platform. Other notable developers for the platform included EA, Nexon, Taito, Namco, and Capcom. Interestingly, Gamepark Holdings, the developers of the GP2X handheld, released a port of the 2002 GP32 game Little Wizard (리틀위저드) for GPANG on March 4th, 2005.

title: History of video games/Platforms/GPANG


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Pelican VG Pocket

History
The Pelican VG Pocket line was made by JungleTac and branded by Performance Design Products.

VG Pocket Max
The Pelican VG Pocket Max was launched in 2005.

The VG Pocket Max uses a color 2.5 inch TFT LCD.

VG Pocket 50
The VG Pocket 50 was released on November 15th, 2005.

VG Pocket Tablet
The VG Pocket Tablet was launched by August 2006.

The VG Pocket Tablet has a 1.5 inch backlit TFT LCD display.

The VG Pocket Tablet is not a tablet format device, it is round and flat.

VG Pocket Caplet
The Pelican VG Pocket Caplet was launched by October of 2006. The Caplet cost $40 for the handheld itself, and $15 for the add on AV cable.

The VG Pocket Caplet has a two inch backlit TFT LCD display.

The VG Pocket Caplet is powered by three small AAA type batteries.

The VG Pocket Caplet supported AV out over an optional cable.

The VG Pocket Caplet has Bust a Move and Taito Space Invaders Part II built in. Many games on the VG Pocket Caplet are also found on the Vii home console.

VG Pocket Mini
The VG Pocket Mini has a 1.5 inch backlit LCD.

The VG Pocket Mini uses a microswitch joystick.

The VG Pocket Mini includes 30 games, many of which are clones of NES games.


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History of video games/Platforms/Pixter

History
The Pixter was produced by Mattel in the 2000's.

Technology
The Pixter uses a LCD with stylus support for drawing.

The Pixter is powered by four AA batteries.

Notable games

 * Rocket Power
 * Spongebob Squarepants
 * Clifford the Big Red Dog
 * Math Mansion
 * Symphony Painter
 * Just Grandma and Me

title: History of video games/Platforms/Pixter


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Pepper Pad

Development
In January of 2002 Pepper computer was founded in Lexington, Massachusetts.

On December 17th, 2003 the Pepper Pad Wi-Fi Suite was announced. This hardware was later demoed at CES 2004.

Launches
The Pepper Pad was launched in 2005.

The Pepper Pad 3 was launched in 2006.

Legacy
Sales were not good, leading to the Pepper company downsizing in 2007.

Compute
The Pepper Pad Wi-Fi suite is powered by an Intel XScale PXA255 clocked at 400 megahertz. This CPU was based on the strongARM architecture.

The Pepper Pad Wi-Fi suite has 256 megabytes of SDRAM.

The system has a 2D graphics accelerator on the LCD controller.

Hardware
The Pepper Pad Wi-Fi suite has 32 megabytes of flash storage, and a 1.8 inch PCMCIA 5 gigabyte hard drive. An SD card slot is used for expandable storage.

The Pepper Pad has a 8.4 inch TFT LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 600 by 800 pixels.

The Pepper Pad Wi-Fi suite supports Wi-Fi b with dual antennas, and also supports bluetooth.

The Pepper Pad is powered by two lithium polymer batteries in series to provide a capacity of 3400mAh.

Software
The Pepper Pad Wi-Fi Suite runs Linux 2.4 and supports Java applications.

Compute
The Pepper Pad 2 Intel XScale CPU is clocked at 624 megahertz.

Hardware
The Pepper Pad 2 has a 20 gigabyte hard drive and an SD card slot.

The display of the Pepper Pad 2 is a 8.4" TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels.

The Pepper Pad 2 has Wi-Fi g and Bluetooth.

Software
The Pepper Pad 2 runs MontaVista Linux CEE.

Compute
The Pepper Pad 3 is powered by an AMD Geode LX800 processor clocked at 533 megahertz, and consuming between 0.9 and 1.8 watts of power. The system has 256 megabytes of RAM.

Hardware
The Pepper Pad 3 has 20 gigabytes of hard drive storage.

The Pepper Pad 3 uses a 7" CCFL lit LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels.

Communication supported include Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2 + EDR, and IrDA.

The system is powered by a lithium polymer battery, which lasts around two to four hours.

Software
The Pepper Pad 3 runs Red Hat Linux with a kernel version 2.6.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Design Master Senshi Mangajukuu

History
The Design Master Senshi Mangajukuu was released by Bandai on March 3rd, 1995. A girl oriented version called the Paluseata was also released.

Hardware
The console uses a stylus oriented touchscreen, and is among the first handheld game consoles to use such a features.

The console uses four AA batteries.

The Design Master Senshi Mangajukuu was made in Japan.

Game cartridges
Cartridges that contained game software and cartridges that contained sprite design software could be used together.

Games

 * Rockman X3
 * Sailor Moon Super S Illustration Club
 * Dragon Ball Z Search Battle
 * Dungeon Diver

Drawing

 * Slam Dunk
 * Weekly Shonen Jump Special
 * Dragon Ball Z
 * Street Fighter II


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Gamate

History
Not to be confused with the earlier, but unrelated VTech 3D Gamate.

Released by Bit Corp in 1990, Bit Corp folded in 1992 but UMC would continue production until around 1993, with the Gamate's biggest market only being a modest presence in Italy.

The Gamate was a failure in the market and it is speculated that the Gamate sold worse then the Watara Supervision.

Technology
The Gamate uses a clone of the 8-bit MOS 6502 processor, either a UMC UA6588F or an NCR 81489.

The Gamate probably has 16 kilobytes of RAM.

The monochrome Gamate screen tends to ghost badly.

Notable games
About 70 games were released for the system.

title: History of video games/Platforms/Gamate


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Barcode Battler

History
The Barcode Battler was released by Epoch in 1991, and was very successful in Japan, but less successful in Europe.

The system was an early example of a game that attempted to leverage real world data in gameplay, and is notable for doing so in an era before widespread internet access, accurate and cheap public GPS access, or other common systems used in contemporary games that leverage real world conditions.

Technology
Little reliable information exists for the technological specifications of the Barcode Battler.

The Barcode Battler is said to be powered by a N2A03 CPU clocked at 1 megahertz.

The system supports a two player mode.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Digi Casse

History
The Digi Casse was released by Bandai in 1984. The Digi Casse saw a European release sometime about 1986. The console was sold with two game cartridges.

Technology
The Digi Casse is powered by two LR44 watch batteries.

Japan

 * Express Home Delivery
 * City Turbo Race
 * Hageransu
 * Mt. Fuji Explosion

Europe

 * Pelican
 * Penguin
 * Submarine
 * Frog & Insects

External Resources

 * Handheld Museum Digi Casse A page.
 * Handheld Museum Digi Casse B page.
 * Game Medium Digi Casse page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Tomytronic 3D

History
The Tomytronic 3D was released in 1983. The handheld console used binocular style housing and was one of the first gaming systems to create a stereoscopic effect.

Technology
The Tomytronic 3D used external light through a window to light up the twin LCD displays used by the console.

The system was made in Japan.

Game library
The handheld was a dedicated console, containing one of the following games depending on the model.
 * Planet Zeon
 * Skyfighters
 * Thundering Turbo
 * Shark Attack
 * Jungle Fighter
 * Sky Attack
 * Sherman Attack

External Resources

 * Handheld Museum - Page covering the Tomytronic 3D.


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History of video games/Platforms/VTech 3D Gamate

History
Not to be confused with the later, but unrelated Gamate.

The VTech 3D Gamate was released in 1983, and featured a screen designed for stereo viewing.

Little more is known about the console, however it holds a distinct role as an early stereoscopic gaming device.

Technology
The 3D Gamate uses cartridges. The Cartridges themselves contain the stereoscopic screens.

Released
Three official games were released for the 3D Gamate.
 * Escape
 * Formula 500
 * Death Corridor

Unreleased

 * Viking Invasion
 * Bonk
 * Flying Saucers

External Resources

 * Game Medium - VTech 3D Gamate page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/VTech Variety

History
The VTech Variety was released in 1983. Little more is known about the history of the console.

Technology
The CPU and LCD for the System is located on the cartridge.

Notable games
At least six games were released for the VTech Variety. Some game cartridges had dual layer LCDs to contain two games in one package, increasing portability.

External Resources

 * Handheld Museum - VTech Variety


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Children's Discovery System

Development
Mattel brought on Professor Dr. Gordon Berry of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an educational consultant for the system.

Launch
The Children's Discovery System was launched in 1981 at a cost of $125.

Legacy
The Children's Discovery system was discontinued in 1984.

Technology
The Display of the Children's Discovery System has a matrix LCD with a 16 by 48 pixel resolution.

The system has an integrated membrane keyboard.

Notable games

 * Math I
 * Arcade Action I
 * Words I
 * Art
 * Music
 * Words II
 * Arcade Action II
 * Memory and Logic
 * Geography I
 * Foods
 * Fractions I
 * Fractions II
 * Science I
 * Presidents
 * Computer Programming
 * Spelling Fun

External Resources

 * Computer History Museum - Children's Discovery System page.
 * Handheld Museum - Mattel 1981 Toy Fair Catalog clipping.
 * RAM OK ROM OK - Children's Discovery System page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Colorvision

History
The Colorvision was launched in 1984 and sold under multiple brands.

The Colorivsion was discontinued in 1985.

Technology
The Romtec Colorvision uses 2 C type batteries and game cartridges containing an LCD screen. The game cartridges contain no software, but simply indicate which games built into the console should run.

The integrated circuit on the motherboard is epoxied.

Game library

 * Beasts Planet
 * Horror House
 * Jungle Boy
 * Monster Chase
 * Submarine

External Resources

 * Handheld Museum - Colorvision page.
 * Video Game Kraken - Colorvision by Romtec page.
 * Game Medium - Colorvision page.
 * Handheld Empire - Colorvision page.
 * Electronic Plastic - Colorvision page.


text:
History of video games/Platforms/Palmtex Portable Videogame System

Launch
The Palmtex Portable was released in 1983.

The Palmtex Portable was among the first clamshell console designs.

Legacy
According to the Video Game Kraken only 5,000 Palmtex Portables were sold out of the 30,000 units total were produced. Remaining units were possibly destroyed.

Technology
The Palmtex Portable uses cartridges with the system LCD built into the cartridges. Overlays gave color to otherwise monochrome graphics.

The system is very fragile.

Game library

 * Aladdin's Adventures
 * React Attack
 * Outflank - Reversi

External Resources

 * Video Game Kraken - Palmtex Portable Videogame System page.


text:
Fijian/Adverbs

 * below : tukuna
 * Behind : dakuna
 * In front : mataka
 * Beside : yasana
 * Inside : lomana
 * Only : ga
 * Very : sara
 * A lot : soti
 * Again : tale

title: Fijian/Adverbs


text:
Fijian/Time

 * what is the Time? : Sa Vica na kaloko?
 * It's 10 o'clock : sa Tini na kaloko
 * It's 11 o'clock : sa tini ka dua na kaloko
 * It's half Past 10 : sa veimama na Tini
 * It's half Past 3 : Sa veimama na tolu
 * It's 10 minutes to 3 : sa vo e Tini na miniti me tolu
 * It's 15 minutes to 4 : sa vo e Tini ka lima na miniti me va
 * It's 13 minutes Past 6 : sa oti na ono ena Tini ka tolu na miniti
 * It's 24 minutes Past 2 : sa oti na rua ena rua saga vulu ka va na miniti

title: Fijian/Time