For a while now I am thinking that you don’t really know something until you can easily explain it or talk about it, in simple words and with people who might not even know one thing about the subject. John Carmack is well known and respected in the field of computer graphics and gaming, and watch him talk about light and rendering! I now nothing of it, and I watch this whole talk, glued to the screen, catching every word.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6UKhR0T6cs]
Apart from the physics of light, this provokes thought on other subjects too. The complexity of simple things comes to mind. Something that we all observe every day and seldom think about – turns out to be so complex. The importance of computer games is another subject. I’m a big fan of Quake in particular, and I’ve heard a billion times people asking questions on why is this important at all and how this makes the world better. Well, I guess, that question is easy to answer now. Some game makers push the technology, push the science, and they do make the world better. But they need us – gamers, once in a while, to pay for that and to provide feedback on what works and what doesn’t.