No Skill Involved?

[slickhare]

so i've just recently got into this whole cubing thing, and can finally solve it consistently without peeking at the algorithms. i was looking at some posts on imdb about that new movie The Pursuit of Happyness, about will smith and his solving of the rubiks cube. they hired coaches to teach him how to do it, so in the film he actualy solves it.

many of the posts trashed cubing. saying that there was "no skill involved in solving it" that you can just "follow the instructions and you've got it". also that "there are only a few patterns, and you just have to memorize what to do". they went on to say that "the skill was in figuring out the rubiks cube, now that it's been done, it's just memorization"

when i was learning to cube, i was only told that i needed to make the cross, and fill in the edges and corners. how to get to that point, i figured out myself. but the LL i had to look up the algorithms to finish it off, and now i have them memorized. but i can't help but feel like i'm cheating.

so what do you all think, is there no skill involved in solving the cube? is it just about memorization and speed?

 

[annon]

The people who say that obviously don't know anything about cubing, so don't listen to them.

 

[pjk]

Well, I wouldn't say no skill, because I guarantee without any help except a simple guide online, it will take you awhile to solve it. Being able to solve it is pretty easy, however, getting under 30 and 20 seconds is something that takes practice. The funny thing is, for the people who say that "all you have to do is remember patterns" are most likely the people who are jealous and don't want to look bad by not being able to do it. To be honest, if it is fun for you and is a hobby, do it, don't worry about what others say.

 

[Pyro34]

yeah

i hate those people..

and the whole "peel of the little stickers" joke is getting really old...

 

[Tim Reynolds]

Originally posted by Pyro34@Dec 22 2006, 02:38 AM
and the whole "peel of the little stickers" joke is getting really old...

As have cubers discussing how annoying it is. Just saying...

annon: Let's not be so unfriendly towards new people asking questions.

slickhare: for reasons stated by PJK, I disagree with that statement.

 

[Athefre]

I think it goes like this (for basic Fridrich):

Cross: Intuitive, easy but there is skill involved
F2L: Hard to say, I say 50% skill because most CFOP users just memorize the sheets THEN try to understand them.
LL: No skill except for learning how to recognize the case

The only skills I see in the Fridrich method are the Cross, looking ahead, and recognition. There isn't much intuitive stuff going on often. If you use XCross and multislotting, that's more skill being used.

I think what some of those people that say "There is no skill involved." mean is that a lot of cubers don't actually know how to solve it themselves.

I would like to make some kind of test or survey on one of the cubing forums and see how many Fridrich users, Roux users, Petrus users, etc can actually solve the cube completely without any memorized sequences.

 

[tenderchkn]

People who can't solve the cube find it a lot easier to say it's luck than it is to learn it.

I do think it's a little funny how he's explaining Fridrich - a method that was unknown in 1981 (unless you're Fridrich...).

 

[annon]

Originally posted by Tim Reynolds@Dec 22 2006, 05:38 PM
annon: Let's not be so unfriendly towards new people asking questions.

I didn't think it was in any way unfriendly to the original poster. I was just saying that you shouldn't get discouraged by people who have no idea what they're talking about. I'm sorry if it came out badly, though.

Also, even if the skill isn't in solving the cube at all, it's in solving it quickly; recognizing cases in fractions of a second and then executing the algorithms within seconds.

 

[longshot789]

Just remember. Anyone who is a speedcuber develops dexterity. Now if thats a talent or a skill I'm not the judge, but the only way it's developed is by practice practice practice. Dexterity plays a huge role in speedcubing.

 

[Harris Chan]

Yeah and I'm losing it

 

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

running a 100m sprint is easy too--all you do is run from one point to another.

:rolleyes:

(/sarcasm)

you see my point?

 

[Athefre]

Originally posted by longshot789+Dec 23 2006, 08:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (longshot789 @ Dec 23 2006, 08:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Just remember. Anyone who is a speedcuber develops dexterity. Now if thats a talent or a skill I'm not the judge, but the only way it's developed is by practice practice practice. Dexterity plays a huge role in speedcubing.[/b]

That's not really a skill needed to solve the cube.

<!--QuoteBegin-"SomeDude"
I do think it's a little funny how he's explaining Fridrich[/quote]

Why? It's the most popular method so I gave points about it. Why do it about Waterman or Roux?

 

[pjk]

Originally posted by DDRKirby(ISQ)@Dec 25 2006, 04:44 PM
running a 100m sprint is easy too--all you do is run from one point to another.

:rolleyes:

(/sarcasm)

you see my point?

Exactly. If someone says that there is no skill involved in averaging sub-20 or sub-15 on the Rubik's Cube, they certainly have some problems or don't understand.

 

[slickhare]

Originally posted by PJK+Dec 27 2006, 12:15 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (PJK @ Dec 27 2006, 12:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-DDRKirby(ISQ)@Dec 25 2006, 04:44 PM
running a 100m sprint is easy too--all you do is run from one point to another.

:rolleyes:

(/sarcasm)

you see my point?

Exactly. If someone says that there is no skill involved in averaging sub-20 or sub-15 on the Rubik's Cube, they certainly have some problems or don't understand. [/b][/quote]
so if you're not in that time range, then can't argue to have skill yet?

 

[pjk]

No, I didn't say that.

The point is that it does take skill, I was just proving the point and really proving it so there wasn't a question. Getting sub-1 minute takes a little practice, not everyone can do it.

 

[MasterofRubix]

Originally posted by PJK@Dec 28 2006, 03:07 AM
Getting sub-1 minute takes a little practice, not everyone can do it.

Forget doing it sub-1 minute, some people cant do it period!

 

[Athefre]

Many people posting here didn't read the full topic message.

The topic was about people saying SOLVING (not speedsolving) the cube doesn't take skill. For most methods, those people are right. Just memorize stuff and you can solve it is what they are saying. If you use Roux, that is mostly skill (corners isn't for most), if you use Fridrich, the cross is skill (the rest isn't for most), if you use Petrus, the F2L is skill (LL isn't for most).

Originally posted by "TC"
many of the posts trashed cubing. saying that there was "no skill involved in solving it" that you can just "follow the instructions and you've got it". also that "there are only a few patterns, and you just have to memorize what to do". they went on to say that "the skill was in figuring out the rubiks cube, now that it's been done, it's just memorization"