http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-161920724.html Headline reads, "Online Gamers Crack AIDS enzyme Puzzle"
Fascinating to me that a group of gamers could come up with this. On the other hand, I am wondering why all scientific problems that can be mapped in this way aren't expedited to the game room in Foldit.. I watch my 4 year old play a game, Lego Star Wars, that is mind boggling to me and has little pattern or point to me yet he can go on for hours if I let him passing all the levels and solving...something.
I read a book recently called Radical Evolution which discusses the future merging of man and machine. It contained a lot of food for thought that turned my skepticism during the first chapters into belief by the last few. It all makes sense though. And why not? We have prosthetic limbs, artificial parts, not to mention performance enhancing drugs. Why would we balk at the idea that drugs or micro chips might soon replace the daily gummi chewable for our children? "Here, honey, please take your daily intelligence booster. You have a math test today." (The movie "Limitless" which I happened to watch yesterday also gives an interesting take on a variation of the concept. )
Being somewhat of a humanist and not at all a gamer (not that the two are mutually exclusive) I tend to have a knee jerk reaction to theories and ideas such as these. I think the human condition is above all this tinkering and "cheating." Yet as I age and see the advances in science and technology I have become quite interested. I realize my reaction is in part due to the fact that I don't want to be that 65 year old that needs her grandchild to program her electronics. I want to keep up.
It was stated in the above book that if an adult could make it 10-20 years in reasonable good health that they would be set for a long, long life. Some of these people are seriously planning finances to stretch for hundreds of years. This is no joke to them.
So what point or lesson can we gather from this? For one thing, all the studies that electronics are bad for our kids might not hold as much water. I know mine will play on the computer or Wii for hours but will also play on a dirt pile for hours. I wonder how we came to the conclusion that dirt piles provide them with a greater educational opportunity. Maybe back in the day when dirt piles were competing with pong but those days are gone. The great and wonderful days of kids playing with the cardboard box, fashioning it into a cool go-cart now are going up against programs where kids can build virtual cars with accurate engineering specs.
For another thing, we might want to climb onto the technology rail and hold on tight because this thing is moving quickly. It's likely to run over anyone not on board.
