Great Stuff
Every once in a while I come across recordings that remind me that there is soooooo much good in the world, and so much reason for hope, in spite of what the news media wants you to believe. so, here are 3 podcasts i listened to yesterday that filled me with hope and a sense of connection…
1. This talk by psychologist Jordan Peterson is an amazing exploration of ‘the sacred’ and how an awareness of such an idea can lead us to a content relationship with suffering and the meaning of life. This is the one that inspired this post.
Jordan Peterson on Reality and the Sacred
2. This Ted Talk is a wonderful defense of my deep interest in gaming as a technology with a real future, and a defense of my belief that we should all spend some time gaming…
3. Finally, for those of you interested in the food crisis and how it relates to the environmental issues that are most certainly going to be a major theme in the next 50 years, here’s a reason for hope…
4 Comments
globatron
August 11, 2010I’d like to see the video versions of these. I enjoyed the Video Game one the best. Her optimism is contagious. I honestly feel gaming versus doing is one of the main issues though. Instead of investing 10,000 hours in gaming I suggest putting it in something like community service. who knows what would be possible.
Also, I find it extremely easy for her to see gaming as the solution instead of the problem since she builds games. But who am I to question, she obviously is the expert.
Also I found it interesting that the Global Extension Awareness Super Computer calculated that there were only 23 years left of civilization. Odd how that number keeps cropping up.
The other two presentations I found hard to follow while multitasking.
Good food for thought though for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Akbar Lightning
August 11, 2010yes, it is difficult to listen to these while doing other things…
but as far as gaming goes…i think she was rather clear about presenting the fact that gaming acts to fulfill a social role that has yet to be found in other mediums…and on this i agree…
in fact, this is one of the aspects of globatron i would like to see more operative, a more outreach based approach…
games and social projects like hers allow people to be connected and fulfill adventures…i would say some of the games she’s developed sound very much like the solution, and simply by pointing out the raw potential of all that manpower, i think she is revolutionary…
Byron King
August 11, 2010It does kind of remind me of my concept as well. Maybe that makes me revolutionary as well.
http://www.globatron.org/concepts/gamers-save-the-world
It’s not that I haven’t felt there is potential there, I just wonder if the average user would actually embark on a journey to save the world or would prefer to use that time for pure fantasy. I think in a way she neglects to address the escapism at work in gaming. I don’t feel gamers would want to face reality. I feel the majority are doing the exact opposite.
That’s why I think if she was to do something like this she should disguise it inside another game. It’s good to know that folks with the manpower, and knowledge to do projects like this are out there. I was starting to think it was just crazy artists thinking up ideas to save the world.
Akbar Lightning
August 11, 2010for my money, i think people are almost starving for meaning…
even fundamentalist religions must acknowledge the existential doubt that drives them into their fantasy lives…
we have lived for over a hundred years with a kind of naked soul, unprotected from the terror of existence…
what people want is something truly meaningful, and i promise you once such a thing is found, those gamers will flock to it…
in fact, given all that we know about machine evolution…it is very possible they are engaged in the most meaningful historical activity right now…
now for us humanists, that is uncomfortable, but if we don’t give them a choice, then we will lose, if in fact we believe the world needs saving…