Author: Jock Gill

Spore is an interesting game because, according to the NY Times feature on it in the science section no less, you can only win with a balance of competition and cooperation! A post cold war game. Ah. “Not a simple kill or be killed affair.” Requirement to make alliances to be successful. … work collectively and out compete …

It is interesting to note that only now is there a powerful enough computational infrastructure to make the game both technically and economically viable. It is yet another departure point for the 21st century as it leaves the 20th behind. Obama will “get” Spore. McCain will not. Pallin will try to ban it as it promotes the “heresy” of evolution.

Now it seems to me that Spore’s characteristics are also essential to Michael McDonald’s Resilient Networks.

My question today is this: is our educational system promoting these values, or is it more nearly promoting the “go it alone”, “unilateral action”, “no limits, no consequences” models so beloved by the Cold War types and unregulated free market extremists? What range of attributes does our current educational system ascribe to human nature? Is it rich and complex? Or is it a simplistic single metric of “self interest”? Are we teaching our next generation that there are limits and consequences within which we must operate as we are not exceptional nor exempt from the laws of nature? What outcomes can we expect from an educational culture forced to “teach to the tests”? “Careful what you pursue. Choosing it, it chooses you.”[Peter Wolf: Growin’ Pain]

I hope our education system would promote, amongst other things, the values of Ben Franklin’s Junto Club, mutual aid societies for mutual improvement, the creation of libraries and public universities, etc.. Not to mention his refusal to patent: 1. bifocals; 2. lightening rods; 3. his metal stove. All of these things contributed to making Philadelphia the city of brotherly love, NOT the city of “you are on your own” in a culture where the only driver is game theory’s single metric of self interest.

In the end, if we want a resilient society to help us deal with the enormous challenges facing us, what do we have to do to get there? Are we doing it? In a very important way, this election is a choice between a resilient 21st century world view vs the old 20th century Cold War world view.

Personally, I am voting for the future and hope, not the dead past that begat the problems threatening us today.

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