Jill Tarter & Will Wright at the Seed Salon:

JT: One of the things about games is that you get to build a model without any consequences or constraints. So Spore in one sense is a very good way of looking at evolution. But, if all things are possible with a certain number of DNA points, and you’re not constrained by the physical world or what that world would actually provide you, then where do you learn about the consequences of evolution?

WW: Well, when kids — or adults — play a game there’s a model in the computer that they’re playing against. And when they play they’re reverse-engineering that model. As they get better at the game, they get a more accurate representation of that computer model. And what I’ve seen in almost every game I’ve made is that when players get a close representation of the model they’re playing against, they transcend it. They start arguing with the assumptions of that model, saying, “Hey, I don’t think that’s the way cities really work. I don’t think mass transit’s really that effective.” And when they surpass the computer model, it feels to me like they’re graduating the play experience — they realize this is a toy, not an accurate model of reality.

Yeah, it gets wicked interesting after that. Videogames, sociology, evolution, rational thought, transhumanism, etc., etc..

Related posts:

1. Science and Human Spirit
2. Human Nature and the BFF
3. Human progress
4. hey jerks!
5. The Xmas spirit