Tuesday, May 23 at 2:00 pm
Video Games Will Make Us Smarter
As video games gain prominence, some game creators are turning to global issues, such as poverty alleviation, international diplomacy, and combating climate change, for inspiration. Playing these socially minded games, they argue, allows users to build tangible skills in combating crisis and solving critical problems. But others see the multibillion-dollar gaming industry, dominated by portrayals of crime and war, as a threat that desensitizes its users to violence and encourages anti-social behavior. Will video games soon provide innovative solutions to our most pressing social, political and economic challenges? Or is the impact of gaming overrated and potentially destructive?
Debaters:
Daphne Bavelier is an internationally-recognized expert on how humans learn. She received a PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT and trained in human brain plasticity at the Salk Institute. She now directs a cognitive neuroscience research team at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and is a co-founding advisor to Akili Interactive, a company which develops clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics that exploit high-quality video games. Bavelier is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Enhancement and previously served on the forum’s global agenda project “New Vision for Education: Unlocking the Potential of Technology.” Her 2012 TED Talk “Your Brain on Games” explored how fast-paced video games affect the brain.
Asi Burak is a veteran of the videogame and tech industries, and an award-winning executive producer. He is currently the CEO of Power Play and chairman of the influential industry organization Games for Change (G4C). In 2011, Burak was named one of the "Digital 25: Leaders in Emerging Entertainment" by the Producers Guild of America and Variety Magazine. He has served as a strategic advisor to organizations like EON Productions (producer of the James Bond films), the Tribeca Film Festival, Newsweek, and McCann Erickson, helping guide the strategic use of interactive and gaming. He is often interviewed by media, and has been invited to speak at conferences and institutions including TED Talks, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Clinton Global Initiative, Sundance, CES, SXSW, and GDC. He is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts and holds a Master of Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University.
Elias Aboujaoude, MD, MA, is a psychiatrist and author based at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is clinical professor of Psychiatry and director of the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Clinic. His research interest has focused on obsessive compulsive disorder and behavioral addictions, including problematic internet use. He has had numerous publications on these topics in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and his work has been widely covered, including by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, and NPR. His books include Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality and Compulsive Acts: A Psychiatrist's Tales of Ritual and Obsession. He is also co-editor of the academic books Impulse Control Disorders and Mental Health in the Digital Age: Great Promise, Grave Dangers.
Walter R. Boot is an associate professor of psychology at Florida State University and director of the university’s Attention and Training Lab. He is one of six principal investigators of the multi-disciplinary Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement. His research interests include how humans perform and learn to master complex tasks (especially tasks with safety-critical consequences), how age influences perceptual and cognitive abilities vital to the performance of these tasks, and how technological interventions can improve the well-being and cognitive functioning of older adults. Boot has published extensively on the topic of technology-based interventions involving digital games.
To listen to the audio “Video Games Will Make Us Smarter” on Intelligence Squared online, please click HERE.