Hug a geek?

People have spent decades decrying video gaming and the 'slacker' culture.  According to Andy Kessler, in fact, video games have led some of the most important innovations in world history.  This illustrates a key points:  governments don't 'foster' or 'spur' innovation.  Young people do.  Take the Iphone, for example:

Consider the Apple iPhone, often touted as the tech symbol of our era. It's actually more evolutionary than revolutionary. Much of its technology—color LCD displays, low power usage, precision manufacturing—was perfected for hand-held videogames like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which sold in the tens of millions. Think about how much more productively workers are now able to communicate because of some silly games.

Or the impact of the Roomba on military robotics.  Or how killing Orcs and Trolls has revolutionized on line collaboration:

Videogames will influence how next-gen workers interact with each other. Call of Duty, a military simulation game, has a mode that allows players to cooperate from remote locations. In World of Warcraft, players form guilds to collaborate, using real-time texting and talking, to navigate worlds presented in high-resolution graphics. Sure, they have funky weapons and are killing Orcs and Trolls and Dwarves, but you don't have to be a gamer to see how this technology is going to find its way into corporate America. Within the next few years, this is how traders or marketers or DNA hunters will work together. No more meetings!

I am always amazed at my (50 something) friends who sneer at Facebook or rant about video games.  In a world of rapidly accelerating change they are walling themselves off in a 1990s world.  Which is the real reason employers don't like to hire older workers.  They can't (or more accurately, won't) adapt.  

So if you want to understand the future, ignore the political lawyers (better yet take their power away) and pay attention to what your kids are doing.  Particularly if it irritates you.  It's the future.