Some great play science about at the moment. From the CS Monitor, a report on a major new book about how human intelligence develops, called The First Idea. Here's the ludic quote:
Mathematicians and physicists may manipulate abstruse symbols representing space, time, and quantity, but they first understood those entities as tiny children wanting a far-away toy, or waiting for juice, or counting cookies. The grown-up genius, like the adventurous child, forms ideas through playful explorations in the imagination, only later translated into the rigor of mathematics.I also just noticed a funny New Scientist item which claims that 'bling-bling culture started with cavemen'.
A new scientific study says hunters loved to be dripping in luxury goods, and the taste for flashy trinkets may have been what turned humans from savages into a civilised society. Beads, jewellery and ornaments found at a cave in Blombos, South Africa, are thought to be status symbols dating back up to 77,000 years.Virginia Postrel will be pleased. Finally, a Wired News report on the Games for Health conference in Wisconsen. What's interesting is that the games developers aren't just looking to help the recovery of patients - a classic use of play - but also to assist med students in their training: ie, using games to simulate medical situations.
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