Mind, Music, and Technology

Nitida Ridge - Saturday, May 31st, 8am PST/10am CST

Dome of Eclipse - Saturday, May 31st, 1pm PST/3pm CST

Whether or not video games are addictive or provide a useful learning environment is a hot topic. It is unfortunate that the term “addiction” is even bandied about. (Yes, it is a part of the title of my book. I explain the wording in the book itself.)

Nick Yee, Stanford PhD, whose work I highly respect, suggests using the phrase “problematic playing” instead of “addiction” as the term has too many connotations and is simply too messy at this point.

Having said that, if we are to use the term addiction as meaning extensive and problematic playing, then my own bias should be clear: most any thing or behavior can be recruited to maladaptive ends. There are people who use food, sex, exercise, or shopping in a problematic manner. Games are no different.

Today’s news shows two ends of the bias. One research article claiming gender bias involves a phrase:

“After analysing the MRI data, the researchers found participants of both sexes showed activation in the brain’s mesocorticolimbic centre, the region typically associated with reward and addiction.”

Implicating “addiction” because the brain’s mesocorticolimbic center is involved is problematic in itself as this center can also be involved in learning endeavors. The phrasing shows a bias simply by invoking the word “addiction.”

(I am, however, being unfair to the authors of the article as I have not been able to get my hands on the original. Rather, I am commenting on the report of the article. If anyone has a direct link, please either send it my way or add a comment with a link.)

Meanwhile, Massively points us to a BBC article describing the learning opportunities for children in massively multiplayer worlds. From the article:

“Virtual worlds can be valuable places where children rehearse what they will do in real life, …”

The article goes on to describe eight various roles adopted by those playing. These roles are termed explorer-investigators, self-stampers, social climbers, fighters, collector consumers, power users, nurturers, and life system builders.

An addiction, involves a repetition of behavior as does learning. We need to recognize the setting in which the player is found and how the relationships to that setting are altered prior to suggesting a negative role of any behavior. A biased approach, unfortunately, can serve to enhance that bias, meaning that potential positives will be lost.

“Everything you do is music and everywhere is the best seat.”

- John Cage

Nitida Ridge - Saturday, May 24th, 8am PST/10am CST

The Second Life Music Community is having a grand opening this Saturday, May 24th. I will perform at 10 am PST, 12 CST. I was invited by the wonderful Slim Warrior, who’s music can be heard here.

Check out details of the event at Double Down’s blog or the SLMC forums.

DoubleDown’s own mixes can be heard here.

The lovely artist Josina Burgess has created an excellent chill theater, named Aurora, in which I hope to perform soon.

When you arrive, you’ll see an array of glowing spheres. Walk through those into the wall beyond them to enter the domed theater. I won’t say much as it’s more of an experience than something I can describe well. I’ll get more information posted here once I have a performance date and time set.

Neat. Video Game Play and Addiction was mentioned on Ars Technica by their gaming guru Ben Kuchera. He specifically mentions and looks at the section about how gamers are different.

A lot can be said about this topic and some very good literature has been coming out like Beck and Wade’s The Kids are Alright. Similar to the concept of art, “gaming” itself can mean so many different things to different people. There is no way to do full justice to describing such an eclectic group.

Having said that, one often common characteristic of games is that it they are playgrounds in which problems are solved. This simple aspect of games can lead one towards an improved ability to solve problems within a particular game, within other games, and within other aspects of life with which a game may have overlap.

Real Time Strategy (RTS) games, my personal favorite, involve a heavy amount of focused attention and resource management. Learning the capacity to focus and deal with finances can readily be translated to the real world.

Games are more than a “distraction” as such a connotation seems to float around the media ether. Games, when played well, offer a capacity towards a type of learning.

One comment in the posting on Ars Technica suggested that gamers choose to game and this may make a person different than others. Of course, there is some truth to this, however, I believe anyone can have the ability to solve problems, and there are several arenas in which problem-solving abilities can be improved besides gaming, but some games can and do provide a particularly strong setting to improve some of those skills.

Link to Youtube page.

I’ve been having fun with theSixtyone.

I just uploaded Tremble and Echo yesterday. Starting as an improvisation from a few days ago, your support got it to the front page in less than 24 hours. It’s so exciting to see a piece of music be created and be online where so many can hear it in such a short span of time.

Thank you everyone for your support!

Nitida Ridge - Saturday, May 17th, 8am PST/10am CST

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Heron Island - Saturday, May 17th - 11 am SLT/1pm CST

Technology maintains a neutral stance regardless of an observer’s vantage point. This is hardly surprising as we would expect this of any tool. A hammer can be used to hang a picture or hurt a thumb.

There is something about approaching anything new that makes one wary. The slow pace of technological adoption by those directly involved in health care is likely more related to an understandable trepidation than any lack of know-how.

Very literally, the healthcare field is one of life-and-death, and so a well thought out path is warranted. When breaches in health care information occur, we become upset as such conversations are often held in confidence. In mental health, for example, privacy is very important. The sense of safety is a delicate matter when it comes to issues of one’s self, relationships, dreams, fears and desires. The same is true for one’s physical ailments.

Meanwhile, the very nature of networking media is that of copy and distribution. This is so much the case that the business models of music, videos, and other entertainment have been completely turned upside-down over the last decade in the attempts to accommodate to this aspect of the Internet.

So, when approaching media seemingly designed to work against principles inherent to privacy, questions arise as to who should guard this information and how? While laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have been enacted to deal with issues of privacy, the feelings of concern can remain while interconnectivity only increases.

Who should have privilege to the information? What safeguards are there that only those directly involved will see it? Is there an individual responsible to whom a finger can be pointed should any breach occur? Should a group of people be responsible? Or, perhaps we can project an ideal of perfect safety upon an emotionless computer system - a functional equivalent of the imagined 1950’s robot.

Ultimately, the question is do we trust ourselves as an amorphous and ever-shifting mass of humanity with technology not only today, but tomorrow as well?

Technology is neutral. It is how we use it that counts. It is fascinating to watch, for example, the multi-user worlds both provide positive opportunites and causes for concern with those seeking and providing health care.

Some in the health care industry are actively moving forward in attempts to help those in need. With a tip from Dusan Writer’s blog, Creakysites has an excellent listing of links to several entities that have entered online worlds. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), Health Info Island, the Ann Myers Medical Center among others are mentioned.

In addition, Spain’s health authorities have launched a campaign to help teenagers who may be too embarrassed to directly speak to someone about personal matters. Now they can visit physicians online with a different type of privacy.

I’d be willing to bet that any of the above can and have helped people that would not otherwise have been, whether it came in the form of a real-world referral or a few words that crystallized a better path of development than would otherwise have presented.

Privacy and accessibility are not the only concerns. Though technology can clearly connect those who otherwise would not have been able to, we can also observe a possible detriment in the capacity to deceive, for example.

In a massively multiplayer world, where a person can create an avatar as they see fit, how does the patient know that a physician avatar is indeed a physician? How can the physician know that the patient is indeed a patient with the stated ailments? The art of deception is ages old and perhaps technology only offers a new medium. However, new media translates to a relative lack of developed skills in knowing how to not be one deceived.

These issues are only a few of likely many nuanced considerations yet to come. The key issue of approaching this interface of health with technology is, in essence, the same as with any other unknown. We do our best to learn it. When both the practioner and the patient know how the information is being handled, if both sides understand that the information is going into an electronic database, then all involved parties can adjust their conduct in the discussions of health. Of course, the “doctor’s office” is changed, but what hasn’t lately?

It is interesting to note that though there would be a concern for medical information online in one sense, the capacity to discuss difficulties are enhanced in another. Whether we like it or not, technology continues to advance, and we are learning how to simultaneously benefit as well as cope.