We love people who can think outside of the box. We love people who can see the world from a unique perspective. We love people who can spot the trends before anyone else. Well two of my friends have turned me onto a couple of people that have left me stunned with admiration, so I thought I’d pass them on to you.
The first is from Professor Jesse Schell and his take on where Facebook is leading us. It’s in three parts:
If you watch these videos and don’t have a clue to what he’s talking about, well then I think you need to worry about being out of touch with pop culture, or else accept that the future has rushed past you. Farmville has over 80 million users worldwide, and if you can’t understand what a weird fraking fact that is, then you might want to study these videos. I’m not sure rock and roll in its heyday had those kinds of numbers. Evidently it’s more addictive than meth, crack and heroin combined. I know from experience since I’m a Farmville widower.
Next up is Christian Lander and his Stuff White People Like, a blog of brilliant social commentary with over 63 million hits. The way to start reading this site is to visit the Full List of Stuff White People Like and pick a topic dear to your heart and get ready to be undressed. Even more fun is to get together with a bunch of other white people and read these posts aloud. Even when Lander isn’t skewering me, I’m learning so much about the people around me that is both hilarious and incredibly insightful. Damn, I wish I had his people watching skills.
JWH – 3/2/10
Auxiliary Memory 
That presentation by Jesse Schell is really fascinating, Jim. Well, I’m a gamer (though not on Facebook), and I see a lot of ways game theory could impact the future.
Game-playing is widespread, and not just among children (though pretty much 100% there). Since people play games for pleasure, why not use games as educational tools? Or as training simulations? Or to generate ideas for design or social reforms? There’s a lot of potential in games.
Bill