Video Games Will Make Us Smarter

Topics: Culture, Education, Science, Tech

Public Release Date: May 10, 2017

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?

ARGUING YES:

• Daphne Bavelier: Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Geneva, Co-Founding Advisor at Akili

• Asi Burak: Chairman at Games for Change, CEO at Power Play

ARGUING NO:

• Elias Aboujaoude: Director of the Stanford University OCD and Impulse Control Disorders Clinics, Author of ‘Virtually You’

• Walter R. Boot: Director of Florida State University Attention and Training Lab

MODERATOR-IN-CHIEF:

• John Donvan: Emmy award-winning journalist