New Integrity

Playing around with the Universe

A new game, from the maker of the Sims, promises the ultimate in playful experiences: the right to be the creator of your own Universe. From Wired News:

Spore gives players the chance to control life -- from the ground up. Starting with single-cell organisms, players work on designing life with ever more complexity. As the game progresses, players must figure out how to take creatures from individual animals to small tribes and then to cities, whole planets, solar systems and galaxies.

The interview with creator Wil Wright is even more cosmically enlightening:

Wired News: What do you want players to get out of Spore?

Will Wright: One of my goals for this whole thing has been to give somebody an awe-inspiring global view of reality, almost like a drug-induced epiphany with a computer. The kind of, "Oh, man, what if we were a molecule inside of a galaxy?" type thing. Can we transfer that experience -- that, I don't want to say drug-induced, but I guess it is, or almost theological meaning-of-life-type experience -- into an interactive computer game?

Can a computer game bring you to theological discussions, or philosophy, but at the same time remain eminently whimsical and playful and approachable? That's an interesting balance to strike. I like the idea of an extremely whimsical toy that has deep philosophical implications.

WN: In the design process, was there any discussion of how religion would play into the game?

Wright: Well, we're looking at what we called Cultural as one of the ways a civilization on your planet can then acquire another civilization, and we're roughly thinking of that as possibly pseudo-religious. And I'm not quite sure how specific we're going to get.

It's almost better to be a little more abstract and let the player read into it.... So that distinction, let's say, between religion and art, I'd almost rather leave to the player.... They can design little churches or minarets if they want to. In the game, they can use the tools to instantiate a very specific instance of what they think Cultural means.

The Mogul and the Writer look towards 'Post-8'

The mogul (Tom Hunter, co-organiser of Live8 in Edinburgh):

We hear from the G8 leaders that they are making “signals” on trade relaxation. Signals don’t feed nations. Signals don’t allow the poor to step on that first rung of development – change does.

Change the laws on trade, change the world forever. Don’t get me wrong, the G8 has come a long, long way but it is still not anywhere near changing things for the better for the weakest people in our world.

By our Prime Minister’s own admission we now have the hope that global poverty can be eradicated. So let’s use that hope and actually translate it into action. Let’s help the poorest who don’t quite benefit from this historic agreement at the G8 in Gleneagles.

And let me ask again: why 2010, why not now? We have the money, we have the solutions, we have the democratic will – why not now? Why do we need to wait for five years? Why wait for trade negotiations when we know what is right and what is wrong?

Scotland and the world stood up and said: “No more extreme poverty.” It’s clear that the politicians heard that plea, but now they need to give us the plan. The plan that will deliver us from the evil we visit upon our fellow humans.

Give the poor the drugs, the humanity, the money and the freedom to trade that they so richly deserve; to free themselves.

Africa will stand on its own two feet, but only if we remove it from the quicksand that the countries of the world have collectively made for it.

The time is now over for promises and for G8 rhetoric. Action now is the only thing that will count for the newborn of Africa.

The writer (Alison Kennedy):

So the riot got the front pages and the politicians were let off the hook. And the G8 haven’t delivered. And while Gleneagles was still drowning in police, including the Met, bombs went off in London. So should we give up, let violence breed violence, keep our heads down, go back to sleep?

Well, nobody sane suggested the G8 would crumble immediately, that next week there would be a new world, that spin and corporate greed and media complicity were going to disappear overnight. But we have the choice to try for a new world every day, to tell what we know of the truth every day, to take small actions every day. Millions of people taking even small actions every day – that does change the world.

Of course, people can be greedy, fearful, self-interested, willfully ignorant, vicious and worse. Of course, that has political effects, nobody ever doubts it. But people can also be generous, altruistic, powerful, ingenious, fast-moving and humane. And that also has political effects. Don’t ever doubt it.

Hoodie Two Shoes

From Demos:

Active citizens who ‘keep it real’ are challenging the traditional view of volunteering, according to a report published by Demos, the independent think-tank. Start with People, written by Paul Skidmore and John Craig, argues that radical new forms of volunteering could be the secret to rejuvenating communities and delivering better public services.

The report highlights the emergence of new forms of ‘citizen activists’. One group it identifies are ‘Hoodie Two Shoes’ – highly motivated young people committed to improving their communities in a way which is immediate and authentic. Their energetic approach to civic engagement is far removed from traditional modes of volunteering characterised by coffee mornings, committee meetings, and a preponderance of retirees.

“Politicians are desperate to foster a culture of volunteering, because they see it as a way to bring communities closer together and deliver better public services,” say the report’s authors Paul Skidmore and John Craig. “But politicians can’t engineer the kind of enthusiasm and energy of the best community groups.”

The report points to the success of organisations such as Envision, a London-based social and environmental charity. The group has helped a former gang member to run martial arts training and DJ skills workshops to help keep young people off the streets and away from potential trouble. Envision also helped the founders of Hands Up For Peace, an anti-war group which displayed handprints from thousands of young people outside Parliament.

The report argues that efforts to foster a culture of volunteering will fail unless the experience is made authentic for young people.

“Young people do want to change their communities, but on their own terms. Groups like Envision ask young people what they want to do to improve their communities, and then give them the tools to get on and do it. They are challenging the perception that young people are apathetic and disengaged.”

How it could have been even GR8R

It’s a morass of competing feelings. In one corner we have the billion partying people, feeling good this morning that they have acted on the global stage, having asked for something that they only dimly knew they wanted until Bob Geldof made it clear for them. Make Poverty History – "amazing, brilliant, historic" (or was that Robbie Williams’s comeback).

In the other corner, we have rather less but better-informed people, outraged at the terms and conditions being laid on the vulnerable Africans, betrayed by post-Iraq politicians buying their way back into the public hearts with false sacrifices.

And a few of us, hovering like a referee, pondering, queasy. Unwilling to diss the willing consumers of a good new idea on our left. Yet, somehow not ready to award any prizes either. Unable to ignore the fantastic opportunity lost. Here is what we saw:

• Millions of people coming together across the globe, in the name of Make Poverty History, to see some great music. Some with tickets to see a remarkable stage show, others at home, captive in front of the TV. A moment of possibly unprecedented globality – not to witness some great horror, but to participate in some great hope, a great global wish.
• Great musicians performing their greatest hits with superb discipline, some of whom expressed their feelings about the cause. As Madonna said, Music makes the bourgeoisie be a rebel, yeah.
• Some of the Live Aid films about poverty in Africa, first shown 20 years ago, reminding us how it all started. One very memorable example of the proof of Live Aid – a young girl, helped by funds raised, to get an education and develop a dignified life.
• A lot of joy: the feel good factor gets a Gr8 outing.
• Robbie Williams in his first concert in 2 years, getting the biggest ovation of the night, despite using his moment to speak to the global audience to invite the presenter on a date.

Here is what we didn’t see:

• Africans. All the beautiful, funky, vibrant African musicians available to play at this great music event, were not invited. Instead they were given a small stage to perform in the Eden Project in Devon. The cameras only visited once, when Dido (who is not African) sang a duet with Youssou N’Dour. Try not to imagine the music industry in Africa, miraculously boosted by the exposure of these lesser known artists: it ‘s not about to happen.
• Consciousness being raised. Unlike the smaller MPH march in Edinburgh, there was hardly a banner to be seen at Hyde Park. Woeful coverage from the BBC – Jonathan Ross, covering his cynicism with vacuous celebrity watching. The young DJs, unable to take us any further than “amazing and brilliant”. In 8 hours of possible connecting the issues with the spectacle, the best we got was 5 minutes of an off-duty Andrew Marr and a patiently constructive George Alaghiah.
• An easily digestible presentation of the proposals and the facts. How can poverty be made history? What is the deal here, what might go right and what might go wrong?
• Any next steps for the captive audience. Surely it’s not all down to these 8 people alone. I have worn the wrist band to death: isn’t there something that I, as a relatively wealthy, fun loving citizen of the world can do next?

Millions of people, ready and willing to listen but only music on offer. It may not be too late. If the queasy and the angry could suspend their disbelief long enough to engage with the happy and deluded, we could still, in 20 years time be looking back at an historic moment. Here are a few suggestions:

• Social entrepreneurs unite. UnLtd, Rowntree, Nesta – all the funding bodies actively engaged in funding new ideas to make the world a better place – put some money into a substantial Post8 network. Bob and Bono need some help here. The best minds and energies need to be where the audiences are, helping to create maximum value out of this upsurge of popular feeling.
• Add women at the top. We know that men like to play, we know that men get things done, but if more women had been involved at the core of this…. who knows what lasting, caring networks might have been generated? Of course it’s just a co-incidence that the three female icons who took the stage, took Africans on the stage with them, forging the connections, modelling the relationships of mutual respect. More of those co-incidences please.
• Education get in there. Instead of PHSE lessons on how to cross a road safely, let’s get modules on how to be a global citizen. The kids want to know – they are up for it.
• Get personal. Recognise that the “well being” agenda, beloved by Blair et al is well served by the “feel good” factor. People like to do good for others, especially if they get energised in the process. Charity is tired. Engagement, activity, achievement is enlarging… Every kidult on a machine is a global playa, let’s develop some tools for making a difference. The Guardian persuaded 3,000 people to write to undecided American voters. Why not pair up potential peers in email relationships across the world?
• Remember reciprocity. If we are going to create a global network, we should look forward to receiving as much from Africa as we are offering. Africa’s story is already unique – the journey from apartheid, the struggle through illness and poverty, the triumph of its arts, the meaning of Mandela. How can we be sure to hear the story, learn from their humanity?

If Live8 is to have a lasting effect, to be the birth of a new era instead of a flash in the pan, ideas need to flow thick and fast. The comments page below is always open...

Wars of the World

We had an extraordinary experience watching Spielberg and Cruise's War of the Worlds the other night. The one thing to say is that it is undeniably resonant and powerful art - if the test for that is an ability to unsettle you, to linger in your day- and night-dreams. But you're also left wondering about the interior life of these creators. What enables them to render such a vision of poetic carnage?