Video Platforms Foster Creativity, Science
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What Happened:
Are video games bad for you? Some people think so; but now, scientists are using popular gaming platforms to help people.
Source: Time
A scientist at the University of Warwick, England, has found a way to use an Xbox 360 to find heart defects and prevent heart attacks. Because of the way the Xbox’s graphic chip is made, the machine does the work that used to take supercomputers five times as long to do.
Another group of scientists, these from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, is using Sony PlayStations to simulate what happens when black holes collide.
These platforms, at their core, are pretty sophisticated computers just waiting for someone to think of new ways to use them. Creative solutions are dependent on creative users-folks who can look beyond the games and see the potential underneath.
Talk About It:
Back in the 1980s, there was a television show called MacGyver that featured a secret agent (Angus MacGyver) who could make amazing gadgets (i.e., a flame thrower) using household items (a tube sock, match, two paper clips and duct tape). Folks using gaming platforms for heavy scientific duties might be real-life McGyvers.
Lots of kids do this sort of thing all the time. Have you ever made something creative from simple household items? What was it? Did it work?
Creativity is important in almost every life discipline. Every gadget you see or use is the product of someone’s imagination and creativity. What are some creative things you use every day? Can you think of how they could be made better?
Being creative, though, can be scary; so, creativity is not always encouraged. Have you ever been told not to do something just because “That’s just not the way it’s done”? What? When? How did you respond?
What the Bible Says:
“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (
“He has filled them with skill to do very sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer” (
“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (
