On Play

While in-depth considerations of serious and academic new applications is welcome and likely, so is random, joyous play with applications that appear to have no intention of improving the minds of anyone. (Most of the best applications we have we never meant to be anything but fun.) Play is a crucial part of learning, and if we jettison things to[o] fast because they aren’t “serious” enough, we risk avoiding any innovation or valuable learning altogether. Fun things have more potential for social change than boring things. Fun things tap into parts of ourselves that we tend not to invoke when we put on our serious learning faces; those things might be the key to our ability to learn deeply.

- The Tech Ink Manifesto

An interesting manifesto posted over at the Tech Ink group blog. One of the boundaries that is beginning to become fuzzy these days is that between work and play. Play in the sense used above reminds me about being curious and being willing to experiment. These qualities keep one inspired to keep learning. As I wind down my academic studies (still finishing that thesis…), I do want to keep learning and it is nice to think of that activity as play.

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