Re: technological accleration?

From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Tue Sep 04 2001 - 09:31:51 MDT


Charlie Stross wrote:

> Again: the RAF noted recently that the reflex speed of new applicants for
> pilot training is vastly higher than their equivalents during the Battle of
> Britain -- by 1940 standards, every applicant today has the reflexes to be
> an ace. They blame the widespread adoption of computer games that foster
> lightning hand-eye coordination skills. Who'd have expected son-of-Pong to
> have serious defense implications in 1976?

The military brass were all over that in 76. They recognized that video games
could be a hell of a tool for pilot training. I took flying lessons in 1982 from
an
instructor who recognized that video games were evidently already contributing
to students coming in with a good intuitive feel for how to control airplanes.
That was back in the days before the simulations were even very good.

I suspect computer sims will be very most important tool for training
military personnel, and before it's over, the most important tool for
training most employees. spike



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