Ray's wife speaks

For me, Ray Kurzweil is an absolute must follow. That Ray has posted work his wife, a psychologist, does with children is significant because I never really thought of Ray Kurzweil as a person who is brilliant, but as some objectified genius. One of my nagging questions as an educator with ADD is how to systematically integrate technology into my practices to increase my teaching efficiency.

Yet, at home I struggle with the reality of a High School Student who, if I did not take such a hard line on it, would be in a constant state of "gamer rage." Baseball is a replacement activity, for which my wife spends considerable sums on a private hitting instructor, baseball camps, etc, whereas the violent games are like the ring from Lord of the Rings, which turn Schmegal into Golum.

Yet at school, I see a generation of students who seem crippled by an addiction to their technological tools, I often reflect upon the scene in the movie Wall-E where the fat humans struggle to rise, while the tune from 2001  puts a bow tie on the ironic allusion. Technology is largely a contributor to learned helplessness. Even my brother Mike, an IBM engineer who wants to build drones just for fun, worries about the impact of too much screen time on children.

What's needed, Mrs. Kurzweil suggests, is a more purposeful, more thoughtful consumption of technology.