On Play, ISA and Values
Play is a fundamental of every complex mammal's life. The young play, and this is how lion cubs learn to fight and hunt, dolphins and orcas learn to create social ties that can last a life time, and primates learn skills like tool use (ant nest sticks, nut cracking stones) that form their culture. Play can also be joyfully pointless - and you also see animals just exploring and frolicking around in snow, which only at a stretch an arch-rationalist might try to explain as pragmatic or the expression of the selfish gene. In the human world you could argue that dance, literature and art are just forms of play - after all if you just wanted to communicate a point of view saying it is a much quicker way.
A highlight this week was watching middle schoolers play in the snow after lunch. First throwing snow randomly, and a reminder to not throw at people... then a moment of boredom... then an inspiration to start rolling bigger balls... then a shout of 'make a snowman!'... then competition... then maximum size of ball you could roll on your own... a moment of dilemma... then generosity and bargaining because we could achieve more together... then teamwork on the one or two biggest... then a dilemma... the balls were too heavy to lift on each other... then a moment of genius! ... use the slope to roll the top ball up onto the raised platform, roll the other underneath and then roll the top ball on ... moments of risk (those balls were very heavy, it was risky play)...the entire team coming together... shouts... whoops... success... elation!
In terms of learning, I don't think it gets any better, and all of our ISA values where proudly on display.
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