Computational Thinking

I don't know if any of you have been suffering from this situation as much as I have, but has anyone started seeing strangers as game pieces simply programmed to follow some computational design? Yes, that's a little bit of a loaded inquiry, but here's where I'm going:

In my New Media and Technology class (my only other class aside from Dominic's class), the reading's we've completed have complimented the implications of some of our gaming strategies. Specifically the first challenge we completed as a team where we lured a random person from point A to point B. The readings I've come across in my other class consisted of computational thinking, and how solutions to problems can be accomplished through programming. Problem solving on a computational level becomes an act of defining what sort of input creates a desired output. For our class, this programming exists in our strategy for encouraging individuals to partake in our games: free coffee, QFC gift cards, general intrigue.

With this in mind, I've found myself walking through campus wondering what sort of input people are applying to their daily lives to ensure their personally desired outputs. Furthermore, I've been frequently wondering what sort of element I could employ to interrupt their daily pursuits and become involved in my desired output.

I suppose it's not the potential for manipulation that interests me most, but rather the idea that were a series of walking programs. We've consolidated human emotion and interaction into this idea of computational actions and it's a little too technical for me. I like thinking that humans have more complexity and it's not so easy defining our interactions in terms of singular inputs and outputs.

Well, I'll come down from my soap box. It's something I'm interested in exploring more! Let me know what you think!