The Download: how to store energy underground, and what you may not know about Trump's AI Action Plan

How gamification took over the world It's a thought that occurs to every video-game player at some point: What if the weird, hyper-focused state I enter when playing in virtual worlds could somehow be applied to the real one? Often pondered during especially challenging or tedious tasks in meatspace (writing essays, say, or doing your taxes), it's an eminently reasonable question to ask. Life, after all, is hard. And while video games are too, there's something almost magical about the way they can promote sustained bouts of superhuman concentration and resolve. For some, this phenomenon leads to an interest in flow states and immersion.