![Button is a game for the iPhone.
When you load Button, a big button appears. It mostly just sits there, but occasionally it will light up, and go “wommmmm” ominously. If you hit it, you get a random number of points. That’s it.
OK, there’s also a global leaderboard, a simple “team” functionality, a few silly achievements (press the button with your iPhone upside down!) and that really is it.
If you think that’s kind of absurd, I agree. But I am also 124th in the world at button-pressing. A double-digit rank lies within my grasp. Is this a purely dopamine-driven exercise that bewitches my inner pigeon? Or is it a more intellectual choice to nihilistically embrace the lever-pecking bird within? Perhaps, nauseated by the existential struggle for authenticity, I can seek a playful refuge in Skinner’s cosy box, where the rewards are plenty, if delivered on a random schedule. Behave radically, radical behaviourists! Play in bad faith! Friends, wake up and smell the delicious food pellets!
I keep Button open on my phone, propped up against my monitor, so I can see the button glow in my peripheral vision. Since I started this blog post, I’m now 123rd. Got lucky with an 11-point button push. My name is Guy, and my phone is also my operant conditioning chamber…
[see Button in the App Store]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kqgtpdf1CG1qz4kpmo1_400.png)
Button is a game for the iPhone.
When you load Button, a big button appears. It mostly just sits there, but occasionally it will light up, and go “wommmmm” ominously. If you hit it, you get a random number of points. That’s it.
OK, there’s also a global leaderboard, a simple “team” functionality, a few silly achievements (press the button with your iPhone upside down!) and that really is it.
If you think that’s kind of absurd, I agree. But I am also 124th in the world at button-pressing. A double-digit rank lies within my grasp. Is this a purely dopamine-driven exercise that bewitches my inner pigeon? Or is it a more intellectual choice to nihilistically embrace the lever-pecking bird within? Perhaps, nauseated by the existential struggle for authenticity, I can seek a playful refuge in Skinner’s cosy box, where the rewards are plenty, if delivered on a random schedule. Behave radically, radical behaviourists! Play in bad faith! Friends, wake up and smell the delicious food pellets!
I keep Button open on my phone, propped up against my monitor, so I can see the button glow in my peripheral vision. Since I started this blog post, I’m now 123rd. Got lucky with an 11-point button push. My name is Guy, and my phone is also my operant conditioning chamber…
