November 1st: Addiction By Design: The Technology of Gambling Machines

The Reflector, November-December 2012
Society on Social Implications of Technology - Thursday, 1 November

Addiction by Design: The Technology of Gambling Machines

Slot machines, revamped by ever more compelling digital and video technology, have unseated traditional table games as the gambling industry's revenue mainstay. Along the way, they have earned such nicknames as '"electronic morphine." Yet even as the machines are legalized by more and more states seeking to cash in on their profits, their inner-workings have never been understood - not have their effects on the gamblers who play them.

Professor Schull, drawing on 15 years of research among game engineers and machine gamblers in Las Vegas, will demonstrate some of the hidden machinations of today's gambling devices and discuss how these design tricks affect the experience of play. As her book shows, contemporary electronic gambling has less to do with the competitive thrill of winning big than with the anonymous rhythm of "time on device." Schull will conclude by discussing the difficulty of regulating addictive technology, with the regulators debating whether addiction to gambling machines stems from the consumer, the product, or the interplay between the two.

Natasha Dow Schull is a cultural anthropologist and associate professor at MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society. Her new book, ADDICTION BY DESIGN: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas (Princeton University Press 2012) draws on extended research among compulsive gamblers and slot machine designers to explore the relationship and the experience of addiction.

Professor Schull graduated Summa Cum Laude from UC Berkeley's Department if Anthropology in 1993 and returned to receive her PhD in 2003. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Her research and op-eds have been featured in such national media venue as 50 minutes, The Economist, The Washington Post, Capital Gazette, Financial Times, Forbes, Boston Globe, Salon, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily Herald, and the Las Vegas Sun.

This meeting is free and open to the public. It will be held 5:30 - 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, November 1, 2012. Refreshments are at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 6:00 p.m., both in the Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For more information, contact Jim Ernstmeyer, ernstmeyer@ieee.org , (781) 929-8114, 0r visit the IEEE website at http://www.ieeeboston.org/.  


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