Wired News reviews Steven Johnson’s book Everything Bad Is Good For You and wonders: If video games are making us smarter, why can’t we solve problems like Iraq and Social Security?

The answer’s easy: Make a killer first person shooter called Iraq: The Game and a gripping multiplayer online game called Social Security: Quest for Power. Make sure their respective universes are filled with realistic simulations and tons of real data. Then sit back and harvest the collective intelligence as gamers start playing through the simulations.

Update 5/31: Too busy to read Johnson’s book? The Guardian digests it. “This book is an old-fashioned work of persuasion that aims to convince you of one thing: that I am one of the most influential social commentators of the 21st century.” …