24 AMERICANWAY
JANUARY 15 2009
T E C H N O L O G Y
be developed to the fullest extent,” he says.
“EvenMozart’s — you want to find a way
that, through the tool, the experience, and
the culture, the personhas everypossibility
to go further than he or she ever expected.
But youwant that for everybody.”
A similardiscussion is takingplace in the
worldof sports.Moreandmore, technology
plays a critical role in athletic competition,
andnooneknows thatbetter thanTimWei,
PhD, aprofessoroffluidmechanics and the
acting dean of the School of Engineering
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute inTroy,
New York. For the past few years, Wei has
workedwithUSASwimming, an organiza-
tion that trains U.S. Olympians, using so-
phisticated flow-diagnostic equipment to
figure out why some swimmers are faster
than others. Wei has developed tools such
as sophisticateddigital-imaging equipment
that can capture, in real time, the flow of
water around a swimmer’s body andmea-
sure the force that propels the swimmer.
With the feedback Wei gets from these
measurements, he has helped great swim-
mers, Ariana Kukors andMegan Jendrick
can learnhow to
[
be great
]
. I think that’s a
bit ridiculous, frankly,” Lewiston says. He
believes there’s a more realistic compari-
son for this kind of learning technology:
training wheels. Much in the way training
wheelsaidachildwho’sfirst learning toride
a two-wheeler, this technology is there to
coax you along until, eventually, you’re do-
ing theworkallonyourwobblyown.But,of
course, noone everwon theTour deFrance
on training wheels. Ultimately, Lewiston
says, it takes a great deal of practice to be-
comegoodat anything.
Which brings us back toMozart. “When
you talkabout innate talent, jeez, clearly it’s
hard to find too many examples of people
who hadmore,” saysMachover, a Juilliard-
educatedmusicianhimself. “
[
ButMozart’s
]
fatherworkedhim like a dog andwas very,
verycleverabout teachinghim thekeyboard
and howmusic worked from a very young
age. Somakenomistake, thatwasnot pure
innate talent.”
Still, a high tide raises all boats, and
Machover’s technologies would help flood
the banks. “You want everybody’s talent to
PhD candidate in the lab. The piano em-
ploys haptic guidance—physicallymoving
afinger or ahand intoplace— to reinforce
what a student’s brain is learning. The keys
of thepianoare riggedwith electromagnets
that can be turned on or off, depending on
which note is called for. The player wears
gloves that are outfitted with magnets in
the tips and draw his or her fingers to the
correct keys.
“It’s a very common technique. …Violin
teachers, piano teachers, tennis teachers,
golf teachers— all at some time use physi-
cal guidance,” Lewiston explains, adding
thathisgoalwas toautomate thatguidance.
And itworks: In experiments, subjectswho
used this system learned simple keyboard
sequences faster than those who didn’t.
While it’s just aworkingprototype for now,
Lewiston sees this system ultimately hav-
ing applications inphysical- and cognitive-
rehabilitation programs as well, such as
thoseused in treating strokevictims.Buthe
doesn’t see it devaluinghuman talent.
“Peopleareafraidthattechnology likethis
will destroy notions of talent, that anybody
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