Submission + - Game Over for Older IBM Employees?
theodp writes: A 2007 IBM White Paper on The Future of IT Application Development (pdf) proposed a Logan's Run-like strategy for dealing with Baby Boomers — 'investing in global resources from geographies with a lower average age for IT workers, such as India or China.' And now comes word from the USPTO that to hasten such transitions, ten IBM 'inventors' came up with the idea of using immersive gaming environments to transfer expert knowledge held by employees 'aged 50 and older' to 18-25 year-old trainees who find manuals 'difficult to read and understand.' More details in IBM's just-published patent application for the 'Platform for Capturing Knowledge'. Non-IBMers shouldn't get too complacent — Big Blue discusses making the 'invention' available to other corporations in return for 'payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement.'