Pokemon go.JPG

Want to play Pokemon Go? Download it from Apple or Google's official stores.

There is a movement sweeping the nation. It is changing hearts and minds, doing its part to revive the economy, and getting kids to enjoy exercise again.

What I'm talking about is no government program, protest, or charismatic politician. If you've been on social media for the last two weeks, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Pokemon Go fever has officially gripped the nation, and though I don't play the game, I couldn't be more excited about its implications.

Sure, there has been much digital ink spilled by luddites clutching their pearls and mongering their fear over the game's ability to be used for ill--those with bad intentions will always try to find a way to exploit a good thing, just ask any politician--but to the non-jaded among us, the good greatly outweighs the bad.

For those of a certain generation, Pokemon was everything. Between collecting cards, pitting their creatures against one another, absorbing the TV show (which, if you'll remember was surrounded by its own share of fearmongering), and battling on their Gameboys, it was quite the cultural phenomenon.

Now it is back with a vengeance, and in an age where nearly everyone has a cell phone, its appeal has proven to be even wider.

Here are just a few of the ways Pokemon Go has renewed my faith in the free market's ability to solve problems, and generally make life better through the phenomenon described by Austrian economist Friedrick Hayek as "Spontaneous Order."

Exercise: People are walking, and even running, some for the first time in their lives. First Lady Michelle Obama has spent the better part of a decade encouraging children to go outside and get moving, but it took a nostalgic video game available on every smartphone in the country to accomplish what no government program ever really could.

Will this ultimately make people healthier and more fit? Maybe and maybe not, but it is at the very least progress toward a goal on which even Michelle Obama and Ted Cruz can agree.

It is uniting people in a common purpose: Some of the first stories surrounding the new game have been those of animal shelters asking people to walk dogs while on the hunt, and of churches advertising free food and cold water with no strings attached.

I've witnessed numerous encounters around the community of people from all backgrounds interacting with one another for what might be the first time; uniting around the common purpose of hunting imaginary creatures. How cool is that?

It's giving local businesses a boost: Earlier this week while I sat in Barnes and Noble working and enjoying an iced latte I was disturbed by the loud exclamation of "Pikachu!" from a young man from between the shelves of books. His nose may have been buried in a cell phone instead of a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but I later saw him buy a drink at the coffee counter, then settle in to skim over a thin book he'd found while on his hunt for imaginary creatures.

This young man may have been in his house playing video games on the TV, but instead he and thousands of others have gone outside into their communities and are spending money at local businesses.

It's spurring entrepreneurship: In a free economy, absent outside pressures, supply and demand work hand in hand to create the best allocation of resources. Americans are famous for our ingenuity and ability to make a buck, and the Pokemon Go phenomenon has proven no exception. It was only a day or so after the release of the game that advertisements for drivers began popping up on Craigslist and Facebook. For $20 an hour, you can now hire an aspiring businessman or woman to drive you around, so you can focus on capturing your Pokemon.

While this may sound like the height of frivolity to some, to others it is just as valid and enjoyable of a way to spend their resources on entertainment as going to a movie or attending an Alabama football game.

It's helping those who can't communicate find community: This one is probably the most heartwarming of the bunch. Shortly after the release of the game, the mother of a boy with autism spectrum disorder and an impaired ability to communicate with others shared the tear-jerking story of how Pokemon Go has brought out a side of her son she's never met before.

"MY AUTISTIC CHILD IS SOCIALIZING," the boy's mother, Lenore Koppleman, wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral. "Talking to people. Smiling at people. Verbalizing. Participating in pragmatic speech. With total strangers. Looking up at them. Sometimes even in the eye. Laughing with them. Sharing something in common. This is AMAZING."

While I am far from believing that this game is the cure to all of society's ills, it has undoubtedly shown that some of the problems worried over for decades by government agencies can be solved in a snap, and just when the world has seemed its most divided thousands of people have found a reason to work together--even if that reason is something as seemingly silly as a phone app.