Clay, what really tipped you over the edge? Was it the eight trillionth biased, irrelevant, spammed, or purchased link on the homepage of Digg.com that made you lose faith? Or was it the fact that every politician who has successfully utilised the internet, has cynically used it to raise money for their existing political platforms? Perhaps the continuing utter insignificance of Creative Commons in relation to greater society, and the prevalence (and success) of DRM?
Technology is not innately “good.”
People split the atom, they use it to build bombs that can millions, and to provide power for millions.
People make a site that can allow anyone to vote for stories, they use it to help other people discover “10 Famous People Saved By The Heimlich“, as well as the latest obscure political development.
Crowds are not wise. They are mobs.
Clay now thinks of the internet as “just another implementation layer for special interest groups” - this didn’t have to be the case! But that’s what happens when people just invent a piece of technology and give it to millions with no guidance. There will always be a need for editorial control.
Frankly, the kind of wide eyed optimism that many people have about the internet is really unhelpful. Theories aren’t enough. Just putting it out there isn’t enough. It’ll take a lot of hard work to make the internet even a shade of the amazing place that people like Clay like to imagine. People want money and power, and the internet is just another tool to get it.
JTownend | 05-Feb-09 at 6:19 am | Permalink
are you being facetious or do you really think Creative Commons has proved insignificant?
In regards to Shirky, I don’t think he’s really trying to be ‘all or nothing’ like some commentators (as evangelists vs grim reapers) - he knows there’s a lot of grey, which needs to be discussed.
The new points about checks/balances and organisational blogger models give lots to think about - it’s how to manage the positive and negative stuff coming out of online group action, as a reality.
peppone | 14-Feb-09 at 4:09 pm | Permalink
Back in the day when I used to do Puka OSI networking one of the Geeky jokes was that OSI had an eighth layer “Politics”