Thoes of us born with mouse and keyboard in hand aren't so unfamiliar with organic growth. I know you meant nature-based organic nonsense (you vegan hippie commie pinko stoner :P) but the revolution and renaissance is wholly digitally organic. Ideas are planted and grow into the community electronically. Ideas on the great interweb are digital organisms that live and die by the blogosphere and popular opinion. 'viral' is a new media buzzword that has come into existance recently with people getting wildly famous from personally publish content on Youtube or the 'blogosphere' or what have you, but it is absolutely organic. It's hard to visualize though because it is entirely metaphysical.
I'm world famously interested in this phenomenon of the wired-generation...and I don't think I'm alone in the way I think. You should read Al Gore's book The Assault On Reason. It is there he talks about Digital democracy and the coming changes ahead when our supremely interconnected generation get's into business politics and media. There will be a world of difference then. The internet allows us a truly democratic forum to debate and carry on what he calls the 'conversation of democracy' with the government.
This is what I am most interested, the intersection of law, democracy, politics and technology.
Concerning Web 2.0 Dr. Ball, recently following the sex scandel of Elliot Spitzer workers in the sex industry (i.e. dirty hookers--all read this article) through the use of twitter, flickr, myspace and mobile internet effectivly controlled the information that was reported into the media. coordinated interviews, and tailored the information to further their own agendas and open a legitamate debate about the abuse of sex workers. Because of the lack of control on the industry because of it's illegal nature. The content is intresting (and super sexy) but the overall impact of how it was done... is one of the most resounding things I've ever heard. I read this article slack-jawed to be honest. This tell's me that not only is there interconectedness in our generation, but there be power. The power to control the world around you, most literally. The control of information in our society is the most powerful wepon that anyone can posess. and to have it so readily available?? and for so little cost? what the fuck. We will rule the world one day. mark my words.
There is so much power you hold in your hand with an Iphone, a flickr account, a facebook account,a few RSS feeds and a decent wifi connection that it practically is a modern-day samurai sowrd. except 100 feet long The American Government should be shaking in their boots. Because not only are we an educated ,open-minded, and an extremly interconnected Generation. But we are filled with piss and vinegar. (or at least I am, not to mention whisky)
If a bunch of hookers can control Fox News, then imagine what some Nerd-core Internet Pirates could do to the music industry..or better yet Sons of Digital Liberty (A new name for propriators of freedom of information and Digital democracy) tot he american Government.
We are able to mobilze, intellectually speaking anyway, on a dime and we are constantly aware of their almost every move. The combination of The American Housing Crisis, The Credit Crisis, The 'blogosphere' the dissent of internet pirates, The War in Iraq, and the growing seperation between the American government with logic,freedom, and popular american opinion spells out to me:
Revolution.
Obama may represent change but we, my friends, all thoes with a decent internet connection, an opinion, and the very neccissary knowledge to be able to utilize the two, we are the change.
wow...talk a bout a rant.
This started off as a response to Ballister and Angela but I'm a little passionate about the subject...and I had to get that all out into the world. food for thought I guess. So the next time You are bullshitting on Facebook or checking Google reader, reading CNN on your Iphone, downloading anything from a torrent file.. just stop and think about the vast potential that is connected to your fingertips. Think about it all, and don't take it for granted.
The internet is what took me to Spain, and what allows me to interact with everyone I know like I would sitting on my lazy ass at home.
Ballzer:Web 2.0 is no digression it is amazing. And the Future it holds is more than just tech change. shiiit.
Other than all that: the absithe I used a fork instead of a slotted spoon. That is some strong shit, sir. Though tasty. It'll put you on your ass though for sure... though it'S the good kind of on your ass: such as what the hell, where am I! who are these naked girls!
sadly I can't say that with experience, but I have a hell of an imagination.
5 comments:
excellent rant there sir.
i hadn't read in depth to what went on with the spitzer case, but holy crap, that's impressive. after using twitter, pownce, tumblr and a few others (rather dabbling my foot in it, i got bored because none of my friends use them) i can definitely see the power of these sort of back channels of communication. they're public, but only if you know what you're looking for, and in the case of major media, unless they have someone of our mindset, they wouldn't necessarily catch on as quick.
one thing about the article you linked to: wired is an amazing magazine. i subscribed to it for a couple of years (got 'em free with the whole airline miles from my folks) and i can say that it's truly the only tech magazine that really has culture in mind. and with that, it's our culture, a sort of nerd-esquire if you will (bad example, but just think of a reputable magazine that is considered cultural and apply it to geekdom). that being said, i don't get it in the mail anymore, but i pick it up occasionally and i read it online. an amazing source.
i remember you talking about that al gore book before, but i've never bothered to pick it up. i know he has a lot of good ideas, but i've never been able to shake this negative sub-conscious stigma that i've associated with him. whether that be influence from my parents or just the fact that he believes he invented the interwebs (or however the story goes) i can't help but constantly take him with a grain of salt. all that being said, i know the guy is a smart cookie, and probably the one of the best voices suited for change in our nation (in my opinion, not as a president, but as a cabinet member, he could potentially do great things). even though i think he really loves the sound of his own voice too much, i'm fond of his message.
it really is quite the fascinating decade, and i mean that in terms of the infancy of the internet. the life-span of web1.0 has since passed, and really in the past 2.5 years, we've seen an explosion of web2.0 (read user centered internet). it's all about the network and sharing. my absolute favorite part of web2.0 is the return to web design minimalism; if i had to suffer through another year of flash heavy, poorly designed, bloated websites, i think i might of murdered Steve Ballmer
with the aforementioned article, i'm really proud (not quite sure how proud i can be of people i don't know, but rather just the methods) that the response to media scrutiny was managed so efficiently through completely user driven networks. not only was it successful, but it had a massive impact on the story itself, which is amazing.....whoa thought interruption:
i'm not sure if you've gotten a chance to see the stylesheet for facebook on the iphone, but holy shit, it's beautiful (everything is designed to work in such a small space, but with all of the versatility that we've come to expect using facebook). it's one of those things, that you sit back and try to envision 5 years down the line, and see all these vast networks existing that so many people can access at their leisure, with little to no trouble about connections or hardware. i think that's the where everything is going, to a smaller form-factor, not with loss of functionality, but really with more. that's the key, more into less. i know i talk more in terms of hardware than content, and you vice versa, but ANYHOW.
BACK TO THE AFOREMENTIONED THOUGHT PROCESS: amazing that they organized in that fashion. it seems that the media giants are no longer as agile online as in the archaic webernet days. i think this is a good and bad thing. you can easily mirror this situation to the RIAA and the current state of torrents and digital independent releases (for instance what Trent Reznor did with his latest album GHOSTS). putting the power in the content producers hands is yielding amazingly positive results, and this is rattling the shackles of the old music industry. the old gate keepers are slowly losing power to a younger generation. this has so much potential. the genius behind a digital revolution like this lies in the level of sophistication in which it is executed. what worries me is that the majority of our generation do not possess this. the general user base of our generation will determine what is successful or not, but they will not determine precisely where we are headed in this new landscape. to me, this is in the hands of not only the tech savvy, but the tech savvy who have a real desire for change, and who are committed as such. look at Kevin Rose (all of Revision3 studios as well) and Digg (the relevance of Digg nowadays can be debated as competitors like Reddit are big on the scene), he has essentially revolutionized the way a lot of people read content online, a complete user driven democracy (with some crowd-controlling algorithms in the background). there are a whole slew of other examples, but my point is this:
it really is truly in our hands, if we want it. the movers and shakers will be those who step up to the plate, and i can only hope i can jump into the fray sooner than later. care to join?
I want you to know, Parker, that I wasn't talking about myself in the least. I use this thing as much as the next person...and I teach in Game Development. I surely have a strong connection and feel tech and digital age has a sense of new-foundness. I realize the abilities growing up with such experiences gives us, and I wholly agree with you. I was just trying not to make a generalization before. :) Thanks for the post, man.
Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Robinson_(British_author)
That is the wiki page of the dude I was talking about on the other post, Ken Robinson. He was knighted in education, and mostly his work has to do with creativity, but he also has a lot to say about the digital age and innovation. It may interest you. :)
No no no,
Angela I wasn't trying to undercut you or lecture you about anything if that's what you said... what you did say though set me into a rant about all that digi-mocracy. not criticizing you, I know your are as much dork as the rest :P though you deny pinko-commie-leftist-stoner-vegan-hippie?
Ball,
I agree with you whole heartedley and could die a whole and happy man in peace if arm-in-arm we lead the politi-digital revolution against the robber barrons that running (or maybe ruining) our country.
There was a recent article I read on wired. com comparing the stratagies between radiohead and reznor to judge which was the sprearhead being driven into the side of a crucified music industry.
I think the magazine is a little biased towards Tyranasaurus Reznor because they mention him often, and so he won the article. Regardless both artist have followed amazing models and set juris prudence for the rest of the musical world to follow.
I rather liked though what they had to say about t-rez's stratagy. In the bathrooms and around the venues he has played shows were hidden USB flash drives with unique content and remixes and instructions on how to share via Bittorrent.
<3
FACT: I almost wet myself when using facebook via Iphone. I am a total bitch for Apple, and the Iphone. THough I neither own a Mac nor a star-trek communicator future Machine.
Yes in short. to everything you said.
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