Notable quote from reading: “The upper limit of “as much chaos as we can stand” is thus the time and energy required for social diffusion”.
The chapter mostly discussed the future possibilities of the internet and how humans want to create and share. When the young girl was looking for the mouse, she wanted to be more than a passive consumer, she wanted to engage, create, and share what she was viewing on the television. This was the main point of the book and how the new technology differs so much from Television, telephone, and older technologies. The internet and computers have empowered us to make massive contributions that we could never do before. Not only can we contribute, but we can connect with the other two billion users out there and possibly make change for the betterment of society. The possibilities of the connected generation are endless.
Some of the newer technologies in tablets and notebooks make me wonder why. I thought that the smart phone and laptop completed the spectrum that consumers were using for portability. I guess the tablets fill a niche that needed filling. My mindset used to be that I would rather read a book from an actual book, not from a screen on a tablet. But this past Christmas our family acquired a Kindle and it’s just amazing how easily I can get new books just by downloading. The Kindle has changed my entire view of how I read, share, and use books.
I think I have been guilty a time or two of looking for the mouse. Technology is no longer a spectator sport and a deep satisfaction comes from getting involved. I think humans love to create, share, and experiment. The new technology available today has rekindled the fire and enables us to be more involved. I think the passion for us to be involved was somewhat extinguished with the introduction of television as it was only meant for consumption and not real interfacing. I never really took the time to think about all the positives the connected world can offer. Reading this book opened my eyes to the untapped potential that lies in us and how we will possibly use the internet and computers in the future.
I think the biggest technology that is going to make a future difference is mass collaboration. I think we are especially going to start to see some major breakthroughs in medicine. The reason I believe this is I compare what we are doing now to what the chemists did who replaced the alchemists. If we can remove the barriers to proprietary information and start sharing more freely, it will happen. In addition to sharing more freely, the ability for others outside of the medical field to contribute and have some involvement of the creative process will certainly spark ideas that the medical community never thought possible. This information sharing is already starting to occur and only time will tell if the momentum builds enough to yield positive results.
Link to a study about the internet of 2020:
Reference: Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky.
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