Gin And The Cognitive Surplus
April 28th, 2008 | researchmaterial
The best fifteen minutes from Clay Shirky I’ve yet seen:
24 Responses to “Gin And The Cognitive Surplus”
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Complete Plan B Archive
Kieron Gillen - 09 Feb 10
The whole run of Plan B magazine has been released as a single 670Mb PDF. That’s 46 issues of some of the finest music writing of the decade. And a lot of posturing pretentiousness too. It’s like two of my favourite things for the price of one. Or none, as it’s a free PDF.
If you’ve any interest in music in the 00s, or music full stop, this is a great thing to just have on file. You’ll discover a new band every time you browse it.
Hell, it’s even worth getting if you’re one of the games journalist sorts. For the first 10-20 issues or so, I was doing games stuff for it. And Quinns and Mathew Kumar too, who I bullied into contributing. Very much written for the non-gamer about games which get pretty much no coverage, we had fun trying to decode the concept of Outsider Games.
Whole thing here. Go gets!
Coilhouse is Hiring! Apply Here.
Coilhouse - 08 Feb 10
Back around the time of Issue 03, we launched the Small Business Advertising Program to create affordable ad space for indie companies in the print version of Coilhouse. By the time Issue 04 rolled around, the number of advertisers had grown significantly – by this time, we had record labels, jewelry and clothing designers, sculptors, other magazines, web hosts, toy makers and graphic designers advertising in our pages. Click here to see them all. With editorial duties taking up more and more of our time as the weeks go by, the moment has come for us to seek help with the advertising side of running the magazine. We’re looking to hire an Ad Manager for our Small Business Advertising Program, starting with Coilhouse Magazine #05… and possibly subsequent issues.
Full details after the jump!
Read the rest of Coilhouse is Hiring! Apply Here.
Post tags: Coilhouse
State of South Carolina Secretary of State Subversive Agent Form
jwz - 08 Feb 10
Check the appropriate box. Do you or your organization directly or indirectly advocate, advise, teach or practice the duty or necessity of controlling, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, the state of South Carolina or any political division thereof?
[ ] YES [ ] NOIf yes, please outline the fundamental beliefs. If applicable, attach a copy of the bylaws or minutes of meetings from the last year.
"Inflection Points" Presentation
Open The Future - 08 Feb 10
For those folks who are interested, here's the Slideshare version of the presentation I gave last week at the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute annual meeting. I was asked to talk about foresight thinking, as the event theme was "The Big One of 2056: What Went Right?" a look at a fictional 7.8 quake in the SF region that was handled as well as they could imagine possible.
My goal was to offer a bit of reassurance to the audience that there is some real utility to thinking about the future, and to spell out (in a cursory way) the kinds of big picture issues they should keep in mind while looking ahead forty-six years.
Inflection Points
View more presentations from Jamais Cascio.
By and large, it was a successful talk. The post-talk questions were engaged, with little push-back, and I'm told that the overall response from the audience was quite positive.
The talk was video recorded, and I'm told will eventually be available to the public. I'll link when that happens.
CAN GIFTING ECONOMIES SCALE?
John Robb - 08 Feb 10
A gifting economy is different from a barter or market economy in that valuable items are given away to those that need them, without any quid pro quo, exchange, or payment. Gifting economics (lots of great papers on this topic) were/are the economic heartbeat of hunter-gatherer tribal cultures, the social organization where we spent 99% of our time as homo sapiens sapiens. Barter was, in contrast, a mechanism for economic interactions between tribes.
This gifting economic system wasn't based on pure altruism. It did have an enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance with the system over the longer term. On the positive side, there was an intangible increase in the social status (using personal or societal metrics) of a tribal member that gifted an item. On the negative, a failure to offer hospitality or gifts to those in need was considered a mortal slight that could incite violence or expulsion from the tribe.
There were also a considerable number of drivers for gifting at the tribal level. Here are some:
- The survival of the tribe, as a group, was more important than the survival of any individual. However, the loss of any individual could put the tribe at risk.
- The generation of surplus and innovation was highly uncertain. Sharing reduced that uncertainty to manageable levels.
- Sharing reduced internal friction that could put the tribe at risk.
Scalability
It's pretty clear that the societal drivers of tribal gifting economics and the mechanisms of enforcement didn't survive the transition to a global social system composed of billions of members. Simply, the connections between any two individuals (outside of immediate familial relationships) are too abstract for these drivers and enforcement mechanisms to be relevant. As a result, market based mechanisms for economic interaction have gained dominance.
However, the ongoing shift of the global market-based economy from a trade in rival goods (tangible items that invoke zero sum economics) to digital non-rival goods (items that can be copied at no expense or diminishment, endlessly) provides a window of opportunity. It may be possible to revive gifting economics for non-rival goods to amazing beneficial effect. Some ideas on how this could scale:
- Automated reputation metrics that enhance social status based on contributions.
- Mechanisms built using MMO gaming as a way to tie successful gifting to status improvement (leveling) or an ability to attract investment.
- The creation of an inside/outside barrier that separates a gifting economy from the global economic mainstream. Automated mutual interdependence (see my friend Bruce Sterling's absolutely brilliant story on this: "Maneki Neko").
Latest on SNOW
Jean Snow - 08 Feb 10
So what’s the latest on SNOW? I guess two new developments art that I added a dedicated Twitter feed, and also created a Facebook fan page. The Twitter feed is mostly just automated with new articles from the site — because some people actually prefer that over RSS feeds these days — but I do keep an eye on it, and will reply to questions and comments. The Facebook page is just another way of putting the site out there, and should be a good way of informing members of SNOW-related events as they happen.
Regular content updates have also continued over the past week, with a few new guest columns and my regular news items. Here’s a list of what you may have missed over the past few days.
- One Coin Comics
- Wired’s Personalized QR Codes
- Annapurna Moonrise
- Lone Expression: Tommy Guerrero
- Asato Z
- COLORS
- Shinjuku Disco
- Labyrinth of Woods
- Koukotsu
- Japan Pan Am
- BQLSI STAR LASER
- Mountain House by Atelier Bow-Wow
- Measuring Tape Toilet Paper
- Kuri
- No Man’s Land
- The 69th Tokyo International Gift Show
- Memories of Island Life: Ogasawara, 1992
- A House Made of Two
- 24-Hour Subway in Tokyo
- Tiltshift Generator for iPad
- Hair Club for Men: Style #326
- Droog Town House
- G-Tokyo 2010
- First Trailer for Kitano’s Outrage
- JAGDA 2010 Calendar for iPhone
Yes, he is so right.
Yes, but he’s describing something that affects, and will always only affect, a minority.
I’m not so sure about that minority thing, Allen. You can go to places like Ghana and find cellphones and such EVERYWHERE. While dissemination may take a while, there’s very little needed to be able contribute like Clay’s suggesting. Besides, this industrial capitalist thing we’ve currently got is unsustainable. I’m betting we’ll see a more even distribution of wealth in the next few centuries. If we don’t kill each other before then.
That was great! The phrase “cognitive surplus” so perfectly describes some vague concepts in my mind–nice to finally have a name for it!
Seth, I agree, and I so hope you’re right about the even distribution of wealth bit. I’m not convinced, but I’m maintaining hope…
It strikes me as somewhat ironic that I’m watching this in a largely non-interactive format. A good piece of thought, however. I’ve been watching the TED conference videos lately and it’s struck me that they need an interactive sidebar, such that when someone mentions a website or a name that you can immediately cross-reference without having to note it down for later, or stop in the middle of watching the clip to locate your browser window or whatever. It’s still consumption, but it’s more active than just sitting there and letting it wash over you.
@Waider – sounds like someone needs to set up a wiki :)
Isn’t that the point of it though? We’re watching this video from different parts of the world and afterwards we can come here or to a forum or whatever and discuss and argue the points that he has to make. Which, I must say, are brilliant and certainly put into perspective a lot of free floating ideas I’ve had over the years. One thing I’ve definitely gotta say about this guy though is that he sounds and looks a lot like Tom Hanks. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
[...] From Warren Ellis, a temendously interesting talk on ‘Web 2.0′, time and social development: [...]
[...] course, and how they fit into this general idea of a “cognitive surplus”). It’s a video of Clay Shirky, recent author of Here Comes Everybody, found (obviously) on Warren Ellis’ website (you may [...]
Well, at this point I think the interactivity is embedding the video elsewhere for sharing and discussion. (which I’ve done)
“Media that ships without a mouse is broken…” I like that.
Re: Minority connected to the web – that is changing and quicker than we think with foundations like One Laptop Per Child and so forth.
Here Comes Everybody…
As someone who works in a career sitting at the crossroads of Television and the Internet, Clay Shirky’s talk and essay elicit both nods and hand-wringing from me.
Nodding because a lot of my personal “free time” is spent blogging, pl…
[...] Excellent and entertaining presentation from Clay Shirky. [...]
[...] Undoubtedly, most of you who read my blog have already seen the links to Clay Shirky’s “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus” and here’s the video link. [...]
@Waider: Yes, the fact you were able to comment here and raise that point makes it that much better, more active than TV could ever be.
Not that you couldn’t interact with TV. You’d just have to write a letter to the station, etc. and likely never get a response. Here, everyone who just watched this on this page can scroll down and see your contribution.
It’s a remarkable way to look at. Makes me want to be even more careful with my commenting.
“It strikes me as somewhat ironic that I’m watching this in a largely non-interactive format.”
3rd leg of the stool. Production, Sharing, Consumption.
Without the latter, the first two wouldn’t have anywhere to go.
As to the relatively interactive/noninteractive nature of it – well, you’re looking at it in a browser. The accompanying dymanic reference, if you’re using the same browser I am, is in the top right corner with a wee blue G next to it.
[...] Making Sense of the Web 2.0 Revolution Talk by Clay Shirky: http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=5885 [...]
[...] anymore. I’m quitting because there is no reason for Facebook to exist, because you suck up a cognitive surplus worse than all the sitcoms and soap operas on [...]
[...] via Warren [...]
[...] You can see Clay deliver it here. [...]
@Waider Check the twitter back channels for the interaction during the presentation. Personally, I focused on his presentation because I found an expression of some ideas I have been groping around in the dark.
[...] http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=5885 [...]
From Clay’s references, I’d say he and I are about the same age (40). He seems to forget that people have had free time for a lot longer than just post-WW II. (TV hit the masses in the 50’s–it was a novelty before then.) They had more free time in the 50’s, but not significantly more than the 40’s, 30’s, or 20’s. So how did people fill their free time before TV? They listened to radio shows, went to bars, movies, dance clubs, and other social events. Those board games Clay and I grew up on were preceded by parlor games, card games, dice games, etc. There were/are sporting events, carnivals, gambling,… The list of recreational pursuits is probably endless.
He contrasts Wikipedia with television by saying Wiki is interactive, and participatory, whereas TV is passive. You can make TV interactive–ever watch Mystery Science Theater 3000? Ever seen a viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Ever heard of drinking games based on catch phrases? (e.g., when Mr. X says Y, take a swig). Yes, TV is normally passive, and it’s not the only passive thing we do–we watch movies, plays, musicals, or operas, we read books, magazines, or newspapers. (Watching sports can be a passive/active thing, depending on the sport–compare tennis or golf to football or soccer.)
I would say that Wikipedia is a HOBBY of the creative type, like model building, R/C, or hotrod-ding. It’s the result of a million volunteers writing a report on their favorite subject, but writing at college level, to college-level requirements–”make sure your report is properly referenced and cited, and no plagiarism”. Over 100 million people have graduated from college since the end of WW II, and a small fraction of them liked writing reports, so it’s not surprising that Wikipedia can amass millions of articles.
As social animals, a participatory and interactive Internet does appeal to us more than vanilla television, but there will always be people who like watching television, because people like listening to stories. Stories have been around as long as campfires, so television will not die. (It may contract, but it won’t die.) True, TV has distilled most of the social aspect out of storytelling (and story listening), so its loss of viewership is not surprising.
However, people are spread across a passive/active spectrum, so some are more interested in participating and interacting than they are in listening and watching, but others are more comfortable with the solitude that reading or watching TV provides. What I’m talking about is the introvert/extrovert dichotomy, which is one of the most clearly defined axes of personality. With his concentration on social interaction, he is ignoring the introverts in society–probably because introverts tend to be quiet. If he can figure out how introverts fit into his revolution, then I will believe it more. Exclusive revolutions aren’t as successful as inclusive ones.
Wow. That was longer than I expected. I hope I didn’t bloviate. If I could have said it pithily, it would have been something along the lines of “the world isn’t as simple as you think”. Clay has definitely identified some good ideas, but they’re just a few threads in the tapestry of Thoughtspace, and they may not be as critical as he thinks they are. Every time I think I’ve latched onto some linchpin in society, I learn that things are a lot more complicated. If societies were simple, they’d teach Social Engineering in college.
[...] Clay Shirky @ Web2.0 – Gin And The Cognitive Surplus [...]