Friday, January 15, 2010

Being Jaron Lanier

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. (Please click on his name above to find out more about this eclectic thinker.) Recently, I came across two of Lanier's quotes that struck me profoundly. I had been thinking along the same lines for some time now.


On one level, the Internet has become anti-intellectual because Web 2.0 collectivism has killed the individual voice. It is increasingly disheartening to write about any topic in depth these days, because people will only read what the first link from a search engine directs them to, and that will typically be the collective expression of the Wikipedia. Or, if the issue is contentious, people will congregate into partisan online bubbles in which their views are reinforced. I don’t think a collective voice can be effective for many topics, such as history--and neither can a partisan mob. Collectives have a power to distort history in a way that damages minority viewpoints and calcifies the art of interpretation. Only the quirkiness of considered individual expression can cut through the nonsense of mob and that is the reason intellectual activity is important.
This quote resonated with me as it is very typical for us to follow blogs that share our sensibilities, become friends with people who look, act and think like us, and have friends and followers who share our beliefs. But in this collectivism Lanier rightly posits that individualism is crowded out which likely produces a non-vigorous non-rigorous anti-intellectual environment. What is actually happening on blogs, Facebook and Twitter? Is there a counter in the culture to social media?
The original turn of phrase was "Information wants to be free." And the problem with that is that it anthropomorphizes information. Information doesn't deserve to be free. It is an abstract tool; a useful fantasy, a nothing. It is nonexistent until and unless a person experiences it in a useful way. What we have done in the last decade is give information more rights than are given to people. If you express yourself on the internet, what you say will be copied, mashed up, anonymized, analyzed, and turned into bricks in someone else's fortress to support an advertising scheme. However, the information, the abstraction, that represents you is protected within that fortress and is absolutely sacrosanct, the new holy of holies. You never see it and are not allowed to touch it. This is exactly the wrong set of values.
Information has no real value without integration and experimentation. Individuals are integrators and experimenters of information. Without individual voices their is no distinction. There is a lack of innovation and more importantly a greater possibility of destruction brought on by a mob mentality. History proves this.

8 comments:

zorro said...

What about actual news. This is a form of information that is going away.

Judith Ellis said...

That's so true, Zorro. News today seems to be all opinion, eh?

septembermom said...

The loss of the individual voice would peel away the very fabric of what humanity is meant to create. Each individual thread has its unique and necessary place in the world tapestry. The human being must honor and proclaim his/her voice and its right to be heard and appreciated. We cannot become nodding clones of each other. I want a world of opinions, ideas and novel thoughts. Even if you are the only one, speak your thoughts and don't get caught up in a collective voice that blurs your individuality and stifles that voice.

zorro said...

According to the PBS show Now, 96% of all original news stories are put together by reporters paid by the old media.
In other words, when it comes to news, there is no such thing as the new media.

Judith Ellis said...

I agree with your thoughtful comment, Kelly. Tis true, I agree with most of them. :-)

Judith Ellis said...

Zorro - That's funny! But I do think that news as we once knew it is not the same today. As a kid we watched the Today Show as we got dressed for school in the morning and made comments on international affairs as we ate breakfast. We also watched the evening news with Walter Cronkite every evening and were expected to say something intelligent about what we were watching. We were asked our opinion by our mother, but I do not remember either of those shows giving their opinions, even the more relaxed formatted show like the Today Show.

google said...

The PBS show was quite interesting. The founding fathers thought that journalism was a vital part of a democratic society. One of the main reasons we had postal service from the beginning was to deliver newspapers. The newspaper rate was subsidized by the government because the founding fathers thought it was important the public be informed. When there were only three TV networks, the news divisions did not make any money, but the networks could afford it and good news divisions gave the networks prestige. The money is no longer there and I'm not sure if there would be as much prestige in having a good news division. This is partially a victory of the right wing and their constant mantra of the 'media elites'.
In some ways, I think the nation refuses to accept leaders with actual wisdom. We seem to be rejecting people like Obama, while we are accepting morons like Palin. We want our leaders to be as petty and small and ignorant as ourselves.

Judith Ellis said...

That is a very thoughtful comment, google. Thank you!