Web 2.0 and the Death of Civilization
From today’s Times (London) :
Web 2.0 may be destroying civilisation. That, at least, is the view of Andrew Keen, a Silicon Valley-based British entrepreneur and author. He has written The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture (due out in June), which argues that the web is an anti-enlightenment phenomenon, a destroyer of wisdom and culture and an infantile, Rousseau-esque fantasy. “It’s the cult of the child,†he says. “The more you know, the less you know. It’s all about digital narcissism, shameless self-promotion. I find it offensive.â€
Andrew Keen is talking through his silicon valley.
The same criticisms were made against Denis Diderot, and his ‘Encyclopedie’, back in the latter satges of the 18th century. His publication was at the heart of the French Enlightenment, and world enlightenment in the end, and was avidly read by anyone, and everyone, who could get their hands on a copy.
The internet - minus the crap - is just as important, and enlightening, as Diderot’s great work.
By Steve Newman on April 24th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
The problem with the web is that there are two contradictory trends. The first is the tendency to more and more rubbish online (Myspace, Twitter etc.); the second is the fact that a huge number of youngsters are actually writing and creating for themselves rather than being fed candy for the eyes from TV and video games.
It’s hard to say how this will net out in the end.
By John Evans on April 24th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Kinda cool to be involved in something that will destroy civilisation, don’t you think?
A pity that Andrew Keen hasn’t noticed that the dumbing down of civilisation began long before the invention of the internet - has he not noticed the crisis in the schools, for instance? It’s nice to be accorded all the blame but I don’t think we netheads can really lay claim to that much.
Every generation sees the end of civilisation approaching as change alters its world. As an old fogy, I have had my moments of despair too but, in the end, we have to admit that it’s just evolution - the world is going somewhere and nobody really knows where. Like everything else, the internet is a power for both good and bad (and I dare add that the ratio of one to another is probably about the same as in any other medium).
By Clive on April 24th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
That’s true, Clive. A lot of the creative energy that once would have gone into the arts is now being channelled into technology and its implementation. How many potential philosophers are using their skills in abstract thinking to write software rather than speculate on the meaning of Truth and Beauty?
By John Evans on April 24th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
The old gaurd will always be at an intellectual and ideological stalemate with younger generations.
I really don’t see how Web 2.0 reinforces myopic thinking at all. Even youngsters are getting better at sorting the rubbish from good quality resources.
It may be true that the more people interact within their own tribes the narrower their vision. But it’s also easier than ever to break out of your old ways and forage around for new ways.
Nowadays, it doesn’t take months or years to come around to new ideas, and people’s conclusions change constantly.
I can understand this mans point from the old guard’s quality-control perspective. He thinks the internet is like a newspaper and if he had his way nothing of sub-par quality would ever get published to it. But the wisdom of crowds is it’s own form of quality control. He should recognize that its not about getting it right the first time any more. It’s about letting the web ecology self-organize gradually into an idealized state.
People can generalize and say that the internet is getting overrun by trash–all thanks to personal publishing, understandably. But no resource is perfect. In the end the highest quality venues will attract the densest populations to them.
Well, as long as the internet stays a neutral playing field for content producers… =)
By Tyler West on April 25th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Hi Ty,
The whole point is that those who want quality control are free to go their own way, even on the internet. I’m partial to it myself and have nothing to do with Twitter or the other social network sites. But that’s my choice.
The net is still the only “place” where you’re free of modern governments who have their claws in everything. The net is what humanity is really like, stripped of central control.
The danger is that weaker minds will be subverted and mediated by the trash elements. And 24-hour news is another huge influence we tend to forget about. How many Virginia Techs are we going to get around the world now? Or will governments use that story to clamp down even harder on our freedoms? In this climate we need a free internet, however tacky some of it is.
By John Evans on April 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am