_tzupidity
06-04-2010, 08:24 PM
I'm about 3/4 through The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen. Have any of you guys read it?
He goes a little too far for my liking but the core message is not only sound, but is making me wonder why I've never thought about it before and why it doesn't seem to get mentioned very often.
Essentially, he's saying that the internet allowing anyone at all to go give an opinion or 'fact' is destroying our culture and society.
People think that Wikipedia is a good source for factual information when ANYONE is allowed to say ANYTHING without it being checked and verified. It is no diferent to you walking out into the street and asking the first person you see to give you reliable data on any given subject. You wouldn't do that because it'd be stupid, but we all do it with Wiki. It looks like it should be authorative, it has a name that sounds academic, but essentially it's a bunch of amateurs spreading what they think is right.
YouTube and MySpace are allowing any person (regardless of talent) the ability to saturate us with their awful music/art/work and the true creatives are buried somewhere underneath it all, can't be found and their contribution is lost.
One thing that isn't touched on very much that I think is very relevant is the 'truth' movement. On this very forum there are people claiming to be victims of various mind control projects. There are alien abductees, there are people who regularly 'astrally travel' and talk to 'none human entities'. We've got mages, warlocks, psychics and armchair experts in almost every field. Not one of them is required to provide any evidence or verification for what they are saying and there are those who will believe them regardless.
Ranging from the amusing to the disturbing, these 'truths' are then repeated and perpetuated and given the time and space that previously would be reserved for credible experts with verified data.
It's a book that raises some pretty uncomfortable questions but I feel that the guy is essentially right. If you aren't picky about where you get your information from then you are going to end up confused and living with falsehoods you believe to be real. Society and Culture can not exist under these circumstances and so, they are doomed. When they go, so do we.
Thoughts anyone?
He goes a little too far for my liking but the core message is not only sound, but is making me wonder why I've never thought about it before and why it doesn't seem to get mentioned very often.
Essentially, he's saying that the internet allowing anyone at all to go give an opinion or 'fact' is destroying our culture and society.
People think that Wikipedia is a good source for factual information when ANYONE is allowed to say ANYTHING without it being checked and verified. It is no diferent to you walking out into the street and asking the first person you see to give you reliable data on any given subject. You wouldn't do that because it'd be stupid, but we all do it with Wiki. It looks like it should be authorative, it has a name that sounds academic, but essentially it's a bunch of amateurs spreading what they think is right.
YouTube and MySpace are allowing any person (regardless of talent) the ability to saturate us with their awful music/art/work and the true creatives are buried somewhere underneath it all, can't be found and their contribution is lost.
One thing that isn't touched on very much that I think is very relevant is the 'truth' movement. On this very forum there are people claiming to be victims of various mind control projects. There are alien abductees, there are people who regularly 'astrally travel' and talk to 'none human entities'. We've got mages, warlocks, psychics and armchair experts in almost every field. Not one of them is required to provide any evidence or verification for what they are saying and there are those who will believe them regardless.
Ranging from the amusing to the disturbing, these 'truths' are then repeated and perpetuated and given the time and space that previously would be reserved for credible experts with verified data.
It's a book that raises some pretty uncomfortable questions but I feel that the guy is essentially right. If you aren't picky about where you get your information from then you are going to end up confused and living with falsehoods you believe to be real. Society and Culture can not exist under these circumstances and so, they are doomed. When they go, so do we.
Thoughts anyone?