A Landscape of Ideas
Oct 13th, 2007 by lisa
I really enjoyed this fascinating post from Cabinet of Wonders yesterday. The author traces through history the flow of information, from printing press to internet.
I previously mentioned the idea of a growing collective mind in the blogoshpere. The ideas presented here move beyond that notion, encompassing both a collective mind concept, as well as the virtual intellectual cultures emerging on the internet.
…that the electronic exchange of information is a creative endeavor, essentially a cultural exchange, and that by the “conversations” we have, the way we share our interests and discoveries, we are actually building culture, just as people used to talk to each other and pass books back and forth, or travel to culturally-rich cities to participate in the exchange of ideas…
Because think about it: those culturally-significant cities can now be expressed in terms of online loci, places where people of intellectual similarity and interest gather to discuss the ideas of the day.
Many dismiss the internet as a fad, and weblogs as silly self-indulgence. Personally I think we are on the verge of something much more significant than that. Perhaps a new form of creative interaction. Maybe even a further step in the evolution of the human mind.
You can read the rest of this very rich essay at Cabinet of Wonders.
I’ve only just managed to read the essay at Cabinet of Wonders. It’s really interesting, isn’t it.
I find it quite heartening, especially as so many of my real-world friends seem to have no concept or understanding of the internet world.
I agree with you, I think we are on the verge of something significant. We’ve never before had the communication tools at our fingertips that we have today.