David Brin’s Call for Sanity
I used to read Edge.org religiously (an ironic thing to say about this most irreligious of online communities), but went for years without visiting. I just went back last night for the first time in ages, and there’s still great content.
I got sucked into this back and forth of debate about whether Google is making us stupid, spurred by this original cover story by Nick Carr in the Atlantic. I have various thoughts on Carr’s argument, most of which I found well represented by the brilliant minds in this stream. The clearest counterpoint to Carr’s semi-pessimistic take is Clay Shirky, for whom the collapse of traditional literary power structures is an event to celebrate. He deliberately pushes Carr’s buttons, directly calling him a neo-Luddite. I’m sure I have occasionally sounded similar revolutionary themes, and been similarly discounted as a result.
My favorite response was actually David Brin’s, whose writing has had a big impact on me this year as I’ve researched online reputation. I’ll just quote the rousing finale to his “stop the madness” tirade:
No, what’s needed is not the blithe enthusiasm preached by Shirky… or Sanger’s grouchy nostalgia. What is needed is a hard, pragmatic look at what’s missing from today’s web. Tools that might help turn quasar-levels of gushing opinion into something like discourse. New versions of what worked for the Enlightenment—markets, democracy etc—so that several billion people can do more than just express a myriad shallow rumors and shallow ideas, but test them, compare them (like shoppers, or voters or scientists or lawyers) and actually reach some conclusions, now and then!
What kind of tools might help a storm of opinion turn into discourse? There are several key features of markets, democracy, science and law that the Internet has never provided, for all of its notable fecundity. Simple tools and services that might add a little depth and traction to its usefulness as an arena of problem-solving.
But what matters is stepping back from yet another tiresome dichotomy between fizzy enthusiasm and testy nostalgia.