(no subject)

[tinyjo]

The cognitive surplus. A very interesting article on why sitcoms are like gin and the internet is the growth of civil society. No really, go read it. Via copperbadge.

Comments

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Interesting - not necessarily right, but interesting.
It made me think of the woman who did the Lego Cathedral, who says in the FAQ
It was about a year and a half of planning, building and photographing. It was a big project, but it was less time than most people spent watching TV during that same year and a half. I've seen other serious Lego constructors saying the same thing.

http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/

[truecatachresis.livejournal.com]

An interesting read, and certainly has valid points about how adding collective value is actually surprisingly easy if enough people think so, but I'm not convinced by the basic thesis. If you can characterise society so easily anyway, we didn't "grow out" of gin and "grow in" to libraries and liberal democracy - just listen to the periodic media complaints about binge drinking. Creativity has always grown out of spare time, and people have always had free time, just not necessarily in the same regular pattern. The pyramids were probably built mostly by farmers from the Nile who could no work during flood season, for example, and not by huge teams of slaves or flying saucers.

The TV producer friend, though, does seem characterised as particularly stupid, but her position doesn't ring entirely true.

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Ah thanks, people have been talking to me about that.