I’m thinking that a lot of the stuff Shirky celebrates as generously shared creativity is actually a way of putting boredom to (someone else’s) use. What is Farmville but an ingenious way to commoditize boredom? Marcuse had a point when he called ennui “society’s most natural ally in maintaining law & order.” I find Shirky’s anecdotes in Cognitive Surplus a bit disappointing for this reason—in the West, it’s all LOLcats and marginal philanthropy; in societies where the politics are more urgent, the cognition that directs political action on the Internet can’t really be called “surplus,” because that flow needs all the stock it can get.

2. The first quote reminded me of a book I read last winter called “Simplicity Parenting” — the most profound sentence in that whole book was the one where the author called boredom one of the greatest gifts we can give our children. Because for kids, being forced to create something to entertain themselves with is not only more fulfilling, it’s better for their brains than one-way entertainment such as TV.

I dunno. ‘nother good post I’ll be thinking about all day. Thanks Tim.

I think, yes.

I am sure you have read Shirkey, and I think people choose action over non-action in a heart beat when they can understand the rules.

One thing I would like to add is that seeing all this talk about sharing, and creating, and how we are leaving the inactive TV land to the active internet. People might be asking is it really easy to walk away from TV en masse. When I think about that I am reminded on my first concert going experience, when I was probably 14, or 15. I came upon a mosh pit, literally kids banging up against one another. I thought to my self, why the hell not, and joined in. At some point I fell. I had never met anyone in this pile, but 4 people reached to pick me up, and a couple others communicated to watch out. Quickly, I was set right, and joined the mosh.

What I have always found remarkable, was how quickly a community coalesced around an organizing principal. There was no rule book, but the rules were clearly being virally communicated.

In this manner, maybe that is why it’s easy to leave the TV. The rules of using our cognitive surplus aren’t explicit, but implicit, and easy to understand, and spreading virally.

Il faut être toujours ivre.
Tout est là:
c’est l’unique question.
Pour ne pas sentir
l’horrible fardeau du Temps
qui brise vos épaules
et vous penche vers la terre,
il faut vous enivrer sans trêve
Mais de quoi?
De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, à votre guise.