We do love our social networking, but, according to computer scientist Jaron Lanier, we may be diminishing ourselves when we join the hive. “May be? Ha!” says Mr. Cramer.
Well, although there are some facets of the hive mind that have let us down, have not lived up to the hype, there are other aspects to it that are quite beneficial. We should pay attention to the philosophy, and not conceptualize the hive in inaccurate ways. Lanier is right about that. But global connectivity is a brand new thing, and we can expect its attributes to develop wholly new philosophical aspects, and so enthusiasm for the possibilities should be maintained regardless.
It's too soon to tell what the limits are, especially when you factor in developments in analytics and computing power. The hive may be 'in principle' different from what we continually compare it to, but it is a powerful force that will become an important facet of our future selves, and so meaningful and valuable in its own right. One needs to keep an open mind when it comes to this kind of stuff!
The monolith clock which evokes the movie 2001 and Hal is going a little vacation so you will not be seeing it for a while, just the Persistance of Memory Dali-esque infinity clock behind it will remain.
HA hA @ Chris! Or, maybe listening to a cross in b/w James Lipton, Don LaFontaine and/or the Dos Eqius guy?Loved (sarcasm) the condescending quip & accompanying screen shot of a white slave, carrying a sign, whilst being subjected to a black, socialist president’s misguided, inexperienced, inept, anti-capitalist and anti-American agenda. Could that not BE considered “slavery”, or a type of slavery, even though only in an economic sense for someone opposed to that? Of course not (More sarcasm. Good thing there's no quota on sarcasm...my head would explode otherwise).
Yes, Mary, I agree with Lanier, at least as excerpted here. Sorry I didn't make myself clearer.
And no, we needn't live in a cave, though it's a temptation I wrestle with. Life in real-life society involves personal compromises, unless one is a sociopath, and we should be aware that life in virtual society involves much more reductionism.
We might consider what he calls the "philosophical mistake, which is the belief that computers can presently represent human thought or human relationships."
Marketers want to sell you stuff, and they need your help. It's crazy, it's crass, it's fun for the whole family! It's the art form of the new millennium!
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
Based on reactions in Nicole's Newsfeed, everyone hates this version of Facebook. This should matter to Facebook now that there's a real competitor on the scene named Google+.
Allowing users to share music and video on Facebook might sound like good news, but is this part of a coherent strategy, or is Facebook just stumbling from idea to idea?
MySpace is reinventing itself by focusing on content, but it's too late, and other social networks should learn from its example by looking toward a telco payment model if they want to sustain user commitment and their own revenue.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
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