techPresident - Cognitive Surplus - Comments

Distributive Computing

gibson_stevens — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:18:27 -0400

Great article and very interesting concept. I have been thinking of this in a different manner. As this Cognitive Surplus, as Shirky aptly names it, is engaged, how do we improve the management and usefullness of what is generated? The idea of distributive computing came to mind. Each of us individually becomes a member of the cloud, processing and contributing to the greater brain.

This idea flies in the face of the old adage that "a person is smart, but people are dumb." With an engaged cognitive surplus managed in a distributive manner, a person will become dumb in comparison to the intelligence of a connected and engaged people...

More of my musings...

Good points

Luigi Montanez — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:49:19 -0400

@Micah: You have a great point, and the seemingly singular focus on Obama did worry me throughout 2007. But I think in recent months, Obama's shown some Democratic coattails in a few down-ballot special elections, and more importantly, he's tweaked his language in recent weeks to be more about the Democratic party and less about his movement. I think once people get the activism bug, they're hooked for a while. Can't way to see Clay at PdF.

@echoWhiskey: You're right, I should have explained that number a bit more. From my first-hand experience in general cases, about 10% of people who give an email address will go the full distance, furnish a password, and create an account on a website. Obviously, the Obama campaign is an exceptional case, and many people created an account as their first step (which automatically added them to the email list), so it may be a higher percentage. If MoveOn.org has 3 million on their list, I think Obama's list being 2x or 3x larger feels about right. But that's just all conjecture on my part.

Hands-on politics indeed

cfinnie — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:57:01 -0400

To tell the truth, this is one of two reasons why I voted for Obama (even though, as an older white woman, the media tells me I'm supposed to be a Clinton supporter). The other was the number of young voters he was bringing into the process. But bringing voters of whatever age into the process to me was key. Howard Dean, who brought me into the process, likes to say that showing up to vote only gets you a "D" in citizenship (not even doing that, of course, gets you an "F"). If you want to do better, you have to work for a candidate or run for office. He actively encouraged us to take back our power as citizens with his his signature line, "Only you have the power...." Obama is doing the same. And you're so right, the beltway boys just don't get it. Because of that, some of the '06 freshman class in Congress will fail in '08. They've forgotten how they got elected, signed on with the clueless consultants, are running very different campaigns, and I predict will fail. To use Shirky's analogy, they've gone back to watching Gilligan's Island--not recognizing that the shift is permanent. Dean does. And so does Obama.

8 million?

echoWhiskey — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:16:14 -0400

Agreed on the limited thinking of old-school consultants in terms of what Barack's database really means. But, I'm interested in the metrics that you use to extrapolate 800,000 memberships on my.barackobama.com into an 8 million person email list. Almost every action on the Obama website either directs you to become a member or directly makes you a member, so I would guess that the membership rate on the email list is much higher than 10%. Can you explain?

surplus desire, indeed

Micah L. Sifry — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:53:29 -0400

Luigi:
You nailed it.
But we still don't know if Obama's movement thinks this way...or if everyone will put their surplus back into their private lives if he wins.
Micah
p.s. cognitive surplus is to free time, as meme is to idea.
Not to dis Clay: I love him and is keynoting at PdF 2008 this June.