"When does the wisdom of crowds give way to the meanness of mobs?
In the 1990s, Jaron Lanier was one of the digital pioneers hailing the wonderful possibilities that would be realized once the Internet allowed musicians, artists, scientists and engineers around the world to instantly share their work. Now, like a lot of us, he is having second thoughts.
Mr. Lanier, a musician and avant-garde computer scientist - he popularized the term "virtual reality" - wonders if the Web's structure and ideology are fostering nasty group dynamics and mediocre collaborations. His new book, "You Are Not a Gadget," is a manifesto against "hive thinking" and "digital Maoism," by which he means the glorification of open-source software, free information and collective work at the expense of individual creativity."
This paragraph - "To save those endangered species, Mr. Lanier proposes rethinking the Web's ideology, revising its software structure and introducing innovations like a universal system of micropayments. (To debate reforms, go to Tierney Lab at nytimes.com/tierneylab." from this article is exactly how I imagine moving our project forward. But, who knows how to do it?
needed:
* The trend-spotter, who finds a promising innovation early.
* The evangelist, who passionately makes the case for idea X or person Y.
* The superspreader, who broadcasts innovations to a larger group.
* The skeptic, who keeps the conversation honest.
* General participants, who show up, comment honestly, and learn.