Now that we all know everything.........

I have been thinking. More or less rambling on, starting with JP Rangaswami's blog on On Lanier's Digital Maoism and the original article on which it is commenting and on the comments on the blog and etc.

To put it crudely I suppose, it comes down to a discussion of whether or not the empowerment of the 'great unwashed' as represented by the openness of the internet, blog, wikis and the like is a good thing or simply a step into the quicksand with suffocation the inevitable result.

Somewhat surprisingly this is not an open and shut situation. The arguments in both directions hold some weight. Personally I tend to come down on the optimistic side, ie. "the cream will rise to the top", but then we also know what else floats.

Most certainly, dissent from the mainstream will be much harder to hide and, for those seriously seeking, the range of discoverable possibilities will be wider than previous times in history. These are good things, in the main, I would say. But getting value from the 'collective' still involves large dollops of individual judgment and expertise. The main difference from prior times is that the information necessary to develop expertise and make informed judgments is more widely available.

Unfortunately this is not utopia. The intelligence and inclination to garner the expertise and make judgments based on it is no more prevalent than ever. And the wrong information and false pre-packaged judgments are also more available for the not-too-bright and mentally lazy to grab onto. Widely available information may be a boon to the intelligent and help curtail ignorance, but it is no cure for stupidity or laziness.