[ExI] Is the old internet dying?

[Dan]

On Monday, July 20, 2015 5:27 AM Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thinking has always been expensive,  we're wired to minimize
> that expenditure.  That's human, not "kids today"

I agree. It's usually only a minority that does thinking and explores at any time. Of course, for many, thinking is cool, so there are imitators. I don't mean people who actually do much thinking, but folks who mimic those who do.

> Lamenting the loss of usenet or bbs or whatever reads to me like
> lamenting the loss of newspaper and how the good old days had 3
> channels of TV and everyone shared a cultural norm because of it.

Indeed. Every age seems to have folks decrying innovations that have made life easier. One can imagine someone back in ancient times worrying about the wheel or pack animals make life too easy. If only they left detailed records. :)

> Is evolution just something to talk about in historical terms
> or is a phenomenon of the present?  More change happens Now
> than has ever happened before.


In terms of technology and cultural evolution, yes. I do think some of this is having an impact on humans and other species, though I'm not in the doom and gloom camp that think somehow before the latest set of changes everything was peachy and our time represents a fall from that former idyllic age. Nor do I believe that "après nous, le déluge."


> If we don't like the immediate-satisfaction culture shouldn't
> we be trying to produce something more engaging?

I think there are signs of stuff like that too. Yes, many people online are looking for immediate and what many judge to be shallow entertainment. But this is more about what many folks wanted before they were online. It wasn't like they were composing symphonies and pushing back the frontiers of knowledge before they discovered social media. :)

Regards,

Dan
http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Ust/e/B00J6HPX8M/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20150720/ae4979a8/attachment.html>