TED Talk #4 "Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world"

            Clay Shirky had very good ideas that he wants to spread with the world. One of these ideas is cognitive surplus. This idea, he says, is made up of two things, ancient motivation and modern tools. Ancient motivation originated in the 20^th century and is now a dominate part of our lives, free time and talents. Modern tools were around in the 20^th century but were focused on being consumed, not used. In the 21^st century we can move on to creating and sharing with help from those tools. With this surplus we have also have a surplus of time; the world has trillions of hours of free time. The idea that there are a trillion hours people can devote to anything they want. The world now has internet sources like Lol cats but also Ushiditi. Shirky says that “even though [lol cats] is a stupid creative act, it’s still a creative act.” Lol cats and Ushahidi have one major difference; Lol cats is communal (by producers for producers) and Ushahidi is civic (created by participates but valued by society, it makes everyone more knowledgeable).  Ushahidi was originally created to help everyone be more informed, but turned out to be a resource that people can use even when the media is being blocked in a time of crisis. This is important because it means that we can be greater as a whole than one person alone. We can use these tools to solve global issues and create humor. We need this technology to work with human generosity and move into a world that is both enjoyable and helpful.

What if this was never created? Would we be less of a society, or just less informed? I would hypothesize that we would have a less of a communicating a society. Without Google and other sites such as these, many would still be highly uniformed. Many people are still uniformed. In China, the government is blocking certain internet site. As Shirky best put it “free culture get what they celebrate.” The celebration is the freedom. If China does not have that freedom, how can they better themselves and their country? This freedom can allow for better design of our world. Although Ushahidi is a highly informative site, it still has to be creativity appealing. Original design centered on generosity can achieve incredible without those governmental restraints. We need to take advantage of this ability to communicate so that we can solve problems that may not have had a solution before this cognitive surplus was possible. When given the opportunity people will add to this vast knowledge, they will do it without pay and compensation. When people are able to pay, they are able to fine away their guilt. However, without ever being offered a reward, participates are still sharing this information. People also benefit from the community that they feel; they feel a connection with others that they have never met or even really seen their face. What this means for education is that we need and thrive one this human connection. With online classes, our compassion to learn and feed off each other’s strengths and weaknesses are shrinking. We need to have that human connection to really benefit.

Shirky’s style was very unique. He would go from a very serious topic to something humorous. It was a sly, sneaky humor that made this presentation flow very well. He was also in a small room with a much smaller audience. This could be a forced venue without choice, but I believe that it was purposeful. I showed that people can have that connection, that intimate communication while still discussing something bigger and greater than most of us can imagine. All of his humor and comments were well connected, even if one had to dig a little deeper to see the relation.