I’m about half way through Clay Shirky’s new book, ‘Cognitive Surplus’ and I have noticed his writing wrapped in story inspires me to sketch it’s themes. The one I’ve included for this post, illustrates the example Shirky uses to clarify the idea that scarcity (rather than abundance), is much easier to understand. If a product or service becomes rare, then we simply charge more for it. Done. A newly abundant thing means we change how we use it; think smashing open your radio, tinkering with the wiring, hackeroo style. Clay paints the perfect example, parents/grandparents ‘announcing’ the long distance call, when today it would never even occur to most of us.
Shirky has been one of the most prolific tech writers of the internet age. His latest installment comes at the perfect time; the collective jitters about the future of technology. ‘Cognitive Surplus’ does two things to help ease how we view the changes today; a thoughtful look at the long history of technological change across all cultures and a welcome lens in which to digest what is happening and how best to develop and design for human motivations.
The TED talk is great if you haven’t already seen it.