Listen to the radio and you'll find yet another remake of a classic song.Go to the multiplex and you'll find yet another remake of a classic film.
Go online and you'll find yet another remake of someone else's opinion or idea.
Arguably, this hyper-connected world is killing our ingenuity and originality as any idea, approach, opinion, or strategy can be simply lifted from elsewhere. Now trust me, I'm a huge proponent of learning from others, but where do you draw the line between guidance, and regurgitation? After all, why bother to learn anything when you can drop it into a search?
Even the simple act of performing a web search means that billions of people will be pulling from the same repository of information. Wikipedia has revolutionized the way that we access facts, but it has also devolutionized the way that we problem solve, research, and deductively reason.
The same can be said for music. Turn on the radio and 90% of what you'll hear you will be remade songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Technology has revolutionized the way that we RE-create music, but it has also devolutionized the way that music is created.
So this begs the question...who's to blame? Do we blame technology? Or do we blame ourselves?
First off, yes. Technology makes everything in our lives easier. But given that we are (apparently) inherently lazy creatures, we certainly have no problems indulging ourselves.
I also think it comes down to the fact that because there is so much information passing by us at any given moment, we are actively and passively influenced by all of it... So like a web search, our brains just go for the most immediately accessible, relevant solution that we can get our grubby little neurons on.
Whether Music, TV, Film, Politics, you name it--We simply can't avoid performing someone else's song. That, and in the information age there's the unspoken notion that "'tis better to contribute nonsense than to contribute nothing at all".
Remember when technology use to make our lives functionally better? It seems that now days technology makes our lives conveniently better. Problem is, the way that we think seems to have followed suit in that instead of seeking functional knowledge to create something new that's of value, we seek convenient knowledge because it's easy to replicate.
What are your thoughts?
I think ideas have always been duplicated. Now, worlds are just joined to see how many have the same idea and what they do with them. I'm sure many have had the same invention, music, design, etc ideas, borrowed from things seen or heard — now there is a broadcast outlet. No ideas are original, everything is repurposed to make something "new." I think technology just makes it more apparent and obvious.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mikekarnj.com/blog/2010/04/27/original-ideas-dont-exist/
ReplyDeletehttp://community.ovationtv.com/_There-Are-No-Original-Ideas/blog/1694458/16878.html
ReplyDeletehttp://hnlk.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/you-mean-its-all-been-written-before/
ReplyDeletehttp://outspokenmedia.com/online-marketing/original-ideas/
ReplyDeleteUh... the "good statement" above is a quote from the original post:
ReplyDeleteThat, and in the information age there's the unspoken notion that "'tis better to contribute nonsense than to contribute nothing at all".
I can't think of a statement less true than "given that we are (apparently) inherently lazy creatures" We've become the planet's dominant species. We've been to the moon, We've created a network that allows you to communicate with anyone in the world! We have iPhones...well you don't.
ReplyDeleteIf you really think that people are becoming less original, then tell me when we experienced the peak of human originality. Name a decade or century.
Unique ideas are fringe, revolutionary, and often rejected.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the music scene, there was a time when grunge and punk rock could only be heard in garages or dive bars that catered to those who were part of the "scene"; no one would have ever guessed that these genres of music would give birth to platinum records and sold out crowds at major venues. Grunge is certainly not as popular as it once was, but, through bands like Green Day, punk has retained popularity.
I agree with the rhetoric of "After all, why bother to learn anything when you can drop it into a search?", however it reminds me of something someone said once: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/24194
One could easily argue both sides of whether we should take time to learn things, and whichever side one argues, one conclusion is clear: the ease with which we access information is going to play a significant role in the development of our brains. It will be interesting to see how generations down the line are going to handle the information available to them. I foresee some intellectual elitism wherein, there are those who consume the information and those who provide the information. If knowledge is power, what kind of power have those who control the knowledge?
This is a good statement: That, and in the information age there's the unspoken notion that "'tis better to contribute nonsense than to contribute nothing at all"
I agree that there are those who, knowingly or otherwise, always have to say something. I'm not convinced that this is a product of our current technological age, though. I recall classmates and friends in the past who always have something to say, regardless of the utility. Perhaps technology, like twitter and facebook, give people a forum to broadcast those things to a community wider than those in earshot.
I wouldn't categorize everyone as being the type of person who needs to contribute, though.
When talking about technology making life functionally vs. conveniently better, it's important to remember that our brains are hardwired, through bazillions of years of evolution, to seek out choices that make our lives easier.
Also, the two aren't mutually exclusive: At one point in time, the wheel was modern technology, and through it's function, our ancestors' lives were made conveniently better.
You're definitely right, in that we live in a time where the amount of information at any given moment is overwhelming, and our brains are going to latch on to those ideas readily available to us.
If I understand your overall point, you're saying that we have to tear ourselves away from the overwhelming information and start to think about things in a different way. How does one go about that? Is it a matter of brainpower (I hesitate to use the word "intelligence" here) ? Or is it a matter of willing to work hard and dig deeply for something new that no one has taken the time to think about?
Thanks for posting these links. An eloquent way of supporting the point that neither this content, nor mine, is truly original.
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