The single most important thing for an individual to do is to recognize that society is not made up of individuals but of groups, some tight and some loose. Democracies are not markets, divided into atomized and rational actors. Democracies are coalitional, and the big thing we lose with the continuing shrinking of the importance of newspapers is having a place where news junkies and sports fans both occasionally see the same front page.

Clay Shirky on the Internet as a Distractor and Disruptor - Frog Design - The Atlantic (via infoneer-pulse)

This is an important aspect on human society, but how does it relate to the observations from the discussions around the wisdom of crowds?

(via futuramb)

Actually, Shirky is conflating some things here. We should parse our how people connect through social networks and how ‘democracies’ work. I am going to have to read the whole thing and get back to you.

Source: The Atlantic

6 November 2012 58 futuramb
clay shirkyquotationsdemocracies

Notes

  1. readinglist32 reblogged this from trebaolofarabia
  2. trebaolofarabia reblogged this from readinglist32
  3. futuresagency reblogged this from stoweboyd
  4. cynful-spyres reblogged this from stoweboyd
  5. grinningmango reblogged this from stoweboyd
  6. sasquatchmedia reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  7. sunshinecity10 reblogged this from stoweboyd
  8. crazygm reblogged this from stoweboyd
  9. davidaedwards reblogged this from stoweboyd
  10. stoweboyd reblogged this from futuramb
  11. c-biscuits reblogged this from futuramb
  12. stephanustheo reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  13. mathisbj944 reblogged this from futuramb
  14. futuramb reblogged this from infoneer-pulse
  15. infoneer-pulse posted this

← Previous Post Next Post →

About

Web anthropologist, futurist, author. My focus is the future, and the tectonic forces pushing business, media, and society into an unclear and accelerating future. more.

Working on longer format projects, Sign up for the newsletter.

GigaOM Research analyst and curator.

Also writing beaconstreets.com.

Contact me. or ask me a question.



My Vizify profile.

Socialogy

  • John Hagel | John offers up some great insights, like the fact that passion is lower the larger that businesses get.

  • Euan Semple | A chat with my old pal, and the author of Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do

  • Will McInnes | The author of Culture Shock and managing director of Nixon/McInnes

  • Jennifer Magnolfi | An interview with the woman who said, 'Work is not a place you go, it's a thing you do'.

    • Hot Now

  • What Drives Us? | A draft chapter of my book, discussing motivations, Maslow's hierarchy, and fluidarity.

  • Socialogy: Interview With John Hagel | I Speak with Joh Hagel about the innovation at the edge.

  • Complex organisation arises from webs of interaction among causal factors | So, it turns out that DNA is, in fact, a great metaphor for business culture, but only after you realize that DNA is not a few hundred off-on switches, but instead a universe of unknowable complexities, that we can interact with, and understand at some abstract cartoonish level, but not control, and never fully comprehend.

  • Bitcoin May Be the Global Economy’s Last Safe Haven | Paul Ford

  • Innovators Get Better With Age | Companies make a mistake by relying too much on the innoations of the young, because Nobel laureats don't come into their prime until their 50s.

    • Oldie

  • Infodemics | 2009 | Passing incomplete or inaccurate information about some risk event can make people take actions that increase the damage of the event itself.

    • Lynx theme created by Andrew Stichbury for Tumblr.