Clay Shirky’s TED Talk covered a wide array of subjects dealing with the vast amount of information available to everyone through out the world. It all started with Kenya in 2007; they were having political problems, and when the worst of it hit, the government blacked out the media to keep its people in the dark. Lawyer Acola McKnight decided the people deserved the right to know what was going on in their country; little did she know, this act would lead to the creation of Ushahidi, a way to share collective knowledge. Collective knowledge is more than just the average blog post; it is a way in which people connect and insightfully discuss a topic; it allows ideas to be spread and knowledge to build off of another’s idea. Shirky describes how this leads to cognitive surplus, which combines free time and talents with media tools. People are able to create and show their talents, whether it be something as pointless as LOLcats (pictures of cats with random quotations) or as ingenious as Ushahidi. LOLcats show a communal value which is valued by a select few people, but Ushahidi is very different. It has civic value which is important to the world, which explains why so many people are involved in it. Shirky believes that this cognitive surplus is leading to a decline in consuming and an increase of pleasure in creativity. An increase in creativity and satisfaction in sharing can only mean one thing: intrinsic motivation.
Shirky laced his talk with sly humor and valuable purpose. While he was speaking, he easily transitioned from one point to the next by relating to seemingly unrelated topics; Shirky was talking about the important technologies that have emerged due to Ushahidi and cognitive surplus, and as he spoke, pictures of LOLcats started popping up. They showed no association, but it allowed him to transition in a fun way. He put a little randomness into the mix and lightened the mood to keep the audience interested. He also brought up relatable stories to help illustrate the connection between motivation and personal connections. He described how late daycare pick-up was negatively affected by fining because it caused emotion to be taken away from the situation. Money replaced parents’ ability to feel guilty for picking up their child late; it made them feel like the money could replace the time that the daycare workers had lost waiting for them to come. His story telling not only kept the viewers engrossed, but, like Dan Pink concludes, it allows them to hear Shirky’s message in the way they think: through story. Shirky is a very effective speaker and is easily able to keep attention and display his opinions, backing them up with both fact and hypothetical possibilities.
In relation to every day life, cognitive surplus is literally everywhere I look. People take beautiful photographs and edit them to their liking, so they can upload them onto Facebook for all their friends to see. They want the feedback and constructive criticism that the web provides; depending on how many friends or followers they have, hundreds and even thousands of people can see one photograph and all the beauty it may hold. I know that when I hear or see something that I like, I want to either recreate it or create something that will have the same affect on a person as it did on me. The only explanation, as Shirky stated, is an intrinsic drive created by the free time and need to create and share. This again, relates to school; students have lost their motivation to want to create in school. It is strictly assigned, and being the rebels we are, students do not see the point in having to do another stupid art project, another stupid history paper or another stupid position paper. Outside of school, we feel the freedom the web and the exhilaration of appreciation from the complements we receive, but as soon as we enter those school doors, that freedom is shut down. It doesn’t make sense to me why we do this; why we don’t want to shine the way we do at home; why we don’t want to show our potentials to those that most want to see it. I suppose it has to do with the personal connection of school that is absent over Facebook or Twitter or other social networking devices. We are afraid of the personal connection; our fears shut down our ability to be motivated. There is always the looming feeling of “what if the teacher doesn’t like it,” or “what if my peers think I’m dumb,” or a face-to-face dismissal. Computers allow people to show their work, feelings, and abilities with more anonymity, but without the fear of a personal rejection. The motivation is still there, but it is put on hold because of fear or pure arrogance. In the world, cognitive surplus will make enormous impact; if more people are able to obtain the boundless information, learning and creating will never be the same. Pink’s predictions in the threats of Asia, Abundance, and Automation will be evermore possible. Outsourcing and knowledge will be easier to access and technologies will be easier to develop due to the newfound knowledge. Not only could it cause problems, but also it will change how people relate to one another and allow people to build off of one another’s thoughts and ideas. Google Docs already allows people to collaborate on projects, why couldn’t the next step be collaborating on technology itself. The people working on the technology would not be paid and would not necessarily even know each other; their motivation to get it done would be the only obstacle standing in the way. Facebook creates and keeps relationships due to the ability to share with friends. Cognitive surplus already exists globally, but what is next to come has infinite possibilities.
Clay Shirky shares his insight on cognitive surplus and what it will hold for the future through his well thought TED Talk.
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