I Haven't Had A Fresh Idea In Months. How About You?

Dearheart sent me this link from Wired magazine with a note saying, “Once again, Nan is ahead of the curve.” If only it were true. I have never felt more BEHIND the curve. Lately, I don’t even know where the curve is.

The Wired story reviews Curation Nation, a book that deals the new notion that technology is worth squat unless human beings are around to filter the sludge. I used to think that was true; now I’m not so sure.

For about a year – and more significantly in the past six months – I’ve had a growing awareness that no matter what fresh insight I’ve grasped, somebody else has already written a book about it. When I first noticed this phenomenon, I decided to ignore it. But this “shared awareness” phenomenon is growing. Even worse, my awareness of the awareness is exploding.

What the heck am I talking about here? I’m talking about why, as a writer, I can’t seem to come up with a fresh idea. The truth is maybe I never could come up with a fresh idea.. I just didn’t know it. Well, the Internet has taken care of that. Now I am painfully aware just how far behind I am in capturing every realization and insight. My eureka moment? Google has 1,230,000 entries on that one. It’s humbling.

Maybe this blog post sounds like a joke. It certainly does have a comic dimension. But there’s angst, too, in this “late-to-market” syndrome. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone (after all, not being alone in the "awareness" is we’re talking about here, right?). So, yes. Most assuredly. As all of us knowledge workers sit on the razor’s edge of Singularity, it’s hard to discern our unique vantage point.

Perhaps this explains why the world’s gone mad .. why our exponential advances in information technology also breed exponential road rage, obesity, hoarding, addiction, and reality TV.

Along with the latest gadget or post-grad degree from MIT, I’m wishing somebody would serve up a little philosophy and sociology. It may not be the machine way, but, really, isn’t our ability to reflect and contemplate how we are wired?

p.s. If you’ve already written a book about this, good for you. I want to read it.

-- scrubbed by Marketing Brillo

Posted in: Social Commentary,Technology,Trends,Writing