‘What’s in the air? Nearly the entire body of human knowledge.’ Wow. If before I didn’t really comprehend the scope of the internet, I feel like this is a good estimation.
Michael Wesch’s talk on TEDxKC was a mind-opener. It was deep, funny, sincere and, above all, knowledge-able.
I laughed at the image of the lecture hall. Some things are the same, world-over. ‘Students learn what they do, not what they are told’: how true is this? Very true, that’s what. I have a problem with subjects that expect students to just sit and absorb a whole lot of facts and then apply them somewhat usefully. I know for a fact that that is how I learn best, by doing, not listening, and Wesch seems to feel the same way about learning in general.
I loved how he used the Dove ad and its parody. I don’t think he was really making a statement about the exploitation of little girls or palm oil: his point seemed to be that these ads reach people. They can reach people in this day and age. They have millions of views on YouTube and counting. He’s saying that today, you don’t have to be on TV to be seen and heard. You can post a twenty second video on YouTube of your cat farting and you’re an overnight superstar. Although I think he meant the ability to touch people with a real message, not just your farting cat…
He mentioned at the beginning the dangers of this new web-based era and the manipulation and coercion that threatens unwary users. I think this is a really interesting and darker, unexplored side of the web. With heightened technology can come a million dangers: unwanted surveillance, If phishing, cat-fishing or whatever is a problem now, imagine our problem when our systems of communications and technology are a hundred times more efficient and intelligent than they are now. A thousand times.