What to do with all this magic?

Flint · 03-07-2008, 11:45 PM

Before too long, all information that exists will be instantly available, to anybody, anywhere. You could very well argue that this has already happened. And it doesn't even sound like a big deal anymore. But think about it...

Every morsel of knowledge that has ever been compiled, ever, popping up inside your head at the exact instant you need it. That is sorcery, it's omnipotence! And it's inevitable that every living person will have this ability and not think twice about it.

The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers?

Oh, and the other question: how will having these powers shape our evolution?

Yznhymr · 03-08-2008, 12:00 AM

The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers? Well, I had this power 15 seconds before you stated your question and was already bored with it.

Oh, and the other question: how will having these powers shape our evolution? Except for the extra appendage and the new eye in the back of my head, I don't expect any major changes.

Trilby · 03-08-2008, 09:09 AM

Flint is crazy.

Undertoad · 03-08-2008, 09:21 AM

No he's not. He's right on target. The intelligence of the human race is rising. We can more easily see what's true and what's not true, and this will have a multiplicative effect. With an iphone and the net we share the intelligence of the world at all times. It's magic nobody could have predicted. In fact the richest and one of the most computer/tech of all people on the earth wrote a book called The Road Ahead in 1994 and failed to mention the internet. Meanwhile the changes that the net brings us continue to be revolutionary.

Have you ever browsed through a brick-and-mortar store, and wished you had access to Amazon reviews?

Have you ever heard somebody talking about something and immediately fact-checked their ass with Wikipedia?

Have you ever seen something really cool, then taken a picture of it and shared it with your Cellar friends, then had them have a conversation about it by the time you got home?

Have you ever had a really difficult problem at work that you solved by Googling?

Have you ever gotten your news of the day entirely from the Cellar? Did you understand it better than when you got it from the talking heads?

glatt · 03-08-2008, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Have you ever gotten your news of the day entirely from the Cellar? Did you understand it better than when you got it from the talking heads?

Yes, absolutely. And that's often amazing to me. What's even more amazing is when I see talking heads talking about stuff that's already been covered on the Cellar, and they aren't getting huge parts of it right. The only possible explanation besides incompetence is that they are pushing their own agenda instead of seeking the truth, and it's much easier to see through their sham after visiting the Cellar.

classicman · 03-08-2008, 11:03 AM

Ditto to that, glatt. I can't stomach most of the news shows because many times they are so far behind what is happening here. For example, the guy who wrote the "Angry White Male" article was on a radio show about a week after it was written, posted and discussed (including clone threads) here on the cellar.

lumberjim · 03-08-2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint

The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers?

I for one intend to use them to say big words....like 'multiplicative'.

Cloud · 03-08-2008, 11:42 AM

I, too, am interested in this "magic." I think it's so revolutionary that we can't fathom "the road ahead." It's absofuckinglutely amazing.

SteveDallas · 03-08-2008, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint

The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers?

From an evolutionary standpoint, the answer is obvious: We will choose to use them in any way that gets us a better caliber of reproductive partner.

Cloud · 03-08-2008, 12:22 PM

I'm proud to say I'm an E-Harmony reject!

Cicero · 03-08-2008, 01:06 PM

There is a difference between say: Looking up an entry in the dictionary and actually knowing the definition. Being able to look something up does not mean we have become informed gods. If anything I think that we are giving up recalling information for quick, lazy, typing in the google bar. I love that computers have enhanced the quality of my life. I just think that we need to learn the material instead of recalling only the web address where information is stored.

We can choose to use these powers to become genius and expand on our own ideas or we can become lazier slobs that drool on ourselves and think we are clever because we can find an image or caption to fit anything and know absolutely nothing. I do it all the time.....

Let's not forget that a lot of online sources for information aren't even legit. yet. Some are..most aren't. People know that so you have to pay, usually, for real information built inside programs. We are not information gods for knowing the specific address of specious wikipedia cites. I really don't trust the quality of information I am getting. There are trusted sources and credible sources, but you also have to know enough already about the topic to know what those are, and when you are being fed a line of bs.

This society is dumbing down. This isn't power, this is the ultimate laziness. Instead of figuring things out for myself, or grabbing a credible text...I look it up first on the internet....Maybe even watch a google video on how someone else did it. That makes me an idiot that is capable of watching images and mimicry. Right now I'm relying on this spell checker to spell things I would have normally looked up, and I used to know how to spell everything. I'm becoming an idiot.

The people on the cellar, if anything good can be said about cellarites as a group, are usually at least average or above. A lot of them know things about topics before sourcing something to back it up. Remember that other people have a harder time figuring things out and what they are learning in mass is specious....

I find it interesting that someone mentioned wikipedia already in this thread for fact-checking. Wikipedia is consistently wrong about a lot of subjects, or has left very valuable information out. It's completely unreliable and we have decided as a society that it is completely legit. It's kind of like presidents...People voted it in as a socially acceptable knowledge base. I will admit that there are items I've looked up there that were helpful or there were obscure details I didn't know before that I found illuminating. But mostly it's poor quality and people eat it up.

Ok. I'm torn and I think about this topic a lot because I'm usually at a computer for 7-10 hours a day, and now I'm getting a new computer today (yeah!) for home and home office use. So we can say I'll be on the computer all the time, even while I'm watching a movie!! But I found myself trying to calculate tax this morning without the use of my books program and found out that I'm a complete idiot that has resources. Refined laziness. It's a fucking art form. My laziness is about to become even more sophisticated with my new computer. I am obviously misusing technology if I don't know things myself. (I still know some things thank god)

This is a book, I'm sorry, but I'm headed in two different extremes when it comes to this, and I don't have any real conclusion yet. You should have seen how ecstatic I was the first time I got to create an illusion of something in photoshop, now that was magic! When I got to remove an object in a photo, then patch it. I said woo-hoo!!! Magic!!! Maybe there would be more magic in real life if I weren't at this computer boring everyone.

Thanks for listening.

Undertoad · 03-08-2008, 01:18 PM

Question Wikipedia's credibility? Fine, then show me an error in it.

Should be easy huh? Just give us an URL to the offending page.

xoxoxoBruce · 03-08-2008, 01:43 PM

The smart man doesn't know everything, he knows how and where to find the correct answers. Why memorize everyone's phone number, if you know how to use a phone book?

Cicero · 03-08-2008, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Question Wikipedia's credibility? Fine, then show me an error in it.

Should be easy huh? Just give us an URL to the offending page.

This is a pretty good article.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...opic_set=(none)

You can't be patronizing and then expect that I do as you request at all. After all of my discussion about this topic you chose to extract that. Forget it.

Just feeling the magic here.

Undertoad · 03-08-2008, 02:44 PM

Fail.

03-07-2008, 11:45 PM	#1
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	What to do with all this magic? Before too long, all information that exists will be instantly available, to anybody, anywhere. You could very well argue that this has already happened. And it doesn't even sound like a big deal anymore. But think about it... Every morsel of knowledge that has ever been compiled, ever, popping up inside your head at the exact instant you need it. That is sorcery, it's omnipotence! And it's inevitable that every living person will have this ability and not think twice about it. The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers? Oh, and the other question: how will having these powers shape our evolution? __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

03-08-2008, 12:00 AM	#2
Yznhymr the crowd goes wild! Join Date: May 2007 Location: USA Posts: 663	The only question is: how will we choose to use these powers? Well, I had this power 15 seconds before you stated your question and was already bored with it. Oh, and the other question: how will having these powers shape our evolution? Except for the extra appendage and the new eye in the back of my head, I don't expect any major changes. __________________ "The pride system tends to intensify the self-hate against which it is supposed to be a defense, since any failure to live up to one's tyrannical shoulds or of the world to honor one's claims leads to feelings of worthlessness." Bernard J. Paris, Ph.D.

03-08-2008, 11:03 AM	#6
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	Ditto to that, glatt. I can't stomach most of the news shows because many times they are so far behind what is happening here. For example, the guy who wrote the "Angry White Male" article was on a radio show about a week after it was written, posted and discussed (including clone threads) here on the cellar. __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

03-08-2008, 11:42 AM	#8
Cloud ... Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 8,360	I, too, am interested in this "magic." I think it's so revolutionary that we can't fathom "the road ahead." It's absofuckinglutely amazing. __________________ "Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards!"

03-08-2008, 12:22 PM	#10
Cloud ... Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 8,360	I'm proud to say I'm an E-Harmony reject! __________________ "Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards!"

03-08-2008, 09:09 AM	#3
Trilby Slattern of the Swail Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,654	Flint is crazy.

03-08-2008, 09:21 AM	#4
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	No he's not. He's right on target. The intelligence of the human race is rising. We can more easily see what's true and what's not true, and this will have a multiplicative effect. With an iphone and the net we share the intelligence of the world at all times. It's magic nobody could have predicted. In fact the richest and one of the most computer/tech of all people on the earth wrote a book called The Road Ahead in 1994 and failed to mention the internet. Meanwhile the changes that the net brings us continue to be revolutionary. Have you ever browsed through a brick-and-mortar store, and wished you had access to Amazon reviews? Have you ever heard somebody talking about something and immediately fact-checked their ass with Wikipedia? Have you ever seen something really cool, then taken a picture of it and shared it with your Cellar friends, then had them have a conversation about it by the time you got home? Have you ever had a really difficult problem at work that you solved by Googling? Have you ever gotten your news of the day entirely from the Cellar? Did you understand it better than when you got it from the talking heads?

03-08-2008, 01:06 PM	#11
Cicero Looking forward to open mic night. Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: New Mexico Posts: 5,148	There is a difference between say: Looking up an entry in the dictionary and actually knowing the definition. Being able to look something up does not mean we have become informed gods. If anything I think that we are giving up recalling information for quick, lazy, typing in the google bar. I love that computers have enhanced the quality of my life. I just think that we need to learn the material instead of recalling only the web address where information is stored. We can choose to use these powers to become genius and expand on our own ideas or we can become lazier slobs that drool on ourselves and think we are clever because we can find an image or caption to fit anything and know absolutely nothing. I do it all the time..... Let's not forget that a lot of online sources for information aren't even legit. yet. Some are..most aren't. People know that so you have to pay, usually, for real information built inside programs. We are not information gods for knowing the specific address of specious wikipedia cites. I really don't trust the quality of information I am getting. There are trusted sources and credible sources, but you also have to know enough already about the topic to know what those are, and when you are being fed a line of bs. This society is dumbing down. This isn't power, this is the ultimate laziness. Instead of figuring things out for myself, or grabbing a credible text...I look it up first on the internet....Maybe even watch a google video on how someone else did it. That makes me an idiot that is capable of watching images and mimicry. Right now I'm relying on this spell checker to spell things I would have normally looked up, and I used to know how to spell everything. I'm becoming an idiot. The people on the cellar, if anything good can be said about cellarites as a group, are usually at least average or above. A lot of them know things about topics before sourcing something to back it up. Remember that other people have a harder time figuring things out and what they are learning in mass is specious.... I find it interesting that someone mentioned wikipedia already in this thread for fact-checking. Wikipedia is consistently wrong about a lot of subjects, or has left very valuable information out. It's completely unreliable and we have decided as a society that it is completely legit. It's kind of like presidents...People voted it in as a socially acceptable knowledge base. I will admit that there are items I've looked up there that were helpful or there were obscure details I didn't know before that I found illuminating. But mostly it's poor quality and people eat it up. Ok. I'm torn and I think about this topic a lot because I'm usually at a computer for 7-10 hours a day, and now I'm getting a new computer today (yeah!) for home and home office use. So we can say I'll be on the computer all the time, even while I'm watching a movie!! But I found myself trying to calculate tax this morning without the use of my books program and found out that I'm a complete idiot that has resources. Refined laziness. It's a fucking art form. My laziness is about to become even more sophisticated with my new computer. I am obviously misusing technology if I don't know things myself. (I still know some things thank god) This is a book, I'm sorry, but I'm headed in two different extremes when it comes to this, and I don't have any real conclusion yet. You should have seen how ecstatic I was the first time I got to create an illusion of something in photoshop, now that was magic! When I got to remove an object in a photo, then patch it. I said woo-hoo!!! Magic!!! Maybe there would be more magic in real life if I weren't at this computer boring everyone. Thanks for listening. __________________ Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.- Carl Jung

03-08-2008, 01:18 PM	#12
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Question Wikipedia's credibility? Fine, then show me an error in it. Should be easy huh? Just give us an URL to the offending page.

03-08-2008, 01:43 PM	#13
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	The smart man doesn't know everything, he knows how and where to find the correct answers. Why memorize everyone's phone number, if you know how to use a phone book? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

03-08-2008, 02:44 PM	#15
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Fail.

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