Cognitive Surplus and Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008

I ran into this talk today via a post at crowdsourcing.com and was reminded of how powerful Clay’s thoughts were the first time I saw them during the Web 2.0 Expo.

According to Clay, the equivalent man power of 2,000 wikipedias a year is spent watching TV. This ‘cognitive surplus’ – an extension of human boredom – is transitioning into increased engagement via the web and related technologies.

David Cohn

порно ракам

, a guest author at crowdsourcing.com, has some great insights regarding surplus time and how it can potentially be applied to greater ends than boredom. I’m also super interested in his project Spot.us – crowdfunded citizen journalism – more on that later as I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon since the seredipity of the web brought it to my attention.

Like David, I’ve seen the change away from passive consumption of entertainment first hand in my own father’s post-work routine; where he used to come home and camp in front of the TV to unwind, much of that time is now spent behind the computer and, even if it’s now spent watching YouTube, is unquestionably more engaged. I’ve even gotten rid of my cable box and connected a computer to the TV.