Someone clever said “If you gave 10 000 monkeys Unlimited of time, paper and ink they would eventually come up with Shakespeare.” More or less this is how internet works today.

Websites such as IMDB and wikipedia that pretty much is run and edited by its audience and the wisdom of the many have triumphed over the few and mighty, Carl Marx is cheering in his grave. But is it all good that everyone can contribute without some form of censorship?

As in the Article by Harrison Hoffman “When the ‘wisdom of crowds’ turns on itself: IMDB edition” he points out that the man in large numbers pretty much functions as one being. A rather simple minded being with few thoughts of other its own. Like how Dark knight could topple the Shawshank Redemtion and the Godfather just because fans of Batman thought it where the flavor of the day. But the weakness of this kind of mob mentality is that they got no perseverance at all. If you look at imdb today you see that order have triumphed and Shawshank Redemption lies at the first place and followed by Coppolas masterpiece The godfather, And dark knight is on a unworthy ninth place.

But is the mob mentality all bad you may ask? No I don’t think it is. With a common thirst for knowledge and truth have resulted in great thing. Wikipedia is one of those things, edited by its own audience and ever growing. Its fascinating to see how that if enough people collaborates they can form a near exact encyclopedia that is more massive then any other of its kind in the history of man. (Well maybe the scrolls of babylon where bigger but they burned up so they cant count)

The internet isn’t a one man information revolution its a world speaking in one voice together and to be heard by all with a computer. Lev Grossman made us all the man of the year 2006 in his article “Time’s Person of the Year: You” And its quite a remarkable thing we have made over the years.

Its not by all means a perfect world and the people of the internet can be very daft and they forget time after time that thinking by yourself is probably the best thing. But despite all of its faults the internet is a perfect example that 10 000 monkeys can write Shakespeare if you just have the patience to let them correct their mistakes.

]]> http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/10-000-monkeys/feed/ 2 arca0900 monkey-on-computer http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/morals-on-the-verge/ http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/morals-on-the-verge/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:20:25 +0000 arca0900 http://arca0900.wordpress.com/?p=21 ]]>

Todays hot topic is illegal downloading and we have a full on war between the the people that are against it and praise it. Both sides have valid points, sure. The question is where do you stand in the end when things goes really out of hand?

I will not be a hypocrite yes I download and do it without guilt. I try to not defend it and for the most part I buy the music/film after a while if it was any good. From the beginning it was kinda a middle finger to the evil Music/record companies but nowadays I wonder. I do not consider myself to be one of the followers of the new generation of teens that think that to get the latest movies/music for free is a political matter. I mean damn! Its not that hard to figure out that you cannot keep using other peoples work without contributing our capitalistic world does not work that way.

But then again you cant stop progress and our laws of copyright is put of date to the new technologies. Few attempts have been done to reach a middle ground like Spotify. But I honestly whack myself with a hammer before I let that little squirt Darin talk between my songs.

As you may se I am split in this subject and stand somewhere in the gray zone both sides have valid points but then again both sides have real douche bags to. And I think the laws of copyrights must change to fit the world of this internet I keep hearing about. But the attitude of all the little punks out there that think downloading without buying the actual movie is a crime without a victim is wrong.

The scary thing is the legal actions that has been taken to stop the illegal downloading. The swedish government gave us the FRA. The idea was if the state could monitor everything we do on the internet without constraints then the problem should have been fixed, right?This is exactly what they shouldn’t done! Instead of meting the problem with a real solution or at least open the issue to discuss. Instead they have incriminated a whole generation and made the gap between government and downloaders miles wider. I smell the steps towards a swedish version of CCTV and that is not a pleasant thought.

The middle ground haven’t truly been reached yet and I am very interested of what the future hold for us.

I hate winter, like really hate winter with a passion. Sometimes I wonder why people decided to live here in the first place. Its pitch black here for 6 months and colder then a well-digger´s ass when you get up in the morning…dark, when you leave work/school…dark. The sun is only a memory in the end and you hear the stories that somewhere behind all that white/grey mishmash in the sky it is a sun. That sickly pale white light (from the so called sun) that we got to enjoy for glorious two hours per day (hours we most likely are stuck in some building) isn’t enough! And they wonder why Swedes are so pale and depressed. Of course we are down in our shoes when we spend half of our life in this Cold and moist pitt that we call a “climate”.

November is the worst month of them all its not fall and its not winter, its the malign bastard son of the two. Tom waits said it best in his song “November” I will finish my whiney misery speech now with his lyrics from November.

No shadow
No stars
No moon
No care
November
It only believes
In a pile of dead leaves
And a moon
That’s the color of bone
No prayers for November
To linger longer
Stick your spoon in the wall
We’ll slaughter them all
November has tied me
To an old dead tree
Get word to April
To rescue me
November’s cold chain
Made of wet boots and rain
And shiny black ravens
On chimney smoke lanes
November seems odd
You’re my firing squad
November
With my hair slicked back
With carrion shellac
With the blood from a pheasant
And the bone from a hare
Tied to the branches
Of a roebuck stag
Left to wave in the timber
Like a buck shot flag
Go away you rainsnout
Go away, blow your brains out
November

]]> http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/17/feed/ 4 arca0900 http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/the-triumph-of-the-nerds-rise-of-an-accidental-empire/ http://arca0900.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/the-triumph-of-the-nerds-rise-of-an-accidental-empire/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:52:12 +0000 arca0900 http://arca0900.wordpress.com/?p=12 ]]>

Ok to be clear from the beginning I found this documentary interesting even though its had that really cheesy host but it was made in 96 so thats goes without saying. And its fun to get to get a glimpse of when a really small nerd invention becomes a humongous world changing industry.

But the thing that really bugged me was the never ending bragging. “We just made it for fun and just happened to become multi millionaires” There was something so very smug about them when they time after time they made it seem that things just happened and money just fell on their lapp. I don’t buy this, you don’t become this successful whiteout an agenda. And to be claiming this is just an insult to the audience.

But as I said I liked it in the end The story is incredible! (even though I don’t believe it) It is a true underdog story and everybody loves when the lovable pathetic nerd takes home the big buck and build an empire of nothing but a box with switches and flashing lights. The nerds did the American dream possible and where at the right place at the right time with tons of useless knowledge. And what would seem unlimited amount of spare time. I cant but feel a little bit jealous over their sucess.

Now I must hurry off too air lunchradio at Radiok where we will talk about Fuzz/stoner rock for about 45 minutes. Extremely busy day today, hope yours is better.