Smart and juvenile (day 230)

I finished the Jaron book.  He finished off with a discussion of how neoteny is the reason we are so smart and juvenile all at the same time, and a discussion of post-symbolic communication in virtual worlds.  Yes the book takes a turn away from a critique and toward an exploration of the pleasures of morphing, concrete communication, and the development of language.   In the end what I retain from the book is his belief that there is no need to elevate technology to the level of humans or debase humans to the level of technology.  There is no philosophy that will fit all the ways in which we need to think about these things and the important thing is not to get trapped.  I appreciate the way he discussed his research at the end of the book.  There was something really sweet about it.  Like a kid really enjoying the space to think about what is possible still.

I wonder what it would be like to tune out of web 2.0 for an extended period of time.  What would I miss?  What would be richer?  What if the whole world had to take a 2.0 break for a month?  What does that feel like?  Is it like the silence you hear when the electricity goes off and nothing is buzzing anymore?  Or is it the silence that makes your foot wiggle and makes you run to the nearest pub?  For me, the thought of the world tuning out from 2.0  brings the most insight about the true value of what has been created through it.

Now I have to find my next book.

A song for this post.