Web 2.0 = communism?
Remember the bad old days when we saw communists under every rock? They're back.
... the Web 2.0 movement ... fuses '60s radicalism with the utopian eschatology of digital technology. The ideological outcome may be trouble for all of us. ...The consequences of Web 2.0 are inherently dangerous for the vitality of culture and the arts. Its empowering promises play upon that legacy of the '60s--the creeping narcissism that Christopher Lasch described so presciently, with its obsessive focus on the realization of the self.
Another word for narcissism is "personalization." Web 2.0 technology personalizes culture so that it reflects ourselves rather than the world around us. Blogs personalize media content so that all we read are our own thoughts. Online stores personalize our preferences, thus feeding back to us our own taste. Google personalizes searches so that all we see are advertisements for products and services we already use.
Instead of Mozart, Van Gogh, or Hitchcock, all we get with the Web 2.0 revolution is more of ourselves.
To which I think the most appropriate response is: Huh??
More specifically, Keen seems to think that in a Web 2.0 world there would be, to use his example, no more Bonos. But as someone who actually spent years in various facets of the music bidness, I can assure Keen, and you, that the emergence of a Bono from that bidness is not much more than happy accident. Moreover, what of the musician who does not aspire to Bonohood (in either creative or economic terms) but would simply like to be able to make a decent living doing what she loves while maintaining control of both her art and her career? That's still a tough row to hoe, but prior to the Web it was pretty much impossible. And the comparison applies to any number of other artistic and/or entrepreneurial endeavors, as well.
Keen can't knock the Web on its merits, so he creates a straw man. And while he's knocking that straw man down and screaming about how noble it is to do so, people who get it will go merrily on their way.
