Secrets of the City

If you’ve never seen EPIC before, check it out. Not only did it get a ton of meta-media coverage and about 157 billion blog links (I’m estimating), but it also made my life hell when random media execs would see it and completely miss the point.

i’ve seen some sad responses to EPIC too…

can’t wait to meet Matt one of these fyne days.

Thanks very much, Rex. And yes, I am embarrassed. And Chuck, I look forward to meeting you also. Will you be at next week’s Blogumentary screening at Bryant-Lake Bowl? ‘Cause I’m planning to.

why, why yes I will be at next week’s Blogumentary screening at Bryant-Lake Bowl. see you there!

Chuck, i’m curious to hear more about the “sad responses” — do you have any examples?

And Rex what were the execs responses when they missed the point (or maybe, what point did they miss)?

I’m genuinely interested, in case is sounds like I’m being – to use Rex’s favorite word – snarky.

I’ve heard several interpretations that are basically loony conclusions. But the most common one is “Google is evil.” And not even the kind of evil you’re thinking — more like, “Google wants a share in our revenue, and that’s evil.”

The problem is if you end up with an exec who thinks that, then that person no longer wants to work with Google. They’ll indiscriminately say things like “let’s remove ourselves from their search index.” Ugh. This would be like killing yourself because your girlfriend bought you a new car, but you’re worried she’s going to run you over with it.

Of course, there is a “media domination” subtext to the movie (and I like the subtle notion that “we’re just getting what we asked for” — nothing is inflicted on us), but basically, I think some people read the film too literally — I don’t think it’s a prognostication of what actually will happen, but more imagining some of the implications of our age.

I suppose we cant blame those execs, they’re just looking out for their 401k . . .

It seems to me that we rarely gain knowledge from the barge of information we receive on a daily basis; mostly we use this information to order and define our world. In this internet/wiki/blog land, we dont so much as share ideas or knowledge as broadcast our definitions and perceptions of the things around us  which are subtly different things. From there we consciously and subconsciously filter the information that already fits with our worldview; some are interested in broadening that worldview, some are adamantly opposed to it. So the idea the EPIC piece is envisioning has already happened, and technology is only magnifying it.

As Neil Postman said in 1990 (a fairly provocative and debatable piece, but very interesting that it is 15 years old), we have so much information that we are lost in it and somewhat paralyzed by it. We each have such a precise, individualized definition of the world, that we have trouble making sense of our lives because we cannot relate to one another.

So what this all means is it’s Friday and Ive had too much coffee. By the way, how did you know about my girlfriends new car?

i guess i killed that conversation