Web 2.0: A Tower of Babel?

Andrew Keen summarizes the main theme of his most recent critique of web 2.0:

The cult of the amateur is digital utopianisn's most seductive delusion. This cult promises that the latest media technology – in the form of blogs, wikis and podcasts – will enable everyone to become widely read writers, journalists, movie directors and music artists. It suggests, mistakenly, that everyone has something interesting to say.

A little harsh considering he himself owes his livelihood entirely to web 2.0 technologies. In fact, he helped devise them!

That said, Keen’s comments do hold a kernel of truth. If we are not careful, if there is no natural Darwinistic selection process available, we run the risk of collapsing, like the biblical story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. When the edifice built up to glorify humanity’s achievements but confused by the multiplicity of a single voice, it is doomed to collapse.

An interesting parallel …


Reference:

Keen, Andrew. 2007. The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture. Doubleday Business.

Image:

Brueghel, Pieter, the Elder. The "Little" Tower of Babel. Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, c. 1563.