Is Flickr humanity’s visual cortex?
From Stuart Hughes via Doc:
You probably didn’t notice, but a minor revolution took place in British journalism yesterday. The story at the centre of the storm was mediocre to say the least — the collapse of 14 stories of scaffolding in Milton Keynes.
What was revolutionary was the way the audience responded to the event. Within minutes of the collapse, the BBC had received some 600 photos e-mailed by eye-witnesses. Some were put on air immediately, long before the “real” reporters and satellite trucks arrived.
Are ordinary people armed with the increasingly ubiquitous 3g cameraphone/pda/etc. effectively becoming intelligent agents dispersed across the globe? Feeding sensory input back constantly in real time to the collective human organism’s brain…
Are we all just smartdust of a greater emergent system?
Is Flickr humanity’s new visual cortex?
Is del.icio.us our memory?
Is this the vision that Kansas had in mind when they released this classic track in 1978? (the song just flowed better if the ’smart’ was silent…)
“(smart?) Dust in the Wind”
I close my eyes
Only for a moment, then the moment’s gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind
Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind, ohh Now, don’t hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
Ok so maybe not relevant but a great song nonetheless!
