Lots of people think that web-based collective information is the wave of the future. But according to Jason Lanier, "that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise, that it is desirable to have influence concentrated in a bottleneck that can channel the collective with the most verity and force. This is different from representative democracy, or meritocracy. This idea has had dreadful consequences when thrust upon us from the extreme Right or the extreme Left in various historical periods. The fact that it's now being re-introduced today by prominent technologists and futurists, people who in many cases I know and like, doesn't make it any less dangerous."
Read the whole thing (and responses) here:
DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism
By Jaron Lanier
Thanks to Monty Zach for pointing out the article.
...and is this an example of such technocratic zealotry?
"The Industrial Age model of education, with its teacher-directed, lecture-based system, is obsolete. A new system is required for education, a system that allows all individuals to meet their unique learning requirements."
Read the whole article and make up your own mind: The Future of Higher Education by Morton Egol.
