The Future of Kool-Aid

Yeah, I read the New York Times. More precisely, I cherry pick the web site for articles with interesting tags and read the paper edition when a neighbor in the building leaves it out in a common library by the lobby desk. (thanks Mme.) David Brooks, a twice weekly political columnist, has written an article, The Crossroads Nation, that distills my unease with showbiz media while ostensibly addressing something completely different. Brooks bashing has become something of a de rigueur amusement, but the look on his face when someone disagrees with his “eminently reasonable” chattering class shtick is priceless. In order to have my fun, I’m going to quote short bits, but you can read the whole at the link above.

...They are vague because nobody is clear about what sort of country America is going to be in 2030 or 2050. Nobody has quite defined America’s coming economic identity.

• Vague; this from a journalist that can sum up three thousand years of human history as stuff leading to David's world. (along with some not-too-subtle name dropping) We're in the midst of a logarithmic increase of technical knowledge, coupled with the rise of a very old fashioned oligarchy, officials on both sides of the aisle raiding the cookie jar while prattling about exceptionalism, and the Times' columnist is selling a fluff piece about the future while shaking his well manicured finger at the people doing the work. Jeez, the view from his leather couch must be swell.

Years ago, it was industrial production. Now, of course, we’re living in an information age.

• Information age; this is the roi des rats of the current sales pitch. To touch on one aspect, our current monetary crisis has a great deal to do with the misapplication of information age conceits. At its root, money is a game marker for trade. I tend and grow a bushel of carrots. You build toys for kids. We trade said carrots for a stuffed doll. Got it. Money works because now I can trade more carrots to someone else, take the marker and buy a dress to go with the doll. (assuming everyone agrees to regard the marker as legit) Got it. Now, in our brave new age, we have theorized the game markers into information about game markers. All sorts of interesting possibilities open up. American industry has metamorphosed into financial sporting houses where you get to purchase the chance to roll virtual house dice on the destination of an information flow, no carrots or stuffed dolls required. E-mail a bit of information to the friendly banker, and they’ll commoditize your debt, tranche it and ship you a chance to roll on your virtual dinner in the bargain. Works fine as long as everyone agrees that information about the markers is as good as a bushel of carrots. If not, no dinner for you. Mr. Brooks and his class expend a great deal of energy on this particular house of cards because, well, it doesn’t appear he‘d make a very good farmer.

...The main point in this composite story is that creativity is not a solitary process. It happens within networks.

• Networks seem like such a comfortable thing. We can get the gang together and put on a show. In fact, creativity is a solitary process. It happens individually in a concrete place and time. What happens in networks, is the original ideation has its common denominator polished, its uniqueness hidden, a percentage pulled by the network’s owner, the proper advertisements attached, and anything that might upset the powers that be is dealt with tout de suite. Pace: David’s writing

...this new situation: “In a networked world, the issue is no longer relative power, but centrality in an increasingly dense global web.”

• Dave, buddy, let’s do this together. Network - no center. That’s what the word means. Your imported leather couch, winning smile, and latest software constitute a node. Try thinking a bit before hitting the cliché key.

..If you are passionate about fashion, maybe you will go to Paris. If it’s engineering, maybe it’ll be Germany.

• Here lies the crux of my dissatisfaction with Mr. Brooks style of moonbeam sales. I’m talking about people, he’s talking about interchangeable consumption units. He can fly his bubble from interchangeable place to another same place, avoiding any flavors or smells or those nasty rough edges. In Mr. Brooks world, camera operators appear, record his ruminations, and like good hookers, go away. Food appears on his plate without the mediation of fields, manure, or some guy in a truck. Big picture writing without those bothersome details, that’s why he’s on the opinion page. Class, position, and influence are his currency, not being centered in a place and time is what he used to buy in.