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The Evolution From Linear Thought To Networked Thought - Publ...

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Saved by 9 people (-4 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-02-11


Public Sticky notes

was thinking last night about books and why I don’t read them anyone — I was a lit major in college, and used to be voracious book reader. What happened?

I was also thinking about the panel I organized for the O’Reilly TOC conference on Blogs as Books, Books as Blogs — do I do all my reading online because I like blogs better than books now? That doesn’t seem meaningful on the face of it.

Highlighted by wroush

I was thinking last night about books and why I don’t read them anyone

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

there’s something about the print vs. online dialectic that always seemed superficial to me.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

Books are linear and foster concentration and focus, while the web, with all its hyperlinks, is kinetic, scattered, all over the place.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

If I’m such a digital guy, then why do I have no interest in ebooks?

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

We still retain an 18th Century bias towards linear thought.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

on 2008-04-02 by bibliothecaire

Why 18th Century? Non-linear reading and in consequence praise for linear reading vs non-linear is way older. See Illich about monastic vs scholastic reading.

When I read online, I constantly follow links from one item to the next, often forgetting where I started. Sometimes I backtrack to one content “node” and jump off in different directions. There are nodes that I come back to repeatedly, like TechMeme and Google, only to start down new branches of the network.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

Is there such a thing as networked human thought? Certain there is among a group of people enabled by a network — but what about for an individual, processing information via the web’s network?

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

online reading has a very important negative result:
lack of concentration.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

Before reading, people networked to obtain and validate information.

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The real question is how we manage the change from linear cognition to non-linear cognition.

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Are we going to recognize that this is an evolution in human consciousness and start valuing the types of effects that non-linear thought processes elicit? OR will we treat this as a plague to be eradicated and spend untold sums of money and energy trying to kill off the next great leap in human development?

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

I don’t feel a lack of concentration while reading/absorbing info in this way - if anything I feel it’s easier to concentrate for me. Isn’t that weird? Maybe it’s because I’m following my own train of thought (in the sense that I’m determining the narrative by deciding where to go next) rather than someone else’s?

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

When I do read fiction I find that I can’t put it down until I have read the whole story.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire

No fiction at all.

Highlighted by bibliothecaire