I just had a chance to go more into the subject of “cognitive surplus” or world’s collective mind – the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles — that Mark talked about in “managing creativity and innovation”. I have to confess; I was amazed by the statistics and data that “Clay Shirky” provided on his talks.
The raw material of “cognitive surplus” is the world’s people, their connections, and the their free time. Just think about 200 billion hours of watching television, only by Americans – never mind the rest of the world – and then think of Wikipedia, can you imagine that a for huge project like Wikipedia just around 100 million hours of human thought has been spent? Someone has visualized these two figures, and look at the result!
Isn’t that amazing?
And then there is even more! People spend roughly a hundred million hours every weekend just watching commercials. Our free time can now be considered as a social asset, so it now can be used collectively for large community projects. And to harness the cognitive surplus, no fancy equipment are necessary, just a simple phone can be enough! Our media environment, which is the connective tissue, has shifted. Social media is now ruling the world, and will yet become more powerful. Voluntary public participation has become enormous, spread all around the globe. What matters most now is our imaginations.
The world’s population will keep on growing, as the technology will continue to advance. The opportunity is massive: any idea, project, or social media that would engage public creativity and participation, could benefit from the huge cognitive surplus. We all are part of that spare brainpower in the world’s collective mind. The question is, how would we be harnessed?
p.s. the book is available from Amazon, at a very affordable price 🙂
Ati 