Searcher's Internet, Feeder's Internet

I think it is useful to draw a distinction between a

searcher’s internet and a feeder's internet. I thought

about calling the latter a “consumer’s internet” but

1) I like it sounding close to “bottom feeder” and

2) information isn’t really “consumed” in the sense that it

is used up. Think of that lovely quote by Jefferson:

>He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction

>himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his

>taper [candle] at mine, receives light without darkening

>me.

Furthermore, if we spend our time and energy propagating

ideas, we wouldn't spend as much of our money on other

things. And we would use less resources.

This is the core basis of any optimistic scenario I see for

humanity -- for all the ways corruption and wealth

concentration works against human welfare there seems to be

another force at play, offering potentially exponential

increases in our understanding, the stuff of Buckminster

Fuller's dreams and pronouncements. This force is our

hope, whereas greed and habits of domination are the

threats to all but the smallest sliver of elites.

When I come to the internet to answer some question of

mine, making for a searcher's internet, I almost always

discover interesting new things, including some of the

best websites. I also feel more alive. However, when I

spend my time with the bottom feeding internet, that

lovely web 2.0/anti-social media churning item after item

down the anxiety-fraught zombie slot machine, I almost

never open up new paths. And I almost always feel less

alive than when I started.

There are some interesting people on, say, twitter, but

either they use it one-sidedly, or they have a much

stronger sense of self than I do. But even admitting that,

I can never find a way to effectively filter for quality

with anti-social media. No matter what I do, I get too

much of what I don't need, including a lot of things I

*really* don't need.

Since I started developing these thoughts and then used

them to change my information diet, I have become much

happier with the internet, and my world has become a much

more interesting place.

===

I'd love to hear from people. My email is the handle minus

"net" (work by Voltaire that starts with "c"), at sdf.org.