February 13th, 2006

Rebooting My Brain

by Scott Karp

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I can’t believe that whole ridiculous discussion about gatekeepers (in which I was a ridiculous participant) is still at the top of tech.memeorandum. Umair was right:

Ever since I’ve started using [memeorandum] to the point where it replaces many of my other sources, I have gotten stupider.

I can feel it – I don’t think as fast, flexibly, or freely.

This is a well-known phenomenon in psych and econ – I’ve been locking myself into a diet of reinforcing information. Nothing really challenges my beliefs, and so I get hyperpolarized, or echo-chambered, sure – but the deeper effect is that I also get stupid, fast.

I need to reboot my brain — I’m swearing off blogging about blogging, tech.memeorandum and the whole echo chamber thing (at least for a week — that’s step 1 in the 15-step program). I can’t promise I’ll be more insightful as a result, but at least I’ll be talking about something else.

UPDATE
I’m hopping off the wagon long enough to point to this New York Magazine article on The Blog Establishment, which gives a mainstream treatment to all of our navel-gazing.

UPDATE #2
I can’t believe linking to that New York article generated a link to this dopey post on tech.memeorandum — how suitably ironic. But that’s it! Don’t try to tempt me — I’m back on the wagon. Click on Publishing 2.0 in the header above and read my most recent posts (more to come) –> no temptation! Not one drop!

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  • You won't be able to resist, Scott. The moment I saw your reboot post earlier today, I thought.... oh no, abstinence will never work. The self-introspective, self-aware whirlpool isn't over. Then I came back and saw your "UPDATE!" news flash about the NY Mag article. Couldn't resist, huh? :-)

    I did my part by NOT reacting to anything for once and posting a picture of a cuttlefish. But then I wrote this comment. -sigh-

    C'mon though. Isn't the whole PROCESS interesting? Isn't it worth discussing? For all the beating-a-dead-horse feelings about the blogosphere and the A-list, I'm not sure anybody understands any of it well enough to make predictions yet. So, if you have a lapse, I'll forgive you. In fact, I look forward to it.
  • It's a powerful drug, though, isn't it Scott? How long between your initial post and when you fell off the wagon -- 10 minutes? An hour?
  • Paul and Seth, I'd respond to you, but I'm determined not to fall off the wagon.
  • Step 1? That's

    "We admitted we were powerless over [the A-list?] - that our lives had become unmanageable."

    "The fact is that most [bloggers], for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in [l]ink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically non-existent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first [l]ink."

    I'm not sure that's what you intended, but it does seem apropos.
    (no offense meant to anyone who really participates in these programs)
  • ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
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