The Zeitgeist of the Information Age

The article “Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic Engagement” talks about the new possibilities and ways of having one’s voice heard that arise from internet tools such as wikis and blogs. We humans always had the need to express our views on society, morality, politics, and perspective on life. In the beginning, the best we could do was to find a crowd, stand next to other self-proclaimed prophets and start shouting away, hoping that someone will listen. Things had gotten a little better after the invention of the Gutenberg press, but ultimately, expressing oneself was never as easy as it is today, thanks to all the internet-based tools we have at our disposal. It is quite amazing that today we can have our voice heard around the globe without even getting up from our chairs, in the comfy surroundings of our bedrooms.

Brian unwittingly became a very successful prophet.

Tools such as wikis or blogs (hello!) make it possible for the average Joe to concentrate on the content of what they want to say, without having to worry too much about the technicalities related to online publishing, namely things like knowing html or maintaining a server. The removal of these barriers means that just about anyone can say what they think needs to be said and the floodgates of information are now open. The internet can become a global think-tank.

Of course this also means that any loony can make a blog and write about his or her tinfoil hats, but even the most reputable sources can be wrong sometimes, and the sheer numbers of online information mean that finding second, third or tenth opinions is easy and highly advisable. The internet is a place where the democracy of truth prevails, Wikipedia being the perfect example of this phenomenon. However, it’s also important to remember, and this may somewhat contradict what I said before, that the quality of the form that the message takes on is also of utmost importance. Consider the “Zeitgeist” video. The entire two-hour documentary is made by one man, Peter Joseph, who most likely sat at home, working on it every night after work. Its near professional quality makes it very accessible and viewer-friendly, which no doubt had impact on its immense popularity. The way it uses flashy visual effects and ambient meditation music serves as an excellent distraction from the fact that the video largely consists of conspiracy theories and misrepresented facts. Admittedly, the video is extremely convincing: I had fallen for it myself, until I researched it. Surely, if the content of “Zeitgeist” had been limited to a small website, it wouldn’t have have anywhere near the impact that it did. I can certainly that it’s unlikely that I would spend two hours of my time absorbing the information from such a website. You can watch “Zeitgeist” here.

As much as "Zeitgeist" sparked a lot of controversy, it also amassed a remarkable following.

It used to be that only major organizations had the funds to create products of “Zeitgeist” quality. Ironically, even then we trusted them more than the information found on personal websites.

When I was taking a quantum physics class in college, the teacher showed us a movie called “What the Bleep do We Know!?”. It was very flashy and it included a dramatic story with plenty of CGI effects. Teacher intended to use it as an explanation of the laws that govern the quantum world. The whole endeveaur became somewhat embarassing when we found out that the movie was founded by a religious sect that uses quantum mechanics the same way Scientology uses aliens to explain their doctrine.  Nearly all of the scientists interviewed in the movie were members of this sect and a number of ‘facts’ and ‘experiments’ described in the film were proven fallacious by the impartial scientific community.

Now that everyone can make movies like “Zeitgeist” or “What the Bleep do We Know!?”, perhaps people will throw caution into the wind more often while watching them. At the same time, the fact that making these films is so easy now will hopefully mean that we will have a chance to hear some strikingly valid points and unbiased statistics, that we otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to encounter.

By the way, here’s a trailer for “What the Bleep do We Know!?”, in case you’re interested:

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