Blog 4: Clay Shirky "How Cognitive Surplus Will Change the World" TED Talk

In Clay Shirky’s TED Talk “How Cognitive Surplus Will Change the World,” he explains that cognitive surplus will change the world because the world has one trillion hours of free time and that time is now being devoted to creating civic value through cognitive surplus. Shirky describes cognitive surplus through the example of the lawyer Ory Okolloh, in Kenya. Okolloh began blogging, on her website, Kenyan Pundit, about the violence that occurred after disputed elections. Soon there after the government imposed a media blackout. Okolloh’s blog went from being commentary “to a critical part of the media in trying to understand where the violence was” (Shirky). Two programmers who had read her blog offered to help her publish information that was coming in through the comments and in seventy-two hours they created Ushahidi. Ushahidi takes reports from the field and then publishes and makes that information known to the world. Shirky describes this as cognitive surplus: “It represents the ability of the world’s population to volunteer to contribute and collaborate on large, sometimes global projects” (Shirky). Through cognitive surplus, Shirky believes the world can collaborate and change in a positive manner.

Clay Shirky’s TED Talk was successful due to his effective speaking techniques such as hand movements, different voice inflections, and engaging visuals. Throughout his speech, Shirky constantly gesticulated. At some points there was too much hand movement, but overall it was very effective in helping visualize and get his point across to the audience. Shirky also utilized many different voice inflections. Sometimes his voice would be high, sometimes low and quiet. His different tones of voice helped the audience and viewers know what was more important and what was just extra details. The different voice inflections also prevented the speech from becoming too monotone and kept the audience from zoning out. Finally, Shirky had many engaging and supportive visuals. Shirky’s visuals always related to the example that he was talking about. When talking about the LOLcats, he had pictures of the LOLcats to help visualize what he was describing and back up his point. Clay Shirky’s gesticulations, voice inflections, and visuals all coming together  culminated in a very informative and outstanding speech.

Clay Shirky in “How Cognitive Surplus Will Change the World,” correctly depicts why cognitive surplus will change the world because now people are having more activities to do and things to create during their free time. Shirky informs that in one year, “the world has over a trillion hours a year of free time to commit to shared projects” (Shirky). According to Shirky, in the past, “people weren’t couch potatoes because we liked to be. We were couch potatoes because that was the only opportunity given to us” (Shirky). The twenty first century has been a century encapsulated by technology and the social media created from that. However, the twenty first century has also been a time of emergence of the third Drive, according to author Dan Pink. Pink describes the third drive as being a type of motivation where people are motivated by self will and the want to improve at something purely out of enjoyment. This motivation is known as intrinsic motivation. When it is added up, free time + intrinsic motivation + creativity= cognitive surplus changing the world. The key variable of the equation to create a change in the world because of cognitive surplus is creativity. In his TED Talk “How Schools Kill Creativity,” Sir Ken Robinson describes how schools are educating kids out of creativity. If children are not allowed to be creative during the eight hours they spend in school, then they must save that for their free time. According to Pink, in a world where society is coming upon the Conceptual Age, creativity is becoming just as important as being literate (Robinson). The second vital part is intrinsic motivation. People will always have free time, but if they are not intrinsically motivated to do something productive, then they will continue to sit in front of the television. Cognitive surplus is dependent on intrinsic motivation. To have civic or even communal value, people have to be willing to put an effort into something that will not give them a reward such as money. And thus, through adding free time, intrinsic motivation, and creativity together, something such as Kony2012 can be created and brought to the eye of the public. The Kony2012 video portrayed Joseph Kony, central African warlord, and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) committing atrocities such as raping young girls and making boys join the resistance. Over ten days, the thirty minute video received over 75 million views and the hashtag, #kony2012, had been tweeted over half a million times (Chaput). The Kony2012 video was produced by a group called the Invisible Children who try to bring public attention to conflicts and help create action to solve the situation. Kony2012 is a form of civic value because it is a type of cognitive surplus in which society benefits and can change the world based off its creation. If not for the creativity of the video, the intrinsic motivation of the Invisible Children, and lots of free time, Kony would not have been exposed to the public eye. On the opposite hand, the creation of LOLcats is a form of communal value. In order to create the LOLcats meme someone had to have lots of free time and a bout of creativity to produce this hilarious and adorable meme. In his speech, Shirky describes LOLcats as “the stupidest possible creative act...but here’s the thing: the stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act” (Shirky). This perfectly outlines the reason why cognitive surplus will change the world. Although LOLcats could be argued to be one of the stupidest creations ever, it is nonetheless a creative act. And this creative act could lead to more creative acts causing a chain reaction of cognitive surplus around the world. Each new creation derives off of a previous invention and it is never ending now that people have become intrinsically motivated and want to spend their free time being creators. Wikipedia is a prime example of the ideal product of blending the third drive and free time together. On January 15, 2001 Wikipedia was formally launched and gave rise to a theory now known as cognitive surplus. With the use of technology in daily lives increasing, people now had ways to contribute to activities during their free time. Technology, free time, and intrinsic motivation all decided to get together and have a baby and they named it Wikipedia. Wikipedia was based off the idea that all different types of people should be able to contribute their perspective and knowledge on an issue into one big ‘pool’ of knowledge. The only catch was that none of the contributors would be paid. These contributors would be making contributions based on the sole fact that their motivation was self motivation and not by money or some other reward. In one of the most primitive, modern day examples of civic valued, cognitive surplus, Wikipedia has become a  landmark for all cognitive surplus creations to follow. The increasing presence of technology, free time, intrinsic motivation and creativity help fuel the fire of changing the world through cognitive surplus.

Works Cited

Chai, Barbara. "How to Stay Motivated-- and Get That Bonus." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 31 Dec. 2009. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704152804574628230428869074>.

Chaput, Luke. "Our Online Wiki Guide Won't Be the New Kony 2012 – but It Doesn't Need to Be." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2012/mar/14/online-wiki-kony-2012-be>.

"Cognitive Surplus." Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary, 25 May 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cognitive%20surplus>.

Greenblatt, Alan. "Joseph Kony Is Back In The News. Do Teenagers Still Care?" NPR. NPR, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/03/25/294315138/joseph-kony-is-back-in-the-news-do-teenagers-still-care>.

Invisible Children. "About." Invisible Children About Comments. 5ifty&5ifty, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://invisiblechildren.com/about/>.

Robinson, Sir Ken. "How Schools Kill Creativity." TED.com. TED Conferences, Feb. 2006. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity>.

Shirky, Clay. "How Cognitive Surplus Will Change the World." TED.com. TED Conferences, June 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world>.

Wikipedia. "History of Wikipedia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia>.

Wired Magazine. "Cognitive Surplus: The Great Spare-Time Revolution | Magazine | WIRED." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 22 May 0010. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. <http://www.wired.com/2010/05/ff_pink_shirky/2/>.