Joe Bunting

Kevin Kelly’s a Scenius

Well, that’s only half true.  He isn’t a scenius, but his blog certainly is.

Kevin Kelly is awesome.  He helped found Wired magazine and was it’s Executive Editor for years.  He’s written for New York Times, The Economist, Time, Harpers, Science, GQ, and Esquire. He’s written books, started several other magazines, and has published his own photography too.  On top of that, he never went to college (nope, never).  Instead, he went and took pictures in Asia.

I read Kelly’s The Technium, a quasi-blog in search of “the meaning of technology.”  His search is similar to the search of the Amish.  The Amish’s view of technology is often misunderstood.  Wikipedia says, “The Amish do not view technology as evil, and individuals may petition for acceptance of a particular technology in the local community.” 

For example, they often have telephone booths in their communities, and some groups generate their own electricity with windmills to run their workshops. They do not accept technology blindly though.  Cellphones, for example, are being debated about within some groups right now.  The question they ask is, is the cellphone beneficial or detrimental to our community.  If the benefits to the greater community outweigh the detriments, they might choose to accept the new technology.  The test, though, is community.

Kevin Kelly’s search is similar.  For example, on June 11 he tested Google.  Does Google make us smarter?  In other words, is Google good for you or bad?

The day before, June 10, he wrote about community genius, the genius of a scene.  Scenius.  He talked about Camp 4, a mountain climbing scene that started in Yousemite and attracted and produced some of the best climbers around. 

As a musician, I know all about scenius.  Ragae was started from a scene.  So was rap.  Pioneers like Run DMC and Jay-Z and others evangelized the world to music from poor, uneducated kids in Brooklyn.  Emo, ska, grunge, blues, atonal jazz.  Long before these were genres, communities were getting together, hanging out, and trying something new.  To put it frankly, community is King.

Like I said, Kevin Kelly is awesome.  Go read his quasi-blog.  Do it. Now!

Related posts:

How to chastise