The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity


presented at the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum at Jazz at Lincoln Center. About 10 minutes of it is a minor update (rehash) of An Anthropological Introduction to youtube, but the rest is new. The gathering may have been the highest concentration of amazingly creative and concerned global citizens I have ever been around. Hallway conversations were different than your typical conversations. Instead of lots of people saying, ‘You know, somebody should …’ there were lots of people saying, ‘So I did this, this, and this, and now Im working on doing this, this, and this and we should collaborate …’ In other words, it was a bunch of people blessed with what I once heard Yochai Benkler and Henry Jenkins call critical optimism. Nobody there was blindly optimistic, thinking technology was going to make everything better. They were all continually trying to figure out where we are, where we might be going, and the possible downsides and dangers of new technologies so we can use the new technologies to serve human purposes. In other words, it was my kind of crowd. Special thanks to Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej for organizing the conference.

25 Responses to “The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity”

  • vlad48329reborn says:

    umm… i’m not sure if anyone else is having this problem but, when ever i play the video it keeps stopping at 2:25 no matter how much of it has been loaded. even when it’s fully loaded it stops. i wonder if this is more of youtube or viacom trying to sensor the masses.^o^;

  • sk8bow says:

    @obscenegrace2003

    “Of course, this is an awesome video and what’s really interesting is that only one nutter below wrote a comment about the NWO? globalist agenda.”

    i don’t think that’s fair for you to say. that person has their reasons and you just brush it aside like it doesn’t matter.

    that person has his reasons for posting, just like you do.

    imo, NWO is real and not that far fetched of an idea. look at the wars. look at how we are all divided with just two political parties.

  • binkle1 says:

    What is all the babbling noise running underneath the audio on this tape? Anybody else hear it? I had to plug my headphones in to get any volume, even after adjusting it the regular way.

  • binkle1 says:

    Plug your headphones into the speakers, then you’ll be able to adjust the sound. I had the same problem.

  • SourSeayow626 says:

    @CulturePeaceForever the lower educational K-12 system in the US doesn’t focus on critical thinking nor does college (undergrad) as much as we wish it did. The internet allows us to explore and research anything that we may “ponder”. We process this new knowledge, evaluate the information, and are able to communicate these new formed opinions to the world. I’d say that’s a good step towards improving natural thinking skills vs traditional “school studies” (memorizing facts)

  • RattusCorvus says:

    @chri7 that this brings tears to our eyes only shows how much we long for this, connection, one world, caring, whatever it takes.

  • obscenegrace2003 says:

    Of course, this is an awesome video and what’s really interesting is that only one nutter below wrote a comment about the NWO globalist agenda.

    This has to be a first for any YouTube video.

  • epretorious says:

    Extremely thought provoking, but extremely sad.

  • CulturePeaceForever says:

    Too much technology both prevents young people from concentrating on their school studies,&”Pondering”skills because answers are easily “googled.”The educational system needs to help students “think”more often,more than merely memorizing thousands of facts.Technology is very good for entertainment,but not very good for the advancement of improving natural thinking skills.

  • CulturePeaceForever says:

    Commercial advertisements on television,One commercial longer,but much less frequently would be a big good change! “people”don’t change much along the generations,but individuals can come to enjoy anominity much! (smiles)

  • Lilsprog says:

    @chri7

    Yeah. same.

    Shame that world leaders cannot recognise the same.

  • vipez666 says:

    sound not working

  • alobamify says:

    You changed my live! Spelling WTF!

  • Chasichan says:

    No offense, but I found this boring.
    Maybe it’s because I’ve read too many articles about this topic. The video just didn’t bring me any new thoughts.

  • chri7 says:

    Dunno why, I cried to in the one world section *shamed*

  • Lilsprog says:

    That made me cry.
    I’m glad to see all is not lost, you know what i mean.

  • sk8bow says:

    it may well look hopeless but it isn’t. it depends on the education of society to change what we perceive as right and wrong. dominance and violence is primal but so is the quest for peace and calm.

    we installed laws and policies that have brought peace considering there is more than over five billion people in the world.

    we need every society to progress in understanding ourselves in order to live, prosper, and progress as a world.

    think outside the box.

  • IExposeMormonism says:

    @petrosros yes, of course, he films it because it satisfies is voyeurism.(as Behaviorist he had no unconscious , of course)…. Sleep heals.

  • petrosros says:

    yes , the animal filmed it , I can barely talk about it without feeling sick, I was just looking into the mountain meadows mass, very interesting will follow it up the visit to your channel was worth it.
    Please excuse my foul language its past my bed time , and I get like a grumpy old Bear.

  • IExposeMormonism says:

    @petrosros Uh-oh, squirrel looking for a nut…. As a kid, Skinner had a fence (barrier) and he would lob his cannon shots over the barrier and get a response. This is ok for him. He loved load explosions. But he put his daughter in a plastic box. deprived her of the world and provided the stimulus. He is a control freak maniac. I left comments on BFS videos and got some response……

  • petrosros says:

    @IExposeMormonism Skinner tortured his own children and would have eagerly helped Mengerley carry out his death camp experiments,
    are you holding this creature up as a hero.
    and its Dickblatts my word I made it ten mins ago.
    I am now going to invade your channel.

  • IExposeMormonism says:

    @petrosros Yes, BF Skinner proved a negative stimulas from an authoritative maniac will inhibit dickbatism

  • petrosros says:

    @MsDude81 or they might find him a racist cunt

  • petrosros says:

    @IExposeMormonism tazing students is a good thing most will grow up to be totall Dickblatts.

  • petrosros says:

    Basically a Globalist Agenda, we are part of New World Order.
    All this Luv bullshit, from a collection of narcissistic little selfish cunts that have probably never done a hard days work in their shallow lives.
    They only express those ideas when they get what they want. The most of these animals would walk by a starving white guy on their own streets, with scorn and contempt in their hearts.
    Fuck UTube and its self effacing bullshit Propogandists cocksuckers.
    Yes I swore can you imagine.

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