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Cognitive Surplus

Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
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Jan 30, 2011
Clay Shirky, in Cognitive Surplus, uses many examples and studies done by the likes of psychologist Edward Deci and economist Eleanor Ostrom to demonstrate how it is part of human nature to be generous, to share and to self govern. That we are motivated to, and have created, a culture of generosity. (Note: "Motive" and "Culture" are two of the book's chapter titles.) By way of example he shows how it is through the generosity of cognitive surplus that we have open source computer code like Linux and Apace. Linux is an operating system used mainly in internet applications by Dell, IBM, HP, Oracle, Novell, and Nokia; and, Apace is the primary way website http-web-page-code is displayed on a computer screen. It is generosity that has made the internet we know of today. Who knows, to paraphrase Shirky: "Someday we may find Web 2.0's mouse." More importantly, the book is a great read, if only for an explanation of the innate spontaneous generosity of individuals and what such generosity can create.