Cognitive Surplus

In their article Oppositional Politics and the Internet: A Critical Reconstructive Approach Kahn and Kellner argue the numerous impacts the Internet has had on society, both good and bad. On a similar note, Clay Shirky’s view of what he calls cognitive surplus (from his new book Cognitive Surplus), expresses how group activity has been positively impacted through the net, exploring creativity in ways never anticipated. Shirky describes that in past decades we have spent our time watching television and neglecting brainpower. However, today he argues, with the Internet as a tool we have a plethora of availabilities to do something of great value and once we do (although in the end it may not be very useful) it may create what he calls a cognitive surplus. Cognitive surplus can be defined in five words; “group action just got easier”, meaning that this trend of blogging and posting (social media) is leading to valuable and influential forms of cultural production and human expression. Essentially Shirky talks about communication as an art. Each individual has the ability to produce this “art”(“the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects”) by partaking in the frenzy of online communication and networking taking place across the globe.