TED talk with Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky's TED talk was about "cognitive surplus."  He talked about the online work we do as the human population to give our creativity into projects.  If your are wondering like I was about why cognitive surplus was not a large part of our world 20 years ago, Mr. Shirky answers that as well.  We were a "consumer society" for a long time and got used to consuming.  Eventually, we had enough resources to broadcast our creativity in a sense and show the world a different generation of sharing thinking.  


Design was also a main theme of Mr. Shirky's talk which was interesting because our class has been studying design for about a week now.  COgnitive surplus can mean many things from humorous to serious, which definitely shows the design aspect of this new generation of thinking.  Cognitive surplus has had a change on "scientific and political efforts" around the world.  The entire idea is to put forth your ideas, which is creativity in my definition.  Cognitive surplus is made because of the "design of generosity."

From this video, I take away understanding of why the world has changed so fast in a technological sense in the past 10 years.  To me, technology does not seem very new because I grew up in this new era, but it is very new to our world.  It has given us a chance to speak for ourselves and tell our ideas to the world. 


Clay Shirky has many effective techniques for his speaking.  He uses a very sure-sounding tone of voice that is convincing and gives evidence in the form of a powerpoint to show visuals to his audience.  His presentation style is one of confidence and relating to the public.  Through his use of common internet creativity, he relates to the common man.


This video matters because it explains an entirely new era of creativity.  To me, the explanation of cognitive surplus matters because I have lived in technology all my life and relate to what he says and see the importance of what he's saying.  Creativity is taking off in our world in an entirely new way: through the use of computers and the internet.  This has changed our world and will continue to change the way humanity lives.