The author of this article over at Deadspin was talking about how the Internet has given people a platform to communicate, and in the process made everyone insular to paradigm changes.
Now, people have been using what was outside themselves - the environment, other people, concepts and ideas - for their own benefit, for as long as there have been people. Prior to the Internet, the process of repurposing was way more difficult than it is now. Now, new connections and new "spins" on something happen at the speed of light. It's the process that birthed all the inventions that have bettered mankind; by standing on the shoulders of giants we are able to reach higher.
The problem lies in the negative externalities - where it is difficult and rare to see good things happen, it is so much more likely for sh!t to happen. The byproduct of the process of repurposing are those products of appropriation, the failed experiments, and the inane. The technology of today provides so many possibilities and tools for scientists and engineers and inventors and thinkers to plumb, which they are doing with rigor and care; the rest of us have to put up with... well, you know. Everything else.
What are the effects of this phenomenon on us? There's no prior case of such a thing happening. So I guess we find out for ourselves... lucky us.
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