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| 4 Million Hits - No ideas are new |
It's fortunate for all of us that when God set out to craft the Garden of Eden - and thus the venue for the creation of humankind, she did not have access to the Internet.
If she did, the Lord (Lady ?) would have discovered that someone else was already working on a similar
project.
In addition to the
Internet’s seductive capacity to distract, it would have stalled the entire
Creation scheme by putting its status and value as a unique enterprise in
doubt.
The idea certainly would not have seemed like fodder for the opening chapter of an
important book nor would it appear to be something worthy of a deity whether
she had infinite time on her hands or not. As One who aimed to be the
Great Creator, the heartbroken Lord/Lady would have been forced to abandon
the idea. Upon learning that this concept was not unique and not really needed,
God most certainly would have sought out another, more worthy focus for her
energies and exceptional talents.
As it turns out, someone
else was, in fact, hammering out their own creation narrative in oblivious
ignorance across the valley, and this work spawned more humans and a set of
non-sibling women for Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Abel, to marry. The absence
of the Internet at the dawn of humanity thus prevented inbreeding and saved you
and me from learning the banjo and living with the countenance of a Habsburg.
It was good that at least two or more efforts at Creation were underway at the
same time.
he same is true in many
other instances throughout the subsequent development of civilization;
ignorance of others and the rest of the world has fuelled many innovations and
insights down through human history. It has always been for the best.
Even those who do not
accept the literal account of Creation should appreciate the absence of the
Internet during the era of other great advances.
The Theory of Evolution/Structure of DNA
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| Ignorance of Others |
When Charles Darwin learned
that another naturalist and thinker, Alfred Russell Wallace, had independently
developed a theory of natural selection and the underpinnings of the concept of
evolution, it prompted waffling Darwin to refine, tie up, and finally publish On
the Origin of Species.
A.R. Wallace’s raw ideas
were known in some science circles, and Darwin and friends sought to give the
flakey Wallace some credit. But, the Theory of Evolution was impactful and
robust because of the deeper thinking, extensive research, and smidgen of
respect that the scholarly and religious Darwin brought to the table. Had
Wallace been able to Blog – Monkeyman.com - about his ideas from his laptop in
the Malay jungle, the theory would have been branded as the baby of a fevered
Spiritualist and vagabond. The timid Darwin, his networks, and his credibility
might have recoiled from the controversy to leave the world, not just
candidates in Presidential primaries, to debate the issue of evolution to this
day.
A century later, just as
computers were coming on stream but well before a pervasive Internet, Watson
and Crick were able to elucidate the structure of DNA unperturbed by annoying
direct knowledge of the prior work of woman scientist Rosalind Franklin. They
could absorb her ideas indirectly and integrate them into their work with an
enthusiasm, poise, and confidence that would not have existed had they been
compelled by Internet postings to include her in their Facebook™ Friends and
research team. The awkward multi-gender collaboration might easily have been
led into postulating a triple helix just to satisfy everyone. Who know ?
The Internet would have
posed similar threats to advances in physical sciences as well.
Newton, Math, and Gravity From what I have read about German philosopher, mathematician, and silly wig wearer, Gottfried Leibniz, it is clear that, had he been empowered with access to the Internet, a Twitter™ account, and a mobile phone app for daily posts, he would have sprinkled the planet with infinitesimal detail about his infinitesimally detailed study of calculus. This would have certainly disrupted the work of British big wig scientist Isaac Newton and robbed us of Newton’s greatest contributions. Sir Isaac, oblivious to Leibniz and much else that an early Internet might have rubbed in his face, marched ahead believing his insights involving calculus to be uniquely his and applying them to the work that manifested in his monumental, three-volume groundbreaker, the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Whether he or Gottfried got
the calculus idea first or whether both were struck simultaneously with bolts
from the same intellectual thunder cloud matters little in the Internet
spotlight. Newton, another proud scientist-philosopher, would not have been
able to endure daily online flamings and verbal assaults in the imaginary 17th
century blogoshere nearly as well as he did engineering the post-publication
scholarly debates with the lesser light Leibniz. The world would never have
experienced the geometry, the laws of motions, and the philosophical angles
that Newton brought to the calculus equation and to theories that found much of
modern math, science, and engineering.
Well, maybe. Possibly. Again who knows ?
The Internet even whacked Googelwhack
What I do know is that my
own personal creative aspirations have been repeatedly and increasingly shut
down by the ignorance-bashing Internet. Hundreds of great ideas are snuffed out
in the crib by Google results that mock me and my ideas with evidence that they
have already been thought, typed, and sent by thousands of searchable others.
It gets worse by the day.
Nearly a decade ago the odd
game Googlewhack™ was launched challenging Internet users to propose two words
that would be found on a single page and only on a single page in what was then
an emerging sea of web sites. Facebook™, Twitter™, and this blog did not even
exist back then. Billions and billions of pages have been added to the cyber
world over the ensuing years and the chances of ever finding a remaining
Googlewhack™ have diminished into one over infinity. Today, Googlewhack the
game survives no more, and I have to think that, in part, it is because there
are no more two-word combinations left to whack. It has all been said and sent
into the Internet before and many times even down to the shortest phrase.
Try to register a novel
Internet domain name that does not use hieroglyphics, transcriptions of the
clicking sounds of African bush languages, or the symbol formally known as
Prince, and you will see what I mean. Only the boring, the useless, and the
non-creative remain. Scratch further and you will see that no writing, no
invention, no creation is truly original and beyond influence or the likelihood
of simultaneous conception elsewhere. This is not in itself a bad thing as we
want our creations to be things that resonate with others, that have been
influenced by the desires of others, and that others are probably lusting at
some level of consciousness. But it can be destructively disheartening for those that want to create and contribute uniquely; for it is in the long term commitment to an idea and the persistence beyond all reason that true influential creation emerges. What the Internet provides is the rippling, jetsam and flotsam filled surface of the ocean of creativity within us.
We need to breakthrough it and dive deeper to grab the real treasures.
I came to this probably
unoriginal realization this week while seeking to clean up this Blog and focus
its messy message.
Since every advertiser,
publisher, and billboard writer in the world seems to be expressing themselves
in groupings of three (3), single-syllable words – “Eat, Pray, and Love”-style,
I suppose that I should not have been surprised by the Google results for the
three words now at the top of this page (Dream. Think. Laugh.) I was not only
informed of their widespread previous use, but also the means by which one
could purchase coffee mugs, T-Shirts, and buttons thus trilogically adorned.
So, I use those words and the ideas of others with a mix of acquiescence and defiance. I have no choice but to assume the absence of uniqueness and the likelihood that any thoughts I am having are also being formed in the brain of another sitting at a keyboard somewhere else on the planet right now. Perhaps, this is why I have fallen into parody (see Don Quixote in Government) as my chosen mode of creative expression.
Parody begins with the
presumption of infringement upon prior art.
Notwithstanding all this
evidence and my resignation, I cling to the hope that this may be the very
first essay in history to link God, the Internet, my blog, and Liebniz’s wig
together in a strand.
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| Screen Shot 2 minutes Later - 59 Thousand Hits |
But I am not sure, and I
doubt it.
So, I am going to push
“Save” and post this spiel on my Blog - right now - before I go and check the
Internet - to confirm, once again, my lack of creativity.
