“My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski”
(Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making us Stupid)

There’s something oh-so-dismissive about Carr’s jet ski reference (you can practically hear the whine of the engine versus the quiet, profound discovery of the deep…) but there is definitely something in what you say about the change that’s taking / taken place. On the boiling surface, it’s a “just-in time information culture where the need to learn and retain information is replaced by an expectation that all the information we need is constantly accessible to us” (Alex Dunston, IPA Diploma paper on ‘Age of Osmosis’ – from which I nicked the Carr quote too).

I guess what I’m getting at is what’s behind the metaphor (which seems very apt to me)? Does it help us understand the implications of what’s going on? I agree with Conrad that the majority of people don’t know what the bottom looks like. More than that, they don’t care. They probably don’t much care about anything beneath your Epipelagic layer in fact. Are we missing out as a result or is that too simplistic a statement to make? And is this is a temporary state of affairs or will the boiling seas subside?

Anyway, I’ve drifted off your point, which was simply to identify a smart & visual metaphor to describe the nature of the Web as it is now, but I’d love to see where you take this.

P.S. Carr’s argument was first published in an edition of “The Atlantic” magazine, natch :-)

@Adam – Loving your ‘Tron meets Gaia Theory’ angle – especially as it actually makes us important, instead of some kind of disease that the planet will eventually cure itself of (i.e. kill us)

Personally, although this is getting a bit of the original topic, I think more technology is the only thing that can save us now… I’ve always quite liked the idea of using up the remaining fuel on this planet as fast as possible to get us into a new solar system (by powering a global massive space-fleet building programme and perfecting Warp Drive technology..)

I thought it was important to think of an organic metaphor because this is a living system and that’s a very important part of the dynamic (that I haven’t really managed to capture…). I also imagined it as being a planet – with a molten core of metal and lighter minerals at the surface (believe it or not, the rocks in the crust are very light compared to the ones inside) and it’s again at the top (thanks to the sun) where all the life is.. And I also thought about the hydrological cycle as a metaphor – but it became a bit clumsy with lakes, rivers and sea, clouds and rain… didn’t work at all.

@Bud – I have the same image in my mind – so much dead stuff gently getting buried in sediment… The dead’ Web vs the ‘live Web’ is really interesting – have you seen this great article in New Scientist, covering lots and lots (some great stats – must blog about it) see here for a piece on The Web’s Dark Corners: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227062.500-where-are-the-nets-dark-corners.html

It’s clearly challenging to try and visualise the whole of the Web and the processes going on within it, but I find it irresistible. I might start a collection of visualisations of the Web, and I want to follow up this post with another about some of the data visualisation posts I’ve been reading.. hmm, might do that now.

Thanks again!

On the top is this vast layer of dead discarded material that is out of data and maintained only with the annual payment for domain name and hosting (why who knows Brits like paying taxes).

There is the odd eddy you must find, then you shoot down it as if you are in a Rider Haggard novel into the depths to find out out the real stuff. You are likely to be in a cave and you hope you brought your water proof torch as you grope along slimy walls in this wonderful childlike confidence that you will find treasure and come out at the other end just in time for your picnic thoughtfully provided by your mother.

Something like that. Glad it is more like an Indian ocean wave in London!

Haved started to think actually that leaving unmaintained websites up should invoke tax like leaving a property unattended. There are so many in the UK we might even be able to pay off the national debt.

If you want to go it alone and forego existing social platforms with both the people and the tech; you gotta keep em afloat all by your lonesome with the most amazing shit anyone has ever seen. period.

oddly apropos that you chose an organic/natural metaphor for your example as that will ultimately be the nature of it anyway (at least i hope/think).

cheers,
-a.

c