November 10th, 2008
Gore at Web 2.0: Nice ideas among the gobbledegook
So, I’ve been reading reports on Al Gore’s speech at Web 2.0 and while I like the sentiment that Web 2.0 “has to have a purpose,” e.g., saving the environment, I’d have to agree with Matt Assay that it sounds mostly like “gobledegook.”
For instance, he said Obama’s election was a “collectively intelligent” decision, drawing a comparison between Moore’s Law and human civilization (VentureBeat). Or the printing press enabled an “information ecosystem.” Or the Internet must become, like electricity, ” “the water that the fish don’t know they’re swimming in.” (a href=”http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/al_gore_web_20_needs_a_purpose_1.php”>ReadWriteWeb).
There was some coherence: a national smart grid bringing energy efficiency to every home; a commitment to 100% renewable energy within 10 years.
When he talks about energy, it seems he sounds intelligent. Web 2.0? So mushy. The very general idea seems to be that human civilization advances via collective intelligence; social Web is good at bringing people together. So we can find ways to harness social connections to make headway on the energy/environment issue.
There are some good starts at this, like Carbon Rally, which creates carbon-reduction “challenges” in which people team up and compete to reduce energy consumption. Other leads on the greening of Web 2.0?
