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February 21st, 2007: The Wikipedia in Your Mind

2007-02-21 · John · watch on YouTube · Internet & YouTube · curiosity idea

Prompted by commenters comparing Hank's 'Wikipedia in your brain' idea to M. T. Anderson's Feed, John argues a brain-Wikipedia would be awesome if no one else could edit it, illustrates with a jealous ex vandalizing his wife's entry, and jokes that expert-only editing is how every dystopia starts.

What is said

00:00:00 — Ash Wednesday and a Lent joke; commenters compare Hank's Wikipedia-in-your-brain idea to M. T. Anderson's Feed; Feed's premise

  • ★ On Ash Wednesday John jokingly hopes 'heathen' Hank goes to church, asks what he is giving up for Lent, says he is giving up all foods that taste good, then trails off as if he already has. (joke) — 00:00:10
  • ★★ John says two commenters on Hank's video from the day before said it reminded them of M. T. Anderson's novel Feed. — 00:00:10
  • ★★ John summarizes Feed: the internet is hardwired into people's brains as babies and makes them mindlessly consumeristic — joking that people are mindlessly consumeristic without it too. (playful) — 00:00:10

00:00:51 — The whole internet hardwired into an infant is bad, but Wikipedia in your brain would be awesome — except one anyone can edit

  • ★★ John says hardwiring the whole internet and television into an infant's brain is obviously bad, but that doesn't make Wikipedia inside your brain a bad idea. — 00:00:51 · Wikipedia
  • ★★★ John argues that having Wikipedia inside your brain would be 'sort of awesome'. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:51 · Wikipedia
  • ★★★ The only problem, John says, is that you don't want a Wikipedia that anyone can edit inside your brain. (playful) — 00:00:51 · Wikipedia

00:01:13 — Thought experiment: his brain-Wikipedia entry on Sarah ('the Yeti') rewritten by his fourth-grade girlfriend

  • ★★ His example: looking up Sarah ('the Yeti'), whom he loves and is married to, his brain-Wikipedia should show her picture and an entry on all the ways she's awesome. (hypothetical) — 00:01:13 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★★ If his fourth-grade girlfriend, still holding a candle for him, edited the entry to make the Yeti a horrible hairy Himalayan monster, he would stop loving Sarah — not by choice but because of the edit. (hypothetical) — 00:01:45 · Sarah Urist Green

00:02:34 — So editing must be limited to trusted experts — the start of every dystopian novel (Revolutionary Council, Iran, nuclear weapons); sign-off

  • ★★★ So, John concludes, a brain-Wikipedia would have to be editable only by experts you trust. (playful) — 00:02:34
  • ★★ John jokes that limiting editing to trusted experts is how every dystopian novel starts: the experts form a Revolutionary Council and suddenly you're in Iran developing nuclear weapons. (playful) — 00:02:34

Humor (significant)

  • Summarizing Feed, where a brain-wired internet makes people mindlessly consumeristic, John contrasts it with the real world. — 00:00:10 > «the internet is not hardwired into your brain and you become sort of mindlessly consumeristic.»
  • In the thought experiment his fourth-grade girlfriend edits his brain-Wikipedia so 'the Yeti' becomes a hairy Himalayan monster. — 00:01:45 > «Well, I don't want to be married to a huge, hairy, terrifying, horrible monster, particularly not a possibly fictional one.»
  • Expert-only editing, John says, is the start of every dystopian novel: the trusted experts form the Revolutionary Council… — 00:02:34 > «and then all of a sudden you're in Iran, and they're developing nuclear weapons.»

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