Required viewing

Watched a couple of really good talks over the weekend. I enjoyed both of them a lot.

Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo SF 2008: Clay’s talk centers on the notion that in today’s modern society, there is a massive cognitive surplus, or untapped source of brain power. He tries to debunk the often heard phrase aimed at technophiles and ‘geeks’ — “where do people find the time?”

In his presentation he cites some staggering statistics, which are not only compelling on their own, but support his argument well. He calculated the amount of time American’s watch TV to be in the vicinity of 200 billion hours per year, which is equal to 200 wikipedia projects per year. Imagine what we could achieve if we re-directed this type of energy — use this surplus in a more positive way? A thought provoking presentation.

Paul Graham at Startup School 08: Paul’s presentation is an interesting look at why start-ups should not worry about the money too much, and act more like a not-for-profit in the early stages. He argues that being benevolent improves moral; helps you to be decisive and makes other people want to help you.

He recommends the adoption of Google’s “don’t be evil” model, and concludes by urging not to be satisfied with simply ‘not being evil’, but to be good! I found one of the best takeaways was the advice: “Cheap to run = Hard to kill”, sage advice for a start-up, even a micro-one like my own.

Anyhow, go see for yourself.

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