Broadcasting Brain

Hopefully you’ll agree with the title of the blog post. If not, things will be back to normal by Monday.

Stock markets - legalized gambling or not? Technically not, but if you’re in it for the (very) short term, then yeah.

Tribes - interesting concept being talked about at length by Seth Godin (his book by the same name is out now.) I see some value in the concept (I think Hugh MacLeod does as well), but I wonder about things like:

• Are tribes really exclusive?
• Can I belong to multiple tribes?
• Can I be a leader in one tribe and a follower in many other tribes?
• If two tribes go to war… (sorry, 80’s music reference)

Content creation - feeling a bit overextended, like I’ve put out too many fishing lines and I feel obligated to keep tending them. Unfortunately, I’m a bit short on fishing line, hooks, and worms.

Social media blogging - social media blogging is becoming very saturated; the leaders have pretty clearly emerged, I think, and there are plenty of other strong voices. Although I’ve written a lot about this space, and will continue to do so where I think it continues to fit at Broadcasting Brain, I’m more interested in the ideas behind content creation (despite my comments above), fiction, psychology (sort of), sociology (kind of), self-expression and self-actualization. These topics are interrelated. I think it all culminates in self-actualization, though. Be all you can be, you know?

Humor - I’m consciously trying to use more humor here. In part it’s a creative exercise; it’s also amusing and fun, at least to me.

Confidence - can be a scarce resource at times.

Energy - ditto. What keeps you going in your creative efforts?

This blog post sounds like me talking to myself rather than you and I apologize for that. I guess it’s just the way it’s coming out.

So, how about you? If you’re active on the Web in some way shape or form these days, how do you feel about it? Things going well? On track? Off track? Hey, maybe I can offer some advice that can help a little. Why not leave a comment?

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Smart. Intelligent.

Knowledgeable. Wise.

Brilliant. Clever.

Skilled.

Gifted.

These words don’t all mean the same things, yet they are sometimes used interchangeably. I think that can cause problems and I’m going to explain why.

There’s at least a couple of prominent bloggers that I follow who have been writing about “getting smarter” through blogs and social media:

Jeremiah Owyang - Manage your time like money

Robert Scoble - various places and locations around the Web; largely in reference to reading blogs, following online conversations

I believe that I’ve seen the phrase “getting smarter” used in this context before by other writers.

I think they’re using the word “smarter” incorrectly.

Smart has a number of definitions, here’s the relevant one:

Smart (adj.) - characterized by sharp quick thought; bright (intelligent is a synonym for smart)

In this context, being smart is to possess skills that allow you to think quickly with good judgement; it also implies a superior capacity for mental work.

It’s possible that reading can make increase some mental skills, but only through reflection and retention of the read material.

I think that Jeremiah and Robert are really talking about becoming more knowledgeable or better informed. Knowledge acquisition, often done through reading or absorbing information via various media, is darned important. If you are an analyst like Jeremiah or a maven like Robert, you need to keep on top of what is happening in your field of interest. They must spend a lot of their days consuming media in order to learn new, important, and interesting things.

Question is: does that make you smarter? Does reading increase your inherent abilities to think quickly and, for want of a better word, well?

After a certain point in time, I don’t think so. After awhile, I think most of us get to a point where reading and consuming information only helps us maintain our cognitive skills.

Let me put this another way: is a library smart? Or a collection of bookmarks?

No.

They are merely repositories of information or shortcuts to access that information.

Information is useless unless it’s understood by the reader and used to do something.

Here’s my takeaway point: media consumption doesn’t make you smarter if it is a passive exercise. Unless you use that information to think or work differently, it’s basically just memorization or entertainment. Consumption without action or exercise doesn’t make you better, stronger, or faster.

To really get smarter, take that information you’ve consumed and play around with it in your head. Challenge assumptions. Verify facts. Debate with friends and colleagues. Make mistakes by trying to use the information. These are ways to get smarter.

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OK, I’m done. I’d really like to know what you think? Am I off base with the concept of getting smarter? Are Robert and Jeremiah using the term correctly? Or am I onto something here?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section or on FriendFeed.