The Krill and the Leviathan

‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think, therefore I am) is supposedly a slam-dunk proof of our existence as envisioned by Decartes in the 17th century, generations of philosophers since then, and now a staple of popular culture. Decartes did not think about the Internet and blogging when he came up with this concept of course, but I suspect that if he was to be revived and shown around (dear god, please make sure it’s not David Pogue who’s doing the showing around!), he would have been capable of grasping this tsunami of unfettered expression of human thought and creativity. Blogging melds and reconciles two ideas into one. “Thought Leviathans” happily swim side by side with (and feed on) untold multitude of Krill. Individualism meets collectivism.

Decartes would have seen blogging for what it is: a natural human act. An expression of both individualism as well as collectivism.

Technology helps liberate and democratize means of personal and collective expression. Making music, creating movies, doing photography, and writing bloggs are all examples of how information technology, becoming cheap and pervasive, unleashed a wave of creativity that may be un-paralleled in the history of human kind.

To paraphrase Decartes: I communicate Therefore I am. We crave our 15 minutes of fame (Warhol’s prescience was merely the ability to see himself for what he was – a media slut). The fittest will thrive also by trying to rise above the throngs, projecting their memes through whatever means of efficient propagation. Decartes is a living proof – 350 years later his ‘memes’ persist.

We place the individual at the centre of our universe, some say to a fault. But bloggers, most of us anyway, are a collective, made of hopeful Leviathans, but mostly We help create a sea of thoughts on which to surf. The bigger the population of Krill, the more Leviathans like Decartes will come to be. So the act of blogging, is both selfish and selfless. Long live the Krill!