Today is the fourth anniversary of the Social Memory Complex blog. Four years ago, before I had embraced anarchism, I made an initial post laying out my purpose:
I'm still not sure why I'm embarking on blogging. All in all, it just seems like a way for malcontents to rant and rave. It seems to do more sometimes to marginalize discussion on the internet than to promote it, and from some of the conversations I've been in over the net, I can understand why that would be desirable. I'd like to believe that dialogue on the internet can lead to creative and thoughtful discourse ... but experience has shown that the internet tends to draw out the worst in people.
However, holding with my idea that the internet represents a major step forward in the conversion of humanity to a more integrated, interdependent sense of identity - indeed, a Social Memory Complex - I want to at least put my views out there and let the chips fall where they may. I think recent events are catalyzing change at both an individual and collective level, whether or not people realize it. My bet is that there is value to be gained by talking about this. We shall see.
Four years later, I'm still interested in this conversation - and I think I've made progress in facilitating it. In fact, one day I'd like Social Memory Complex to be something like the Distributed Republic where high-quality content can be generated by the act of social discourse. Thanks for reading and commenting - it's so gratifying knowing people are out there who want to talk about these things.
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