Oh, Cracked, you are so funny. So funny it just really hurts sometimes. And these so definitely apply to the pickle that libraries and other cultural/content institutions and industries find themselves in as we try and find our place in a future that is very different from the past.
5 Reasons The Future Will Be Ruled By B.S.
- A Star Trek-Style Utopia is Already Here ... Sort Of
- To Stay Afloat, Businesses Have to Pretend Unlimited Goods are Limited
To keep all that stuff up and running, the publisher is resorting to what experts call FARTS--Forced ARTificial Scarcity. Or they would call it that, if they were as awesome at naming things as I am.
Mark my words: The future will be ruled by FARTS.
Remember the debut of Sony's futuristic Matrix-style virtual world, PlayStation Home? There was a striking moment when the guys at Penny Arcade logged in and found themselves in a virtual bowling alley... standing in line. Waiting for a lane to open up. In a virtual world where the bowling alley didn't actually exist. It's all just ones and zeros on a server--the bowling lanes should be effectively infinite, but where there should have been thousands of lanes for anybody who wanted one, there was only FARTS.
- Arbitrary Restriction of Goods Is the Future
- The Future Will Turn Us All Into Lars Ulrich
- Only Bullshit Will Save Civilization
Don't forget to read the whole thing!
By the way, as I noted on Twitter, every single presentation and article on THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES from this moment onwards should be entitled ONLY BULLSHIT WILL SAVE CIVILIZATION.
(via @janeschmidt)