Andrew Keen is an author as well as an entrepenuer. However, what he is most widely known for is his view on how the Internet and especially Web 2.0 is degrading the quality of our culture.
In his recent book, The cult of the amateur: How today’s Internet is killing our culture, he calls Internet users monkeys and states that the Internet is just full of amateur work. Although, this amateur work is getting more hits than their traditional counterparts. For example, he talks about news blogs and how they are irrelevant to anyone but the author, yet popular ones will be read more than the New York Times. Looking at another medium from the Internet, video, YouTube has been blowing up with popularity and the more it starts to take over, the more likely Hollywood will go to dust. On the whole he feels that our world will soon be run by these amateur monkeys and lose “today’s experts and cultural gatekeepers.”
I disagree with the way Keen feels about the Internet. Yes, it is a bunch of amateurs posting whatever they wish, but the Internet should be a place of free expression. If you choose not to read/watch/listen to what these “amateurs” have to say, then just simply don’t . He also states that the Internet in some way is “stifling creativity,” but to my knowledge, it only enhances it.
He makes a good point, though, when discussion trust. How do we know who is posting what? Is it a well-known establishment posting an amateur video to promote their product? Or is it simply a fan showcasing what they love, or hate for that matter.
In his interview on TechCrunch with Walter Isaacson, Keen talks about the late Steve Jobs and how he was a historic influence. Isaacson stated that Jobs really cared about making the connection between art and technology to deliver a product to consumers that they would love. Furthermore, Keen says that Jobs had an excessive consumerism and also idealism which made him not political and not civically engaged. Therefore, Jobs did not really care about political acts and so, he poured his perfectionism into his products instead of society. I feel that this last bit was the most important to Keen because he is involved in society and it must hurt to hear that a man so successful cared more about his products than society.