Internet Play
Robin of Snarkmarket had an excellent idea for his book project: Use Google Adwords to test character names. Putting that aside for a second, though (you can read all about it if you’d like), I really like what Robin had to say about playing with new internet stuff: “But okay, I’ll be honest. This was mostly just an excuse to try a new tool. Any nerd will tell you that tools can provide their own intrinsic rewards. There’s an aspect of exploration to it, too: you’re pressing out into new tool-territory, learning about what you can and can’t do.”
I love that. I’ve tried to explain to lots of folks that aren’t so into the web that the easiest way to get a handle on things is just screw around (I’m sure I’ve written it here before as well). It’s hard to wrap your head around this stuff fully (Google search ads being a great example) until you’ve tried them yourself.
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Yup. I’d also add: innovation of tools is a major part of the greater innovation cycle.
Somebody has a need that’s not being met by existing tools: their area of inquiry / invention / whatever requires a better calorimeter, spectrometer, telescope, endoscopic camera, or whatever. So they build it, play around with it, and share it.
Then someone else (or even the original inventor) fiddles with the toy & comes up with some nifty new use for it. Next thing you know . . . Miles Davis in 8-bit.