Curation matters ✍

Wackos and ZoomGlüts - Not Boring by Packy McCormick

Interesting is such a devalued word. What else to say about this rather fine essay? It explains a lot of things and it explains them well. I particularly sympathised with his experience of the glut of free and wonderful things to do online in the time of Covid. I've hardly consumed any myself, and thankfully haven't been tempted to produce any either, because for all the reasons McCormick adduces, they would indubitably fail big time. As he notes:

Michelle Obama would have no problem getting people to watch her read an instruction manual; I would have a hard time getting people to watch me land on the moon.

What kind of mind though, is it, that retains the details of a cartoon from the 1990s, even if it does perfectly suit his narrative? Indeed, which came first? Mind you, thinking about it, I did myself make use of the scene in The Wire where D'Angelo explained poultry economics to the kids. And that's where McCormack's overall conclusion shines:

[T]he only category of scarcity that has survived largely intact is curation. Because of that, curation is even more important than usual.

I like to think so, and do my best to curate my own little patch, to the delight, I hope, of passers-by. Still, it can be a hard row to hoe.