The Next Big Thing

If you’ve ever talked with Shel Israel (co-author of Naked Conversations), you’ve likely watched him strew the conversation with priceless observations pithily dressed so they’ll cling to your grey matter like Paris Hilton somehow clings to her celebrity. I don’t know that he’s read “Made To Stick,” but he’s certainly tuned in to its message.

The one he dropped on the table today which made my brain explode, quoted as closely as I can manage:

“Computers lack common sense. […] Integrating common sense with computing power [is the next big thing].”

This immediately rings true. The rise of social media, of crowdsourcing, of online communities are all based on finding ways to integrate common sense into the system. It’s the thing people continually bring to the party that no amount of engineering will ever conquer (with apologies to Jeff Hawkins, many of whose aims I share).

All the better that PublicSquare fully embraces this; it’s how I know we’re on the right track.