Famous

In a show on IT Conversations, Dan Gillmor quoted Doc Searls quoting David Weinberger, (paraphrasing Andy Warhol), who apparently said: "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 people".

Hearing that was a moment of enlightenment for me.

A tiny part of my brain must have been saddened by Warhol's original "everyone will be famous for 15 minutes" quote. The idea of fame has been troubling to me all by itself for a while now. With very few exceptions, it seems like fame does nasty things to an individual human's psychology. Pick up a copy of People magazine, and try to spot any true human greatness among the detritus.

A bigger part of my brain cheered at Weinberger's quote, though. It may just be wishful thinking, I admit, but wouldn't it be just awesome to live in a world without fame?! Where enough people create, and the flow of creative works was so large, (and free, in a CC sense), that fame was successfully supressed? Or at best was a local phenomenon?

Anyway, even without my wishful thinking, the "15 people" quote does point to an emerging trend (enabled by the net) that we can all express ourselves, and produce things that are at least of value to the people around us.

I like where this is headed.