Understanding, episode 11: A Tale of Two Stigmergies
It Was the Bets of Times, It Was the Orange Zombie Clown of Times
In a network, a crisis bringing out beauty beyond belief.
A Tale of Two Stigmergies
“It was the collaborative sensemaking of times, it was the turd emoji chat of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of shared misery, it was the epoch of less wrong, it was the epoch of fake news, it was the season of Awareness, it was the season of Data, it was the spring of Transition, it was the winter of Oligarch, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Awakening, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest weaponized digital discourse twitterati insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
— @johnkellden riffing on Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
— Charles Dickens
