Have you seen this video? Of course you have. Doesn’t matter which one I’m talking about. You saw it in a tweet or on Facebook or in someone’s blog. Within days everyone we know has seen it. Then we’re all discussing it as though it were an event we saw on our way to work, only somehow we all live on the same street.

But what actually happened was we were all infected by a virus which we happily helped spread. The virus did not infect our computers. That’s just the delivery mechanism. It infected our brains. It ate up thought cycles we used to use for other things. The virus is smart. It softens the blow of the payload with some anesthetic amusement, tickling the proper receptors so that we feel like we’ve been thinking about something even though we’ve gained zero nutritional content. Plus its got celebrity endorsement. You saw it on a cool person’s Twitter, right?

We’ve gained nothing while giving up quite a bit. Continue reading →