I was recently reminded of some reading I did in college, way back in the last century, by a British historian arguing that the critical technology, for the early phase of the industrial revolution, was gin.

The transformation from rural to urban life was so sudden, and so wrenching, that the only thing society could do to manage was to drink itself into a stupor for a generation.

So begins Clay Shirky’s article on how media is changing, and how some people just don’t get the reasons for the change. It’s not just your standard how-is-tv-like-booze piece – instead it goes deeper into not only how this cognitive surplus is being applied, but why it’s just an infinitesimal piece of what could be used, and where do people find the time.

There’s an anecdote near the end that I just hope is true.

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