Today’s snippet of Chris Locke’s Gonzo serialisation is his quoting of David Weinberger (from here)
The belief in centralized management isn’t just a business decision. It’s part of a larger, neurotic understanding about our place in the world. For the past century, Americans have been obsessed with controlling everything. It’s neurotic because the human condition is about living in a world that we didn’t make and that we can’t control. In that sense, the Web’s lack of control — its very architecture — is a celebration of being human in a universe that joyously overwhelms us.
Great point but I don’t think it’s a peculiarly American quality, you can find it in lots of other places. And in fairness it seems that a numbers Americans have had one or two things to do with building the web.
