The Widening Scope of Arts and Sciences

The magazine Reason contains an interview with Chris Andersen, editor of Wired Magazine and the author of The Long Tail, a recent book that has stimulated a great deal of discussion. The book's premise in its essence is that we are beginning a shift from mass markets, where "big hits" dominate the scene, to millions of more fragmented and diverse niche markets. Andersen focuses largely on the market for products, but in response to a question in the Reason interview about whether the principle of The Long Tail applies to people as well, Andersen responds:

There is absolutely a Long Tail for people. I talk a lot about the Long Tail for talent and I usually start by quoting [media bigwig] Barry Diller at the 2005 Web 2.0 conference saying, “People with talent won’t be displaced by 18 million people producing stuff they think will have appeal.”

Is there any better description of MySpace than that? Is there any better description of YouTube than that? Is there any better description of the blogosphere than exactly that? Eighteen million people producing stuff they think will have appeal. What we’re realizing is that talent and expertise and knowledge and writing ability is much more broadly distributed than our previous forms of identifying it revealed. The old model was if you want to make a movie, you had to get your foot in the door in Hollywood. If you want an audience for your music, you’ve got to get signed by a label. If you want to write a book, you’ve got to have a publisher.

The old model said: We control the factory, and you have to go through us. Now everyone’s got a factory, and we find that there are more people who have talent and, more important, they’re making things that our filters haven’t previously recognized as having appeal. They’re making stuff because they want to make stuff and because they can. . . and you’re getting these grassroots, bottoms-up hits that are resonating with subcultures that we traditional gatekeepers would never have bothered with.

In a similar vein, the following passage from 'Abdu'l-Bahá may shed light on the source of this great proliferation of talents and abilities:

See how, in this day, the scope of sciences and arts hath widened out, and what wondrous technical advances have been made, and to what a high degree the mind's powers have increased, and what stupendous inventions have appeared.

This age is indeed as a hundred other ages: should ye gather the yield of a hundred ages, and set that against the accumulated product of our times, the yield of this one era will prove greater than that of a hundred gone before. Take ye, for an example, the sum total of all the books that were ever written in ages past, and compare that with the books and treatises that our era hath produced: these books, written in our day alone, far and away exceed the total number of volumes that have been written down the ages. See how powerful is the influence exerted by the Day-Star of the world upon the inner essence of all created things.

It is interesting to note that in addition to the widening of the scope of sciences and arts that has occured in this day, many of the technological advances have facilitated the distrbution and dispersion of the fruits of these efforts. Thus in a way, a feedback effect takes place--the mind's powers have increased, resulting in a flourishing of the arts and sciences, and stupendous inventions have appeared that enable the fruits of these talents to be distributed globally and instantaneously, providing inspiration for further innovation and development. What a marvelous age we live in!