Is Wikipedia As Important As The Great Pyramids?
Wikipedia is one of the most important websites on the internet. It’s also one of the most self-important. Now, Wikipedians are trying to get the site listed alongside the Grand Canyon and the Pyramids on the UN’s “world heritage list.”
Wikipedia is launching a petition drive to become the first digital world heritage site. Founder Jimmy Page tells the New York Times that “The basic idea is to recognise that Wikipedia is this amazing global cultural phenomena that has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.” All true!
The problem is that to be included on the World Heritage List alongside the Great Wall of China, Wikipedia must be found “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius,” which it’s not. Now, we like dorking around on Wikipedia as much as the next person. And Wikipedia’s startlingly complete entry on “The Muppets” is a masterpiece of… something. We would all be worse off without Wikipedia, for sure.
But Wikipedia resembles less the masterpiece of a genius than the fixation of an idiot savant. You know: grinding out articles through endless pedantic debate. Wikipedia’s strength lies in thousands volunteers who care desperately about things most people have never even heard of. And this works great, most of the time! But making risky choices, demonstrating unorthodox thinking—the hallmarks of genius—are a quick way to get your Wikipedia edits swarmed by a thousand angry moderators and bombed into oblivion.
Wikipedia is about as much a “masterpiece of human creative genius” as 4chan. [New York Times, image via AP]
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Comments
This is a great article. It offers a compelling argument to also list 4chan on the world heritage list.
I agree – 4chan Also should be recognized in THIS generation!
Founder Jimmy Page? I like that. Rock on.
What the hell, “Founder Jimmy Page”. Jimmy Wales founded wikipedia. Jimmy Page is the guy from Led Zepplin. lol
You should have fact checked your article on Wikipedia.
Larry Elison look-alike..references to Jimmy Page….
Dear Adrian Chen, you just don’t get it. Please go away so the rest of the world can continue to evolve without you in the way.
If you can’t puzzle out the singular of “phenomena”, you shouldn’t be making comments in public.
The article is beside the point, the “work of genius” to be possibly selected is not the content of wikipedia, but wikipedia itself.
So the question is not:
is the content of wikipedia as important/interesting/valuable as the graphitis on the pyramid of Giseh, but is wikipedia a remarkable tool to bring together people and make them do something usefull for their fellow humans.
Yes wikipedia has its failures and issues, in particular the tendency to lean toward conformity on many subject, but you could also argue that the great pyramid is a symbol of oppresion of all those egyptian peon exploited by a corrupt religious hierarchy and therefore should be destroyed..
In practice the pyramid certainly did “cost too much” but now that we have it it’s great and should be protected.
And wikipedia has it’s weaknesses but it would be really sad if we would loose it, and it created a branch of the economy, demonstrated networked virtual collaboration, etc….
So of course it is a work of genius.
It does not mean all it’s users are geniuses… but it should be protected.
Jimmy Page FTW!
Patrick Sinz is right. The article does not focus on the idea as a whole, only some facets of it.
Wikipedia is not only a place to dork. It’s the second place to go (after Google) when you need any information. For example, look up Great Wall of China or the Egyptian Pyramids.
The article’s arguments are in pair to saying that the Pyramids should be discarded because they were built on slave labor for a dubious purpose.
Must be found “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius”… But Wikipedia resembles less the masterpiece of a genius than the fixation of an idiot savant.
Primarily that wall wouldn’t exactly be the masterpiece of a creative genius even at those times…
“What can protect us from these attacks confuzius ?” – “It’s a wall you lazy twats !”
How about considering “the internet” a world wonder, before wikipedia? If wikipedia is still there in 100 years, maybe we can talk about this then.
You know, the ideas that the wikipedians are arguing for is that the INTERNET should be added to the world heritage list. The INTERNET is an amazing global phenomenon that has changed the lives of billions of people.
Ha! Jimmy Page! Hahhaahahahahahahahhahahahah!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Page
maybe you should have checked Wikipedia before posting this article.