Everything we need to know comes filtered and vetted.... But that isn’t serendipity. It’s really group-think.
We are discovering what everyone else is learning, and usually from people we have selected because they share our tastes.
It won’t deliver that magic moment of discovery that we imagine occurred when Elvis Presley first heard the blues,
or when Michael Jackson followed Fred Astaire’s white spats across the dance floor.
And there is just too much information. We can have thousands of people sending us suggestions each day
- some useful, some not. We have to read them, sort them and act upon them.
As we pay for them with our time, the human need for surprise presents an opportunity for new businesses.
Can someone sort the information and provide the relevant thoughts to the specific person who doesn’t yet know he needs it?"
www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/business/02ping.html