Reviewing The Reviewers: Will It Never Cease?

The Everything Bad world tour has now taken me to London, where I'll be running around like mad for the next four days or so. I'm now thinking of this whole experience as a kind of bizarre endurance test: can you fly across the ocean, arrive at your hotel at 11 PM, get five hours of jet-lagged sleep, and then go on national TV in a foreign country at 8 AM the next morning? (That was my Friday.)

Fortunately, I have about 36 hours off this weekend, and I'm going to enjoy every second of it. And part of that enjoyment is, of course, posting to the blog! There's a huge backlog of responses to the book that I've been wanting to write about here. One of the exciting things right now is that the blogosphere is finally getting a chance to read the book itself, and not just the Times excerpt, so the blog reviews have started rolling in, and predictably enough they've been fascinating and idiosyncratic.

First, though, a general response to the feedback in the UK. So far the reviews and comments have been very positive over here, but one of things I think should be said is that the Sleeper Curve story doesn't quite apply here where television is concerned, because the Brits don't have the same tradition of awful seventies programming that we had in the States. Without seeming too knee-jerk libertarian about it (see my politics post from last week) I suppose one way of describing the Sleeper Curve is that it's the story of how private sector mass media got more challenging and intelligent; state-run networks, like the BBC, have a much longer history of challenging programming. But of course the games and interactive media story of the Sleeper Curve applies equally well to the UK.

Now to the blogs -- I really enjoyed the comments from the always interesting Steve Shaviro and Mike Barthel of Clap Clap (which I had not seen before.) Both suggest that I've left something out in my definition of what "smarter" culture really means: Steve sees a lack of focus on emotional IQ, and Mike is troubled by the focus on cognitive benefits, at the expense of a broader aesthetic theory that can explain why we spend so much time immersed in the pop culture.

My response to both those points is to say that, first, they're both worthwhile topics for exploration, and indeed I've tried to wrestle with them in other contexts (a piece I did on Antonio Damasio and emotions for Discover, shortly after Mind Wide Open; and the aesthetics of interactivity that I developed in my first book, Interface Culture and the "Control Artist" chapter of Emergence.) But Everything Bad wasn't designed to be a comprehensive theory of popular culture, and so there are many important facets that I've left out. It's a very tactical book, designed to drive one point home: the increase in the "fluid intelligence" required to make sense of your average work of pop culture. There are many other interesting developments in the popular culture that are not covered in the book, and perhaps some day I'll write a longer account that tries to take in the entire system. But that's not what I wanted to do with this book: I wanted this one to take a genuinely complex -- and in some ways academic -- analysis and wrap it in a short polemic with a catchy title that would spark conversation and engagement.

(Speaking of the title, a number of people have assumed that my publisher forced the title on me to sell more books, but I assure you it was my idea all along. Having published a book called Interface Culture, I've paid my dues where dull and abstract titles are concerned.)

One final comment on the Flynn Effect and its role in the Sleeper Curve theory. I talked about rising IQs for two reasons: there's an ambitious, but still unproven, argument, and a less ambitious, but undeniable, one. I do believe that the increased complexity of today's media has had a positive effect on IQ scores, for the reasons outlined in the book. But that is merely an hypothesis, albeit one that many smart people who have looked at this question find plausible. But I invoked the Flynn Effect for another reason, which was to buttress my argument against the objection that I heard from a number of people when I first started writing the book: if the popular culture is making us smarter, how come everyone has gotten so stupid? There is debate about the causes behind the Flynn Effect, but there is no real debate about the phenomenon itself: when you look at precisely the kinds of intelligence that I'm talking about in the book -- abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, problem-solving, etc -- people are getting sharper over time, and not the opposite. So you can argue with my claim for a causal link between pop culture and rising IQ, but you can't dismiss the Sleeper Curve hypothesis out of hand by simply invoking how stupid everyone has become.

Comments

[Steven Shaviro]

I'm glad you found my comments on the book interesting. Of course I realize that your book has a specific, "tactical" focus, and that what I was looking for would mean a different or additional book. I was really trying to think through how your book relates to issues that I am grappling with. Thanks again for a truly stimulating read.

[Suw]

I don't suppose you'll happen to still be in London on Weds 25th or Thurs 26th will you? If you are, I'd be way chuffed to pony up for a pint for you (translation: I'd be happy to buy you a drink). You don't know me from Eve, but I believe we may have friends in common.

[rosalyn]

Hi, I just saw you n the news and found what you had to say very interesting. I am one of those teens who spends some time reading and no time gaming. I'm going to give what you had to say some thought.

[Dana]

Hi,

I have 4 children 3 of which have an Autism Spectrum Disorder called PDD-NOS . Recently we have found that they excel at N64, PS1 , PS2 and GameCube some how patterning and skills that they cant seem to grasp in the real world they "get" from the games and allot of the time once they get it they can then bring it into real life.

We keep being told by doctors that more than an hour will rot their brains we have found it to be the opposite. I was really pleased to see a clip of you talking about the skills games can build if its part of a " balanced media diet" Keep up the good work :)

Dana

[Sergio Davila]

Dear Mr. Johnson,

My name is Sergio Davila, and I'm the California correspondent with Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the largest and most influential Brazilian outlet. I'd like to interview you about your most recent book. It won't take long, and we could do it by e-mail, phone, or fax.

Do you think it is possible?

Thanks in advance,

Sergio Davila

[Mike Hilger]

Dear Mr. Johnson,

I have read your book "Everything Bad is Good For You" and am a gamer/reader and I think you are right on. I saw you on Attack of the Show two weeks ago discussing your thought on the idea of those who game should read and those who read should game. I agree and think that it is the best way to get your self out there in the world. Reading and gaming are my two favorite things, that and music. But I must say I loved this book so far (I have just reached part 2).

Also I am using your book as a source for my speech class on how I believe video games do have some ideal qualites to them...no matter how violent. It's the whole purpose of how one thinks while playing. Excellent work!

Thank you,

Mike Hilger