Axel Bruns has a great reply to Clay Shirky's video "Gin, Television and Social Surplus." Which I talk about here. When I first saw the video I had the feeling that there was something a little wrong with the argument, but that the general gist of it was right. Lately I've seen people criticize the historical accuracy of the role of the gin craze and the passivity he assumes in his argument when people are watching TV. But fundamentally, I think that Shirky is right that some phase shift in the amount of cognitive energy available has happened. Bruns has convinced me even more.