{"id":646887,"date":"2013-03-14T15:07:51","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T19:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=620606"},"modified":"2013-03-14T15:07:51","modified_gmt":"2013-03-14T19:07:51","slug":"why-eating-dirt-makes-this-a-better-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/646887","title":{"rendered":"Why eating dirt makes this a better world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hacktivist groups like Anonymous<\/a> or, more broadly, groups like Wikileaks<\/a> may cause big problems for institutions and companies, but overall they’re good for us and good for the internet, said Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab.<\/p>\n

\"Joichi_Ito_Headshot_2007\"<\/a>Ito likened these groups and the challenges they pose to innoculating a young child against illness. If you protect him so stringently against germs to keep him from getting sick, you can bet he will get really<\/em> sick at some point. But if you let him “eat dirt” and expose him to lots of things he’ll be a healthier child, Ito said during a BBC World Service event<\/a> held at MIT and broadcast live on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Anonymous and Wikileaks are like catching the flu–they hurt us but we learn to be "transparency robust" from them. #whys<\/a> @joi<\/a>—
MIT Media Lab (@medialab) March 14, 2013<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The specter of groups like Anonymous lurking in the background may also encourage better behavior by people and organizations, Ito added.<\/p>\n

These groups make us more “transparency robust” and that’s a good thing, he noted. \u00a0The thinking is: If you know someone might be poking around in your business, you’ll probably be better, more ethical, smarter about how you conduct that business\u00a0in the first place.<\/p>\n

This was a good, wide-ranging session with good insights on the maker movement and other topics. I’m sure it will be streamed later today. I’ll include the link here when it becomes available.<\/p>\n

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