Goldhaber's Response to My Attention Economy Post

Michael Goldhaber has posted a thought-provoking response to my previous piece on the attention economy. Some of his solutions to the unfairness of having the world's eyeballs affixed to Paris Hilton-style media spectacles include: 1) Paying more attention to our own circles of friends and relations rather than more distant kinds of stars. 2) Offering more and better modes of attention getting to allow each person to find the best mode for getting attention for what is most truly and importantly to his and her concerns. 3) Realizing and supporting situations in which attention flows equally to all -- partying, communal ecstatic dance, social networking, etc. I resonate deeply with all three of these. Re: #1, I know of plenty of folks who waste hours a day charting the obscure maneuvers of far-off celebrities, whilst their personal lives are in high disarray. Were they actually to put some energy into their local communities, paying attention to local causes rather than watching Access Hollywood and collecting memoribilia, we'd all be better off. For #2, as I mentioned in my previous post, there is a class of attention-getting professionals who blend marketing, design, copy-writing, and leveraged technology to tip the scales in favor of new ideas. These folks could definitely lend a hand to more important causes. And for #3, I agree, but I have a concern. While I've been to plenty of parties where attention was distributed more equally, I also worry that "equal distribution" isn't enough: it's not just that ALL people need to have a more equal share of the attention wealth, but IMPORTANT people and ideas (read: necessary for the healthy and happy functioning of global society) do even more so. How we do THAT, of course, is the real question....