The Fredösphere

William Gibson knocked the sci-fi world on its asteroid years ago with Neuromancer, the seminal cyberpunk novel.  Now he's back with another futuristic story Spook Country.  The futurist has an understanding of the Google "aura" (the googleverse?) that nowadays gathers around a novel (or anything, really), and what is especially interesting is the way he self-consciously manipulates it to his benefit.  Read about it in the Guardian (via ArtsJournal).

Google-driven traffic is a funny thing.  For a long time, about 10% of my traffic was coming from people searching for pictures of Hitler.  I once linked to a painting of Hitler in an over-the-top heroic pose.  It's a classic of totalitarian kitsch.  You can see it here.  (Hey!  I can feel my hits rising as I type!)  Note well, I'm talking about a link to the image; I've never displayed it anywhere on my website, yet for some reason Google sent crowds of people to me.  (Large crowds ... large crowds, chanting in German ... large crowds, wearing swastikas and screaming for blood ... Aaaah!!!)  Such is the power of the Nazi meme.  Hitler is big.  Hitler is hot.

Most recently, the Guernica Philharmonic has been popular with Dutch seekers of googly goodness.  I really don't want to know why.

In the last couple weeks, I've noticed another fascinating phenomenon.  Political blogs that support Fred Thompson for president have begun to refer to themselves as the "Fredosphere."  Oh joy!  Visions of millions of accidental visitors dance in my head!  Maybe I could even sell out to the Thompson campaign, and make my site a portal of some kind.  Money, money, and furthermore, money!

Labels: Culture, Futurism