What could all this chatter be about?

According to Wikipedia, the blogosphere started somewhere around 1999. BlogPulse has "identified" 42,814,458 blogs as of today, of which 45,212 are new within the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, something close to 6,585,258,851 people live on planet Earth at the moment. That’s basically a blog for every 154th person. (Will the $100 laptop only serve to increase this conversation we’re having with ourselves?)

And I think about those 12" gold records we sent out into space, on the heals of our radio and TV waves. You could argue the human race is desperate for feedback. If not from outer space, then at least from someone else in the blogosphere.

Is that what this is all about?

I’m curious how this amassed tonnage of words—all these insights, arguments, links and poetry—will play out. If it will play out. The public libraries are chock full of some of the most fantastic writing ever put to paper. Most of it goes unread.

But this seems easier. 42,814,458 examples can’t be wrong.

And so it goes. Truly, the blogosphere is a fantastic example of quantity—the first necessary step in any creative endeavor. You need to dig lots of shallow holes in the backyard so you know where the gold isn’t buried.

I’ll keep digging.