Is Amateur Culture A Threat To Professionals?

Much has been written about the myriad ways in which technology and the Internet are changing our culture. But a new book submits that the most important change being wrought is a decidedly negative one: the devaluing of real talent in favor of a mindless celebration of DIY culture. Are we, through YouTube and other online innovations, “celebrating the amateur to the point of absurdity”? Perhaps, but it’s also likely that “the pendulum will swing back, not to the old dominance of professionals, but to a logical middle point. The amateur will be knocked off his pedestal, tossed back into the more general competition for people’s time and money.”