Joi Ito could make you feel better about the digitized global time, space, psychology and politics that we’re all, willy nilly, entering. 
He has been living out there all his 37 years, bobbing and weaving between Japan, the States and Canada through his school years (college never completed). He’s been dancing with Internet technology since his childhood, politicking, investing, thinking hard about democracy and business, writing, making friends and taking pictures all the way. And famously blogging. It’s been a “continuous identity crisis,” he says, a link with Colin Powell, whom he admires. Joi Ito was a disk jockey in Chicago before he rerooted himself in Tokyo. His family heritage, through a dozen generations, is study and teaching. One of his great-grandfathers tutored the Emperor of Japan in geography. “I am trying to understand at a meta-level what we, the globe, are about,” he said in our conversation this morning. “Most Japanese think I am very Japanese… Most Americans feel that I understand how they feel.” He slings VC lingo and the table talk of too many Davos economic summits. But he gets invited back to those places, I conclude, for the clarity of his big vision of adhesive networks that could heal the species. Our introductory gab over coffee in his hotel room today is here in two 15-minute pieces: Part One is Joi Ito’s account of this blogging tipping-point, a technological and social convergence at a moment when institutional media have become part of the world’s problem. Part Two is his close observation of digital communities in real life, starting with his own round-the-clock, round-the-world chat space, which has regulars, guests, events and even a chaplain, “like MASH,” he said. The Internet has become “a working anarchy” with redemptive possibilities if we “allow the interesting memes inside this diversity to emerge.”
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I can hear only Christopher’s comments/questions, not Joi’s side of the interview.
Jake Walker
Christopher can only hear himself pontificate as well.
It seems that Christopher is on the right channel, and Joi is on the right. If you are listening in mono I am not sure what will happen…
I heard part one and two with no problems. Very interesting. Thanks. Hope you will include it on the list of interviews and in the CD set or whatever is made possible (even if it ends up being a typed transcript!) Five hours is too long for a single download but I will download it if no alternative is made possible. Thanks again. Much appreciated.
I found this downright inspirational! Thanks to both interviewer and interviewee — as Joi says, I haven’t been this excited since I first found the Internet…
The interviews are fantastic but Mr. Lydon needs someone to help him work out the kinks in his setup. The sound quality in a couple of his inteviews has made them almost unlistenable to me. I don’t know enough about recording and encoding to make any suggestions, but I hope somebody has something to offer.
I hate to criticise a gift, but I have a feeling Mr. Lydon won’t take offense.
Joi’s passion for the communciation aspect of technology has bridged a lot of people together who normally might not of been so inclined before. Joi’s passion in itself is incredible to watch. And just what does a girl have to do to get an interview with the illustrious Lyndon? hmmm? 😉
The interviews are fantastic but Mr. Lydon needs someone to help him work out the kinks in his setup
I think the poor sound quality comes from the MP3s being too compressed, but there’s no easy way around that problem because better-quality files would be even larger and take longer to download than they do now. Splitting the files into smaller parts is one solution, and I’ve noticed some of the recent interviews are done that way. The sound quality on the Krugman interview is much better.
MP4 (AAC format) might be a better solution, providing better sound quality in smaller files, but most people haven’t yet made the free upgrade to their QuickTime plugins to be able to listen to it.
The other issue I’ve noticed here is that the skybuilders server (which serves up the MP3s on this site) is very sluggish…it can take me 10 minutes to download an MP3 even on a fast DSL or cable connection. Normally a file of that size should take at most a minute or two to download.
I’m unable to download Joi Ito’s interviews. Please advise.
I also can’t get to the interview. Am I supposed to have some kind of programme to do that?
Hello, the link to the Joi interview seems to be broken
Thank you very much!
Yes , it is difficult to hear the MP3
But I love that definition of the internet as a “working anarchy”!
Nice post and blog
Thanks for sharing
You are the best. Thank you
I’m unable to download Joi Ito’s interviews. Please advise.
The other issue I’ve noticed here is that the skybuilders server (which serves up the MP3s on this site) is very sluggish…it can take me 10 minutes to download an MP3 even on a fast DSL or cable connection. Normally a file of that size should take at most a minute or two to download.
Christopher can only hear himself pontificate as well.
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