"Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."

That money quote was dropped by Clay Shirky last month at South by Southwest, and it’s an idea that he’ll spin out in his forthcoming book.  He’s also blogged about it. And Kevin Kelly has weighed in at The Technium.

I’m on the record about my belief that Protestant denominations were solutions to a problem that we no longer face and, as such, they will cease to exist — at least as we know them — in short order.  Of course, the institutions will fight for their own existence (and I do think that institutions act — that is, they exhibit behaviors.  But I wonder if my readers who continue to defend the existence of denominations and think me uncharitable for rooting for their demise will feel the same after reading the posts above…