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In this presentation I describe the concept of the internet as a form of global consciousness. I look at the idea of human nature as it has traditionally been represented but suggest that a more appropriate model is that of a collection of neurons. With this model I analyse what a global consciousness would look like - not collaboration, as in the organization of a company or a nation, but cooperation, as in the actions of autonomous but interdependent and connected individuals. All photos were taken by the author at Ars Electronica 2009 in Linz, Austria. Audio and text at http://www.downes.ca/presentation/229
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The CloudandCollaboration
Stephen DownesArs ElectronicaLinz, September 5, 2009
Artist
Truth -> Fiction
Fiction -> Truth
Human Nature
Asthoughwehaveanunderstandingthatweareinherentlydishonest
inherentlysocial
inherentlyspiritual
The Body Politic
Leviathan
Folk Psychology
Stich - From FolkPsychology toCognitive Science
Churchland
Matter andConsciousness
Nature as Network
Varela: The Embodied MindLeDoux: Synaptic Self
Social Brain
Peter Russell
TheGlobalBrain
Billions of neurons formingconnections interacting with eachother achieving consciousness
Global Consciousness
We think together but remain independent in ouridentity. If we could foster co-thinking to reachconsensus about new solutions, we may be able tofind a new direction for the future. Hope canemerge from new collaborative models based on anew paradigm; science and art will act gracefully tomatch human nature, and to shape the future ofhumanity. (80+1, 2008)
Collaboration
"worldwide socialnetwork of self-selected peopleresembling humanbrain and mind, whowill collaborate inattempt to solvesocial problems."
Dimitar Tchurovsky
Shared Vision
Schrage: "an act of sharedcreation and/or shared discovery"
Senge: creation of a shared vision.
Sameness of Purpose
Common Understanding
Learning
is
social
in
nature
?
Group Behaviour
…reciprocity is strong. People are able to affect one another and the groupas a whole directly. Changes can propagate easily. Coordination is tight.
Brown & Duguid
Neurons
Management
Client Focus
Sameness
… meaning is created out of sameness, like ablock of stone, an ingot or iron… a mass ofelements, all the same, united as one
Semantic Consistency
Sameness of Entity Thesis
The idea is that truth, meaning, communication… arebased in a sameness in the entity
But this istheopposite ofwhathappens,isn’t it?
Diversity
Incommensurability
Quine: Word and ObjectKuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Syntactic Consistency
Physicality
Language Games
Interaction Thesis
Community, then, would be defined by the interactions orconnections among those entities, and the process of the globalbrain described in terms of those interactions.
the sharing by entities of a common system of communication orinfrastructure.
Cooperation
Rather than becoming the same, we retain our individuality,and cooperate
Neural Cooperation
Community…is not collaboration but rather cooperation…
Association
Mechanisms of cooperation
= mechanisms of association
= mechanisms of neural connectivity
Similarity
Donald O. Hebb
Proximity
Hume
Feedback
Rumelhart and McClelland
Harmony
Boltzmann
Society of Mind
Minsky
New Socialism
The content-based 'new socialism' is the same as theauthority-based power-law driven old capitalism.
CollectivismContentCollectionsCollaborationWikipediaEconomicsOwnership
Kevin Kelly
Cooperative Socialism
forms of socialismas a form ofpersonalempowerment,equality ofopportunity,sociality andinterdependence.
These four principles together constitute the‘semantic condition’
Empowerment
Autonomy
Equality of Opportunity
Openness
Sociality
Diversity
Interdependence
Connectedness
Interaction
Emergence
ConvivialityIllich: appropriate and congenial alternatives to tools of domination
Words
Artist
www.downes.ca
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