Think about the world at the twilight of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance: devastating religious wars, terrifying epidemics… Imagine Galilei in house arrest, whispering “eppur si muove” into his beard. Recall that the problems of the epoch were not resolved by focusing on those problems, but by a slow and steady development of an entirely new approach to knowledge. Several centuries of comprehensive and accelerated evolution followed. Could a similar advent be in store for us today?

Holoscope

We have recently completed and documented a prototype of a candidate new approach to knowledge, and called it knowledge federation. The mission of holotopia is to complete that prototype, by federating federate.

In holotopia we represent knowledge federation by the pseudonym holoscope; and we use knowledge federation (or federation) as a verb.

We define the holoscope by the ideogram on the right, with the help of the one below. The holoscope is the suitable new 'headlights', designed to be used for illuminating themes, issues and directions. The holoscope can be pointed at any theme or issue. By illuminating what has remained obscure or hidden, it lets us it as a whole – its undistorted shape, and correct proportions.

A benchmark test

Perhaps 'the headlights' are not right?

The goal of holotopia is to find a way to change course – and thereby put the holoscope to a test.

A vision

When the new 'headlights' are used, what results is a cleear vision of the holotopia – and of 'course' that takes us there

The holotopia is a more desirable vision of the future than the common utopias tend to be. Yet it is practically realizable. The reason is that we already own the knowledge needed for its fulfillment.

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The mission of Holotopia as a project or a prototype is to develop whatever is needed for "changing course" – by fulfilling the holotopia vision.

We present it here in terms of

• Five insights, which are alone sufficient to see how the holotopia vision naturally emerges from the knowledge we own
• The box – a ritual object designed to help us 'unbox' our conception of the world and see, think and behave differently
• A virtual space – including physical spaces, with suitable affordances and group dynamics by which the holotopia vision can be realized
• A collection of keywords which – just as science did back then – encode a new way of speaking and thinking
• A story, where we federate some key ideas of Margaret Mead – the holotopia's icon or 'giant'.

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The story explains the exact mission of holotopia by federating Margaret Mead's familiar dictum:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

We use it to highlight a key point – which is an obstacle, and an opportunity behind it. The mission of the Holotopia project is to overcome this obstacle, and fulfill the opportunity.