Imagine...

You are about to board a bus for a long night ride, when you notice two flimsy, flickering streaks of light emanating from two wax candles, placed in the circular holes where the headlights of the bus are supposed to be. Candles? As headlights? You rub your eyes in disbelief. What sort of nonsense is this? A weird joke? An art project?

Well of course, the idea of candles as headlights is absurd. So why talk about it? The reason is that on a much larger scale—where the things such as our society, and the way we handle information, are so large that we cannot see them with naked eye—this absurdity has become reality.

Our proposal

The crux of our knowledge federation proposal, which is detailed on this website, is to change the relationship we have with information; and with knowledge. So that we may change the relationship we have with the world; and with ourselves.

What is the relationshnip we have with information presently like? Here is how Neil Postman described it:

"The tie between information and action has been severed. Information is now a commodity that can be bought and sold, or used as a form of entertainment, or worn like a garment to enhance one's status. It comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected from usefulness; we are glutted with information, drowning in information, have no control over it, don't know what to do with it."

Suppose we handled information as we tend to handle other man-made thing—by suiting it to the purposes that need to be served. Instead believing that whatever we've inherited from the past will still work and serve us well—in the completely changed, technologically advanced, fast-moving, complex world we have created. What would information be like? How would it be used? What new purpses would it serve? By what methods, in what ways and by whom would it be created? What new information formats would emerge, and supplement or replace our traditional books and articles? How would the use of information technology be different? What would our public informing be like? And our academic communication, and education?

The substance of our knowledge federation proposal is a complete and academically coherent answer to those and other related questions; an answer that is not only described and explained, but also implemented—as a collection of real-life embedded prototypes.

In the language of our metaphor, we have crafted a complete prototype of the 'lightbulb'.

Seeing things whole

The Information ideogram, shown on the right, serves to explain the general idea of the information that will emanate from the proposed 'lightbulb'. And also the lightbulb's principle of operation. The ideogram shows an "i", which stands for "information", as composed of a circle placed on top of a square. The square represents the details. The circle represents the function, or the main point of it all—which might be an insight into the nature of a situation, and how the situation may need to be handled; or a rule of thumb, pointing to a general way of handling situations; or a project that implements such handling.

The Information ideogram points to the structure that information now needs to have—which is an adaptation of an award-winning idea how computer programs need to be structured, called "object orientation". The idea is that the details need to be hidden (within the 'square'), so that only a requisite function may be offered (as the 'circle') to the next larger whole. This idea can easily be understood if one thinks of the automobile, where the details (the engine, the electrical circuitry...) are hidden under the hub, so that only what is needed for operating the vehicle (the steering wheel, the instruments...) is visible and accessible to the driver.

The BottomUp - TopDown intervention tool for shifting positions, which was part of Holotopia's pilot project in Kunsthall 3.14, Bergen, suggests transcendence of fixed relations between top and bottom, and builds awareness of the benefits of multiple points of view; and moving in-between.

We call the activities that constitute the implementation of this principle knowledge federation.

Political federation brings smaller units together, to give them visibility and impact. Knowledge federation does that to information. Its goal is to turn information into effective knowledge. And to restore knowledge to power.

We here refer to the proposed 'lightbulb' by its pseudonym holoscope, to highlight its distinguishing characteristic— that it helps us see things whole.

The holoscope achieves that effect by using suitable information in a suitable way, to illuminate what remained obscure or hidden, so that we may correctly see the shape and the dimensions of the whole (correct our perspctive).

The holoscope complements the usual approach in the sciences:

Science gave us new ways to look at the world, and our vision expanded beyond bounds. The telescope and the microscope enabled us to see the things that were too distant or too small to be seen by the naked eye. At the same time, science had the tendency to keep us focused on things that were either too distant or too small to be relevant – compared to all those big things nearby, which now demand our attention. The holoscope is conceived as a way to look at the world that helps us see any chosen thing or theme as a whole – from all sides; and in correct proportions.

A proof of concept application

What difference could the holoscope make? The Holotopia prototype, which is currently under development, is a proof of concept application.

An assessment of the general condition we are in, which has been produced by The Club of Rome, provided us a benchmark challenge for putting the holoscope to a test. Based on a decade of this global think tank's research into the future prospects of mankind, a half-century ago, Aurelio Peccei issued the following warning:

"It is absolutely essential to find a way to change course."

A vision

As a vision of a possible future, the holotopia presents an affirmative answer to the question in this website's preamble:

Think about the world at the twilight of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance: devastating religious wars, terrifying epidemics… Think of the scholastics pondering about the angels dancing on a needlepoint; and Galilei in house arrest, whispering “and yet it moves” into his beard. Observe 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 evolution followed. Could a similar advent be in store for us today?

Just as the case was in Galilei's time, a whole new order of things or paradigm is ready to emerge.

Like the familiar utopias, the holotopia is a vision of a highly desirable or one could say "idealized" future. This future is indeed more desirable than what's been offered by most utopias—whose authors lacked the information to see what is possible. But unlike the utopias, the holotopia is readily realizable—because we already own the information that is needed for its fulfillment.

Put simply, the holotopia is the future that is now available to us—if we used knowledge and creative redesign, instead of habit, to orient our handling of information. And if we used effective information to orient our handling of all other affairs.

Making things whole

What handling, what course of action, would be necessary and sufficient for us to pursue the holotopia vision?

We point to a simple principle or rule of thumb: Instead of seeing the world in the light of our narrowly conceived self-interest, and trusting that "the free competition" or "the invisible hand" of the market or the academic "publish or perish" will turn our self-serving acts into the greatest common good (which is, in the light of our presented evidence, perceived as markedly "Middle Ages")—we see ourselves and what we do as parts in a larger whole or wholes. And we act in ways that make those larger wholes more whole.

Hence this formula (which Vibeke didn't like, but since nobody's reading this yet, let's leave it for now as Dino's private joke and foible; it points to some subtleties which we may later unpack and look at):

But seek ye first the systemic wholeness,
in all matters and on all levels of detail; 
and all these things shall be added unto you.

An initiative

The goal of the Holotopia initiative is to facilitate and streamline the realization of the holotopia vision.

We chose Margaret Mead to be the icon of this initiative. Her familiar dictum points to the initiative's core mission:

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

It is, however, the 'small print' that we found most useful—Mead's insights, based on her research, into what exactly distinguishes "a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens" that is capable of making a difference.

The following Mead's observation, made more than fifty years ago, points to an immediate effect of the Holotopia initiative:

"One necessary condition of successfully continuing our existence is the creation of an atmosphere of hope that the huge problems now confronting us can, in fact, be solved—and can be solved in time."

Five insights

The holotopia vision is federated and made concrete in terms of the five insights. Strategically located in five pivotal domains:

• values ("pursuit of happiness")
• innovation (the way we use our creative powers, the technology, and our growing capacity to induce change)
• communication (the way we handle information, and the way new communication media are put to use)
• foundations for truth and meaning (or knowledge about knowledge or epistemology)
• method (science, language, and whatever else is now trustingly used to create our worldview, and make sense of things)

the five insights point, respectively, to

• a revolution in general culture, similar to the Renaissance
• a revolutionary improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of human work, similar to what the Industrial Revolution made possible
• a revolution in communication, similar to what resulted from Gutenberg's invention
• a revolution in our use of knowledge, reminiscent of the Enlightenment
• a revolution in our understanding of the world, similar to what Science made possible

At the same time, the five insights provide a framework for conversing about, and understanding, in an informed and effective way how breakthroughs can be achieved on a variety of age-old or yet-to-be-recognized frontiers, such as

• how to put an end to war
• how the greatest possible contribution to human knowledge might be made
• how "digitalization" and "digital transformation" may need to be peformed
• how to revolutionize religion
• in what way exactly we may need to change education

The dialogs about the five insights and other related themes will engage our collective creativity to deepen our understanding. The produced materials (edited and presented as art exhibitions, text, film...) will communicate the resulting insights and give them impact.

A strategy

While each of the five insights will alone show us our time and condition in a similar light as we might see the circumstances from which the Enlightenment emerged, even more illuminating are their relationships. By exploring them, we realize that we cannot meaningfully respond to any of those insights, without responding to them all.

A larger, overarching insight results:

Comprehensive change might be easy, even when smaller and obviously necessary changes may seem impossible.

This insight points to the strategy that holotopia represents as a meme or a 'brand' —where instead of focusing on specific problems, or specific improvements, we consciously aim to understand, and strategically transform, the very order of things that holds them in place.

There is a strategic insight here, which may require a bit of reflection before it can be comprehended. The Holotopia's goals are well beyond commercial; yet to fully understand what goes on here, it may be best to use the kind of thinking that is used in business plan creation. We have here, namely, a truly wonderful way to beat the media people in their own game—the creation of sensations; and spectacles. What could be more genuinely interesting than a meeting of knowledgeable people discussing how the humanity's perennial ideals now can realistically be reached? Even a meeting that completely fails to scale up to this potential can be a spectacle—by exhibiting the negative socialization that still hinders us from seeing what goes on, and taking part in it. Who would ever go back and watch Donald Trump's latest mischiefs on TV?

A project

Holotopia is an artistic update of everyday reality.

We are reminded of Michelangelo painting his frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel—and in the very heart of the old order of things sowing the seeds of "a great cultural revival". The Holotopia project is a collaboration of artists, scientists, knowledge-work media developers, young people, children and other stakeholders. We work together, and we all work as artists.

A space

A snapshot of Holotopia's pilot project in Kunsthall 3.14, Bergen.

Holotopia undertakes to develop whatever is needed for "changing course". Imagine it as a space, akin to a new continent or a "new world" that's just been discovered—which combines physical and virtual spaces, suitably interconnected.

In a symbolic sense, we are developing

• A fireplace

• A library

• A workshop

• A gallery

• A stage

The Box

A model of The Box.

Holotopia's Box is an object designed for 'initiation' to holotopia, a way to help us 'unbox' our conception of the world and see, think and behave differently; change course inwardly, by embracing a new value.

We approach The Box from a specific interest, an issue we may care about—such as communication, or IT innovation, or the pursuit of happiness and the ways to improve the human experience, and the human condition. But when we follow our interest a bit deeper, by (physically) opening the box or (symbolically) considering the relevant insights that have been made—we find that there is a large obstacle, preventing our issue to be resolved.

We also see that by resolving this whole new issue, a much larger gains can be reached than what we originally anticipated and intended. And that there are other similar insights; and that they are all closely related.

Icons and stories

Since what we are presenting is a prototype—or in other words a modelof a handling of information that can and needs to be implemented on a large scale, to give us effective knowledge—we take the liberty to incorporate some of the insights into our models without showing how they might be federated. Those insights are here represented by suitable icons, and made accessible by telling stories. This roughly corresponds to the technique that good journalists tend to use—where important issues are pointed to by telling interesting and "sticky" people and situation stories.

So the holotopia's icon of "modern science" is, of course, Albert Einstein. The icon of our society's condition and urgent needs is Aurelio Peccei. Each of the five insights has a suitable icon, and a collection of stories by which it is made comprehensible and plausible.

A vocabulary

Every new paradigm brings with it a new way of speaking. This collection of keywords is an alternative natural entry point to holotopia.