Imagine...

You are about to board a bus for a long night ride, when you notice two flickering streaks of light emanating from two wax candles, placed in the circular holes where the headlights of the bus are expected to be. Candles? As headlights?

Of course, the idea of candles as headlights is absurd. So why propose it? Because on a much larger scale this absurdity has become reality.

By depicting our society as a bus without a steering wheel, and the way we look at the world and try to comprehend it and handle it as a pair of candle headlights, the Modernity ideogram renders the essence of our contemporary situation.

Modernity ideogram

Our proposal

The core of our knowledge federation proposal is to change the relationship we have with information.

What is our relationship 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 handle other man-made things—by suiting it to the purposes that need to be served.

What consequences would this have? How would information be different? How would it be used? By what methods, what social processes, and by whom would it be created? What new information formats would emerge, and supplement or replace the traditional books and articles? How would information technology be adapted? What would public informing be like? And academic communication, and education?

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—in a collection of real-life embedded prototypes.

An application

What difference will this make? The Holotopia prototype, which is under development, is a proof of concept application.

The Club of Rome's assessment of the general condition we are in, provided us with a benchmark challenge for putting our ideas to test. A half-century ago—based on a decade of this global think tank's research into the future prospects of mankind, in a book titled "One Hundred Pages for the Future"—Aurelio Peccei issued the following warning:

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

Aurelio Peccei

Already this event constitutes an anomaly, which motivates the paradigm we are proposing (we attribute to these keywords a similar meaning as Thomas Kuhn did). Why did Peccei's call to action remain unanswered? Why wasn't The Club of Rome's quest—to illuminate the way our civilization has taken—handled by our society's institutions? Isn't this already showing that we are 'driving with candle headlights'?

Peccei also specified what would need to be done to "change course":

"The future will either be an inspired product of a great cultural revival, or there will be no future."

"Let me recapitulate what seems to me the crucial question at this point of the human venture", Peccei explained in "Human Quality". "Man has acquired such decisive power that his future depends essentially on how he will use it. However, the business of human life has become so complicated that he is culturally unprepared even to understand his new position clearly. As a consequence, his current predicament is not only worsening but, with the accelerated tempo of events, may become decidedly catastrophic in a not too distant future. The downward trend of human fortunes can be countered and reversed only by the advent of a new humanism essentially based on and aiming at man's cultural development, that is, a substantial improvement in human quality throughout the world."

The Club of Rome insisted that lasting solutions would not found by focusing on specific problems, but by transforming the condition from which they all stem, which they called "predicament" or "problematique".

Peccei's following observation, with which he concluded his analysis in "One Hundred Pages for the Future", will also be relevant:

The arguments posed in the preceding pages (...) point out several things, of which one of the most important is that our generations seem to have lost the sense of the whole.

Seeing things whole

In the context of Holotopia, we refer to our proposal by its pseudonym holoscope, which highlights its distinguishing characteristic—it helps us see things whole.

Perspective ideogram

The holoscope uses 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 perspective).

The Information idogram, shown on the right, explains how the information we propose to create is different from the one we have.

The ideogram shows an "i", which stands for "information", as composed of a circle placed on top of a square. The square stands for the details; and also for looking at a theme of choice from all sides, by using diverse kinds of sources and resources. The circle, or the dot on the "i", stands for the function or the point of it all. That might be an insight into the nature of a situation; or a rule of thumb, pointing to a general way to handle situations of a specific kind; or a project, which implements such handling.

Information ideogram

By showing the circle as founded on the square, the Information ideogram points to knowledge federation as a social process (the 'principle of operation' of the socio-technical 'lightbulb'), by which the insights, principles, strategic handling and whatever else may help us understand and take care of our increasingly complex world are kept consistent with each other, and with the information we own.

Knowledge federation is itself a result of knowledge federation: We draw insights about handling information from the sciences, communication design, journalism... And we weave them into technical solutions.

BottomUp - TopDown intervention tool for shifting positions, which was part of our pilot project in Kunsthall 3.14, Bergen, suggests how this proposed information is to be used—by transcending fixed relations between top and bottom, and building awareness of the benefits of multiple points of view; and moving in-between.

The holoscope complements the usual approach in the sciences:

Science gave us new ways to look at the world: The telescope and the microscope enabled us to see the things that are too distant or too small to be seen by the naked eye, and our vision expanded beyond bounds. But 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 large things or issues 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 vision

What possible futures would we see, if a proper 'light' were used to 'illuminate the way'?

The holotopia is an astonishingly positive future scenario.

This future vision is indeed more positive than what the familiar utopias offered—whose authors lacked the information to see what was possible; or lived in the times when the resources we have did not yet exist.

But unlike the utopias, the holotopia is readily realizable—because we already have the information that is needed for its fulfillment.

Making things whole

What exactly do we need to do, to "change course", and pursue and fulfill the holotopia vision?

From all the detailed information that we carefully selected and considered, and organized and made available in the square so that this claim can be verified, we distilled a simple principle or rule of thumb:

We need to see ourselves and what we do as parts in a larger whole or wholes; and act in ways that make those larger wholes more whole.

This is, of course, exactly the course of action that the Modernity ideogram is pointing to.

Holotopia is a radical alternative to what is now common: we currently reify not only our science, journalism and education, but also the corporation, the "democracy" and whatever else constitutes our culture—instead of considering each of them a means to an end, which needs to evolve further to serve us in new conditions.

We pursue what we consider "our own interest" competitively—trusting that "the free competition", acting through "the invisible hand" of the market or the academic "publish or perish", will turn our self-serving acts into the greatest common good.

A project

As a project, Holotopia federates, and fulfills, the holotopia vision.

Margaret Mead's familiar dictum points to this project'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 large difference.

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

"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 five insights constitute the 'engine' that drives the Holotopia project to its destination—the holotopia.

At the same time, the five insights provide us a concrete way to federate the The Club of Rome's work.

Strategically located in five pivotal domains of interest: values (the "pursuit of happiness"), innovation (the way we use our majestically grown capability to create and induce change), communication (the way information technology is used and information is handled), foundations (what the creation of truth and meaning is based on) and method (the ways in which we look at the world and try to comprehend it), the five insights are insights into large anomalies that obstruct progress in those domains, and demand structural or paradigmatic changes. Together, they show that, metaphorically speaking, Galilei is imprisoned once again in our own era.

At the same time, the five insights point to overarching opportunities for creatively changing those conditions:

• a revolution in culture analogous to the Renaissance, and hence in "human quality"
• a radical improvement of effectiveness and efficiently of human work, and the liberation from stress and toil that the Industrial Revolution promised but did not quite deliver
• a revolution in communication analogous to what the printing press made possible)
• a revolutionary empowerment of human reason to explore and understand the world, analogous to the Enlightenment
• a revolution in conceptual tools and methods for understanding our social and cultural world, and hence improving the human condition, similar to what science brought to our understanding of natural phenomena

Each of the five insights is reached by using the holoscope to federate information from disparate sources and see things whole. Each of the anomalies is resolved by using the proposed rule of thumb, by making things whole.

Furthermore, we show that the five anomalies, and their resolutions, are so interdependent, that to realistically resolve any of them—we need to resolve them all. Hence we see why:

Comprehensive change can be easy, even when smaller and obviously necessary changes have proven to be impossible.

In this way the recommendation of The Club of Rome is federated, and the strategy that distinguishes holotopia (to focus on changing the whole order of things) is confirmed.

This strategy has, however, its own inherent logic and "leverage points"; instead of occupying Wall Street, we see why continuing the evolution of knowledge work, which just in Galilei's time once again got stalled, is an easier and more effective way to proceed. Exactly as the Modernity ideogram, that metaphorical image of a bus with candle headlights, might suggest.

Perhaps the most immediately interesting, however, are the relationships between the five insights—which provide us a context for perceiving and handling, in informed and completely new ways, some of the age-old challenges such as:

• How to put an end to war
• Where the largest possible contribution to human knowledge might reside, and how it may be achieved
• How to overcome the present dichotomy between science and religion, and use a further evolved approach to knowledge to revolutionize religion

This provides us a wealth of tactical possibilities, which power the Holotopia as a project.

It is impossible to overemphasize that the core purpose of the Holotopia project is not to merely draw attention to certain core anomalies and opportunities for comprehensive creative change, but above all to choreograph that change. By organizing dialogs about the five insights and about the ten most timely themes that are marked by their direct relationships, we recreate a public sphere that empowers us to collectively co-create important insights, and solutions.

And that—the change of the way in which our collective mind is presently working—is the Holotopia project's core mission.

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 the following five sub-spaces.

Fireplace

The fireplace is where our varius dialogs take place, through which our insights are deepen by combining our collective intelligence with suitable insights from the past

Library

The library is where the necessary information is organized and provided, in a suitable form.

Workshop

The workshop is where a new order of things emerges, through co-creation of prototypes.

Gallery

The gallery is where the resulting prototypes are displayed

Stage

The stage is where our events take place.

This idea of "space" brings up certain most interesting connotations and possibilities—which Lefebre and Debord pointed to.

The Box

A model of The Box.

So many people now talk about"thinking outside the box"; but what does this really mean? Has anyone even seen the box?

Of course, "thinking outside the box" is what the development of a new paradigm is really all about. So to facilitate this most timely process, we decided to create the box. And to choreograph the process of unboxing our thinking, and handling.

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.

A vocabulary

Science was not an exception; every new paradigm brings with it a new way of speaking.

The following collection of keywords will provide an alternative, and a bit more precise and academic introduction to the holoscope and the holotopia.

Truth by convention and keyword

The only truth possible in holoscope is truth by convention. It is the kind of truth that is common in mathematics; when we say "Let X be..." we are making a convention. Just like everything else here, the truth by convention is itself a result of knowledge federation: Willard Van Orman Quine identified the transition to truth by convention as a sign of maturing in any field of science.

The keywords are concepts defined by convention. Their definitions are of the kind "When I say X I mean Y. It is meaningless to discuss whether X "really is" as defined.

Until we find a better solution, we distinguish the keywords by writing them in italics.

Scope and view

Once defined by convention, keywords become ways of looking or scopes. In the approach to knowledge modeled by the holoscope, the scopes have a central role.

When we, for instance, say that "culture is cultivation of wholeness", we are defining a way of looking at "culture". And we are saying "please try to look in this way—and see if you too can see this (view).

The Holoscope ideogram serves to explain the inner workings of the holoscope, by analogy with inspecting a hand-held cup, to see whether it's whole or not. Clearly one must be able to look from all sides; one must be able to inspect the cup by deliberately choosing suitable ways of looking.

To assert that the cup is whole, one must see it from all sides. To assert that the cup is broken, it is enough to show that it's broken from one side.

Holoscope ideogram

Communication here is the communication of meaning, or of views. Although we'll often use the conventional language and say that something "is" so and so, what those claims really mean is that something can be seen in the way proposed, by looking in a certain way. Scopes and views may be understood by analogy with projections in projective geometry. Although they are abstractions or simplifications, truth by convention allows us to state the views as precisely as desired—on any level of generality.

Dialog

Dialog here plays a similar role as the attitude of an "objective observer" does in traditional science.

So dialog is before all an attitude—to the best of our ability, we need to suspend judgement, and in particular our ideas of what things "really are", and look in the way that's offered.

Furthermore, a dialog is a way of communicating. The dialog has played a (mother) role in the conception of the academia, and it's been evolving ever since. David Bohm gave the "dialog" a more contemporary meaning, which is adapted in the creation of the holoscope.

Wholeness

The quality shared by a healthy organism and a well-constructed and well-functioning mechanism. Only when all the pieces are in place is the wholeness as the quality present. It makes all the difference!

The idea of wholeness is illustrated by the bus with candle headlights. The bus is not whole. A relatively tiny piece can mean the difference between the whole thing being a mass suicide machine—or a vehicle that can take us to the kind of future we may reasonably choose for ourselves.

Tradition and design

Tradition and design are two alternative ways to wholeness. Tradition relies on Darwinian-style evolution; design on awareness and deliberate action. When tradition can no longer be relied on, design must be used.

In a more detailed explanation, we would quote Anthony Giddens, as the icon of design and tradition, to show that our contemporary condition can be understood as a precarious transition from one way of evolving to the next. We are no longer traditional; and we are not yet designing. Which is, of course, what the Modernity ideogram is pointing to.

Socialization and epistemology

Although these two keywords are not exactly antonyms, we here present them as two alternative means to the same end. Aside from what we can see and experience ourselves—what can make us trust that something is "true" (worthy of being believed and acted on)? Through innumerably many subtle 'carrots and sticks', often in our formative age when our critical faculties are not yet developed, we may be socialized to accept something as true. Epistemology—where we use reasoning, based on knowledge of knowledge, is the more rational or academic alternative.

Pierre Bourdieu here plays the role of an icon. His keyword "doxa", whose academic usage dates back all the way to Plato, points to the experience that what we've been socialized to accept as "the reality" is the only one possible. Bourdieu contributed a complete description of the social mechanics of socialization. He called it "theory of practice", and used it to explain how subtle socialization may be used as an instrument of power. To the red thread of our holotopia story, these two keywords contribute a way in which (metaphorically speaking) Galilei could be held in "house arrest" even when no visible means of censorship or coercion are in place.

Design epistemology

By considering the available knowledge of knowledge (or metaphorically, by self-reflecting in front of the mirror), we become aware that the belief that the purpose of information is to show us "the reality as it truly is" can no longer be rationally defended. And that, on the other hand, our society's vital need is for effective information, the one that will fulfill in it certain vitally important roles. The design epistemology is a convention, according to which information is an essential piece in a larger whole or wholes—and must be created, evaluated, treated and used accordingly. That is, of course, what the bus with candle headlights is also suggesting.

The design epistemology is the crux of our proposal. It means considering knowledge work institutions, tools and professions as systemic elements of larger systems; instead of reifying the status quo (as one would naturally do in a traditional culture).

The design epistemology is the epistemology that suits a culture that is no longer traditional.

The design epistemology is a convention that defines the new "relationship with knowledge", which constitutes the core of our proposal.

Prototype

A prototype is a characteristic "result" that follows from the design epistemology.

When Information is no longer conceived of as an "objective picture of reality", but an instrument to interact with the world around us—then information cannot be only results of observing the world; it cannot be confined to academic books and articles. The prototypes serve as models, as experiments, and as interventions.

The prototypes give agency to information.

Holoscope, holotopia and knowledge federation

The following must to be emphasized and understood:

What we are proposing is a process—and not any particular result, or implementation, of that process.

Holoscope is a prototype of a handling of information where knowledge is federated. holotopia is a prototype of a societal order of things that results.

And so holoscope may be considered a scope; and holotopia the resulting view