Holotopia: Collective mind

H O L O T O P I A:    F I V E    I N S I G H T S

Narrow frame

The printing press revolutionized communication, and enabled the Enlightenment. We are now witnessing a similar revolution—spearheaded by the Internet and the new media. Are we comparing that with candle headlights?

We look at the way in which this new technology is being used. And at the principle of operation that underlies this use. Without noticing, we have adopted the principle of operation that suited the old technology, the printing press—broadcasting. But the new technology, by linking us together in a similar way as the nervous system links the cells in an organism, enables and even demands completely new modalities of collaboration. Imagine if your own cells were using your nervous system to merely broadcast data! In a collective mind, broadcasting leads to collective madness—and not to "collective intelligence" as the creators of the new technology intended.