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The Machine is Us/ing Us

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2nd Oct 2008




Saturday, 3 November 2007

Every so often a little something comes along that helps to pinpoint society's drift toward a revealed common collective consciousness. Slowly we are hearing about how seemingly disparate topics, people and situations are connected to each other, and the more this idea imprints in the culture, the more it becomes 'real'.

The internet is a big driver of this shift, and this video shares fundamentals of how we all are shaping the world around us just by communicating with each other. The explosive growth of web 2.0 is reinforcing and accelerating the trend, as the functions of communication that were the preserve of the few become the practice of many, leading to a world where the Internet may soon feel like more than a force, and more like a force of life.

Signs that the shift is accelerating are appearing all around us. With Google's recent announcement of Open Social, a new social networking standard that will likely include everyone, including Facebook, the architecture of sharing will move from a friendly side-show to economic center stage. This is about to change everything, and will impact the outcome of everything from the upcoming American elections to our very acceptance of bedrocks, such as currency and financial systems.

As a society we accept existing inefficient practices because we don't understand how to change them, or what to change them to for improvement. But this growth of hive intellect on the internet increasingly represents a challenge that, at the very least, means the pace of collective change we've been experiencing will only accelerate. Strong networks are your best defense against those changes, because group values gather strength. Food for thought...