Personal Democracy Forum 2008
Note by David GalielDavid_Galiel:
overview of development of civilization
talks about acceleration of tech dev and its implications on civilization
hyperconnectivity
cellphones - one decade from zero to reaching half of people on planet.
there is a gap between emergence of a technology and humanity figuring out its implications, but once we do, it explodes
the strongest imperative is to communicate, driving cellphone, internet, texting adoption.
hyperconnectivity is transforming the human landscape
Children are experts in mimesis. Children learn by replicating behavior, and hyperconnectivity has increased the circle of their peers to the entire connected planet.
Successful behaviors get adopted immediately into a new global behavioral kit.
Mark calls this "hypermimesis".
Resistance is futile - the more attempts there are to block, restrict and control technology-enabled communication, the more society finds ways to bypass it. It is a new cultural imperative.
Anyone in the human network can "find the others", develop bonds of affinity. Wikipedia represents, warts and all, the first attempt to capture the entire breadth of human knowledge. "of, for and by the mob".
Altruism trumps the virtues of selfishness. On social networks, the economic advantage of sharing can outweigh the economic advantage of hoarding.
There are dangers - a "ruling clique" of Wikipedians are threatening the open invitingness of wikipedia. But there is a counterreaction resisting their authority. Two possible outcomes: wikipedia may become fossilized; or wikipedia may break through to a new level of openness, as the wikipedians learn the advantages of altruism and the costs of authoritarianism. (it would have been helpful if he had discussed how and why things may tip one way or another, and what systemic designs can help encourage an open outcome).
Sharing is the ultimate threat - not the antiestablishment content shared, but the very act of sharing itself (reminds me of the discussion of flash mobs in Belarus and how mere public assembly, however innocent the activity once assembled, became the ultimate act of revolution)
Ends by talking about how Obama has unleashed the mob, and what happens post election depends not so much on what he does, but on whether he gets out of the way.
hyperconnectivity begets hypermemisis begets hyperempowerment.
Sees a short term future of a global power struggle, a war of the mob against authority.
The future looks nothing like democracy, not about empowering the individual, about networked hyperempowerment.
talks about acceleration of tech dev and its implications on civilization
hyperconnectivity
cellphones - one decade from zero to reaching half of people on planet.
there is a gap between emergence of a technology and humanity figuring out its implications, but once we do, it explodes
the strongest imperative is to communicate, driving cellphone, internet, texting adoption.
hyperconnectivity is transforming the human landscape
Children are experts in mimesis. Children learn by replicating behavior, and hyperconnectivity has increased the circle of their peers to the entire connected planet.
Successful behaviors get adopted immediately into a new global behavioral kit.
Mark calls this "hypermimesis".
Resistance is futile - the more attempts there are to block, restrict and control technology-enabled communication, the more society finds ways to bypass it. It is a new cultural imperative.
Anyone in the human network can "find the others", develop bonds of affinity. Wikipedia represents, warts and all, the first attempt to capture the entire breadth of human knowledge. "of, for and by the mob".
Altruism trumps the virtues of selfishness. On social networks, the economic advantage of sharing can outweigh the economic advantage of hoarding.
There are dangers - a "ruling clique" of Wikipedians are threatening the open invitingness of wikipedia. But there is a counterreaction resisting their authority. Two possible outcomes: wikipedia may become fossilized; or wikipedia may break through to a new level of openness, as the wikipedians learn the advantages of altruism and the costs of authoritarianism. (it would have been helpful if he had discussed how and why things may tip one way or another, and what systemic designs can help encourage an open outcome).
Sharing is the ultimate threat - not the antiestablishment content shared, but the very act of sharing itself (reminds me of the discussion of flash mobs in Belarus and how mere public assembly, however innocent the activity once assembled, became the ultimate act of revolution)
Ends by talking about how Obama has unleashed the mob, and what happens post election depends not so much on what he does, but on whether he gets out of the way.
hyperconnectivity begets hypermemisis begets hyperempowerment.
Sees a short term future of a global power struggle, a war of the mob against authority.
The future looks nothing like democracy, not about empowering the individual, about networked hyperempowerment.
