Neurotransmitters for the Global Mind
In keeping with yesterday’s theme, I’ll present another of my favorite metaphors for the semantic web: ?Neurotransmitters for the Global Mind?. You see, each new advance in technology makes it easier for humans to communicate amongst ourselves. And if you think of people as being individual neurons, and our modes of communication as the neurotransmitters that lubricate the mind and make neuron-neuron communication possible, you will see what I mean by gloabal mind. First humans developed language, then written language, then the printing press, then the WWW. At each stage, we greatly increase the ability of nodes to intercommunicate, and leads to overall more intelligent societies. So I’ve always thought of communications avances as sort of the lubricant to a smoothly-running global mind.
Now, history would seem to show an upward trend here. So far (with the exception of perhaps the burning of the library at Alexandria), each generation has proven that there could be ever more connectedness achieved. But when I hear William Loughborough talk about ?Everything/Everyone/Always Connected?, I can’t help think of what happens when we have excess neurotransmitters flowing around. Let’s hope it’s a good trip and not a bad one! 