The Emerging Science of ‘Collective Intelligence’ -- And the Rise of the Global Brain aka: how techno-triumphalists are re-branding basic insights from sociology and the humanities they otherwise disdain into a pseudo-science for cash and attention by saying the word "computer!" over and over again really loudly.
In a very exciting surprise move, Dvorsky is very excited about this very exciting development, "We may be on an evolutionary trajectory, [Thomas W. Malone] argues, one that could someday give rise to the global brain. And amazingly, he's developing an entirely new scientific discipline to back his case." Yes, it really is amazing: Everything old is new again, if only everybody is ignorant enough. Also, too: We! Could! Someday! Be! Gods! I'm not sure why any of this is supposed to have something to do with "evolution," but I do especially like the reference not to "a global brain" but to "the global brain." Like it's an old, personal friend of Dvorsky's, "The Global Brain." "As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom." The Science Culture types at Edge who think they whooped the Humanities Culture types by declaring scientific reductionism plus PR handwaving (misconstrued as humanities hobbyism) a "Third Culture" really are terminally oblivious.
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> We may be on an evolutionary trajectory. . . that could someday give rise
> to the global brain.
What, did Howard Bloom's Global Brain develop Alzheimer's already?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Bloom
I'm getting sick to my balls of Dvorsky over on Io9...every second posting over there now seems to be him.
It's starting to feel like it's just him cheerleading, which is weird since Annalee, and Charlie Jane ect all seem to be rather sceptical of his wing of loonydom
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