Somehow these mystification of the web have become popular...
Obviously the web amazes people by it's possibilities of collaborative action. Still, I don't see how it differs in quality from the invention of the printing press, the alphabeth or simply language.
Of course you are not a single entity as a human. Where would you be if you had no means of communication with others? That's all that's special about humans – we can share information from brain to brain quite effective, an not just from parent to offspring. Language, alphabet, printing press and web are just an extension of that, which extend the quality of information, the degree of distribution and the distance in space and time.
Humans are a lifeform who are wired for collaboration. Does that mean we are one? Does that mean we are particles of some much bigger entity?
Well, that's a matter of perspective – companies, institutions, science and religions can also be seen as organisms using humans for their ends...
The idea of the web as an organism appears also here:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
The idea that humans are just a vessel for independent ideas (memes) which use as humans as a mere network is a idea by Richard Dawkins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
This perspective is a byproduct of his theory of selfish genes, which do not necessarely contribute to the fitness of it's host.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene |
Bah. This is simplistic techno-utopianism.
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There is one thing which you could write further about to make this an even better string. Answer the question raised by Justin Pfister about five months ago in the reference post of Tuesday, 27th of May. He asked "What does Google believe fundementally about the human species?"
If you could get somebody to chase ideas about this...... |
"El Goog" is not seeking new power sources or building new server farms for itselfwithout human intervention. Humans are still required for that. Until the day when a computer can plug itself back in after a human unplugs it or can fend off the humans that come to power down a data center when it gets too "smart", I'm not convinced we are this close to an intelligent computing network that can usurp our control over the physical realm. |
Well, humans act – but that doesn't mean, that this is the only perspective to look on human actions. I would say, it's rather interesting to go beyond that. For instance, listen to this speech of the Philosopher Daniel Dennett about religious memes. I think that's rather interesting in the context of "El Goog" as he also sees humans in their function for a non-physic entity. |
this vision reminds me about the movie "Cube". we unconsciously build up a structure without thinking what we build. it could help us or eat us. ;) |
