Evolving Collective Intelligence by Tom Atlee

Exploring how to generate the collective wisdom we need

Exploring how to generate the collective wisdom we need

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Candida International

What Does MHRA Stand For??

Bono and Bush Party without Koch: AIDS Industry Makes a Mockery of Medical Science

Profit as Usual and to Hell with the Risks: Media Urge that Young Girls Receive Mandatory Cervical Cancer Vaccine

 

Health Supreme

Multiple sclerosis is Lyme disease: Anatomy of a cover-up

Chromotherapy in Cancer

Inclined Bed Therapy: Tilt your bed for healthful sleep

 

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Artificial Water Fluoridation: Off To A Poor Start / Fluoride Injures The Newborn

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Democracy At Work? - PPM On Fluoride

"Evidence Be Damned...Patient Outcome Is Irrelevant" - From Helke

Why Remove Fluoride From Phosphate Rock To Make Fertilizer

 

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Islanda, quando il popolo sconfigge l'economia globale.

Il Giorno Fuori dal Tempo, Il significato energetico del 25 luglio

Rinaldo Lampis: L'uso Cosciente delle Energie

Attivazione nei Colli Euganei (PD) della Piramide di Luce

Contatti con gli Abitanti Invisibili della Natura

 

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December 02, 2008

Let Us Please Frame Collective Intelligence As Big As It Is

Yesterday the New York Times published a great article about collective intelligence, "You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?"

It covers a lot of ground on this vital subject. But it misses a very important point.

This article joins others in framing the subject of "collective intelligence" in terms of (a) computerized, online, and other high-tech systems for (b) collective information gathering, forecasting, etc., (c) to empower marketing, investment strategies, consumerism, productivity, activist impact, government control, or people's general ability to track each other, individually or collectively.

But I suggest that collective intelligence is so much more than a way for one part of a whole system -- government agencies, advertisers, investors, activists -- to predict, control, track, or manipulate other parts of the system -- competitors, enemies, consumers, citizens, etc.

Although there are tremendous motivations for seeing collective intelligence as a resource for power and profit, I suggest that our society urgently needs a more inclusive framing of collective intelligence as the capacity for learning and problem-solving by whole organizations, communities, societies, etc. This includes not only information gathering and forecasting but collective sense-making, deliberation, decision-making, scenario exploration, vision-creation, and much more. In each case, collective intelligence uses diversity and dissonance to make the intelligence of the whole community or society greater than the sum of its parts.

I further suggest that the primary VALUE of collective intelligence is not to help one collective manipulate or get an edge on another, but to enable democratic and self-organizing systems to respond creatively to the changing conditions in and around them. The highest purpose of collective intelligence is to access the wisdom of the whole on behalf of the whole -- at least as much through high quality dialogue and deliberation as through tracking individual data points and inputs.

This ability of an entire living system to respond creatively and appropriately is comparable to the function of our individual intelligence. This intelligence has evolved to help us rise above our more ancient instincts into more flexible, creative, responsive survival strategies. Collectives do this -- and need to do this -- as much as individuals do.

A couple of years ago George Por and I initiated an effort to establish the study and practice of collective intelligence as an inclusive academic and professional FIELD. Our "Call to convene the field of collective intelligence" describes our inclusive vision of collective intelligence in all its diverse fullness and its unique mission in the world. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject. As part of our effort, we attempted a "collective intelligence convergence" conference.

Although the conference, itself, didn't happen, our effort inspired the compilation of an extensive book on the subject -- "Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace" edited by Mark Tovey and sponsored by Robert Steele. It includes over 50 contributors -- including myself and Thomas Malone of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, whose work is described in the article below -- and covered a very broad range of approaches to collective intelligence. No other book comes close to its range of vision on this subject. You can buy a printed copy or download a free electronic copy online here .

Given the ability of this field to improve collective capacity, it seems certain that it will continue to develop, one way or another, along with other emerging capacities and technologies. But HOW humanity uses these new powers is another question entirely. That's something all of us will play a role in deciding. And that is why I believe it is so important how we frame what collective intelligence is all about.

 


posted by Tom Atlee on Tuesday December 2 2008

URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/tom_atlee/2008/12/02/let_us_please_frame_collective_intelligence_as_big_as_it_is.htm

 

 

 


Related Articles

Reflections on the evolution of choice and collective intelligence
I had an interesting conversation about choice today with my friend and colleague Adin Rogovin. We noticed that increased choice may increase or decrease happiness. Choice -- seen by most people as supporting happiness -- can be overwhelming, or false, or of poor quality. Lack of choice -- normally thought of as a source of unhappiness -- can make life simple, supporting happiness if one's life situation is otherwise satisfying.... [read more]
May 15, 2008 - Tom Atlee

Whole System Learning and Evolution -- and the New Journalism
A few days ago I stumbled on a new model for whole-system intelligence inspired by some work my friend Peggy Holman is doing with Journalism that Matters. These journalists are reexamining the kinds of stories they tell and their role in democracy, especially in light of how the rise of bloggers and other citizen journalists challenges mainstream media. Journalism that Matters is trying to revision that challenge into a create... [read more]
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Gathering storms of unwanted change
In addition to its immediate relevance for our personal behaviors and health and as a public health issue, this report from The Ecologist on "The Gathering Brainstorm" of damaging Wi-Fi impacts, includes the sentence "The technology is now moving far faster than it can be tested or regulated." This is one of the rare occasions of a specific reference to a phenomenon that really concerns me:... [read more]
April 27, 2008 - Tom Atlee

 


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Diversity is possibility waiting to be born. So how can we use our differences most creatively?

 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

These articles are brought to you strictly for educational and informational purposes. Be sure to consult your health practitioner of choice before utilizing any of the information to cure or mitigate disease. Any copyrighted material cited is used strictly in a non commercial way and in accordance with the "fair use" doctrine.

 

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