People Transforming Communities

The Next Evolution of Networks?

Imagine for a moment that the entire world is ubiquitously connected through rigid communication networks. These have solidified into overlapping interest groups and all audiences are formalized. What would happen after the whole world finds itself in networks? What is the next evolution of human networks? I tend to think this is where we will see that knowledge is at the core of all of our efforts and that we will begin to cooperatively work knowledge in a very conscious way. What are your thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Bruce LaDuke on May 7, 2009 at 9:43pm: You make several good points Joseph.

One, the word networks is used to mean a lot of things...e.g., physical wiring, computer networks, human networks, knowledge networks the connections between people, etc. To fully understand networks I think we need to break all of these apart and understand exactly what is being discussed.

And then you're making the case that networks are devolving, not evolving. Someone wrote a book once called something like 'The Death of the Front Porch.' I could never find the book, but remember reading parts of it once. Anyway, the thought was that it used to be people would walk down the road or street and wave to neighbors on their front porches. That the fundamental architecture was open and social. Today, you can barely find a place to meet in public for free, or even at a reasonable cost, and homes are designed for privacy and exclusion, not interaction. The civic space overall in many communities is deteriorating or non-existent.

Your comments remind me of an online discussion I was in with a small group of AI researchers. They were basically tearing each other apart on their respecitve ideas, theories and opinions and everyone left the discussion angry. I remember thinking to myself, "I hope these guys don't actually figure out how to create a machine that thinks and acts like them."

Anyway, I would definitely agree with you that humanity is going to have to go down before it goes up. The only thing that changes people's values is a significant emotional event. Even the people who say they are altruistic and really are only pushing some personal agenda or starving for a legacy at the expense of others. All of these things are really spiritual immaturity. In my opinion, networking cannot evolve without spiritual maturity.

We are much more likely to entirely implode society and then build it up more thoughtfully than we are to straightway evolve into a higher state of networked society.

But I do think that the highest state of society is networked and cooperative, even though I'm doubtful that humanity will get there anytime soon without a significant emotional event. ....Something like an economic implosion.; ▶ Reply to This