vol II chap 8 sect 3
Previous: 8.2. Energy transformations in photocells and in Light Emitting Diodes.
8.3. Anthropological spaces for the development of collective intelligence.¶
This section contains information obtained from Paul Levy´s book Collective intelligence. Mindkind´s emerging world in cyberspace (2004) where he describes four anthropological spaces. All excerpts taken from this book are written in between quotation marks.
Levy defines anthropological spaces as “cultural manifestations of the dynamic evolution that tends to the construction of intelligent communities.”…” An anthropological space is a system of proximity (neighborhood) that defines a space and is anthropological because it is proper to humans. It depends on techniques, meanings, language, culture, conventions, representations and human emotions determined in the social spectrum.”
Each space is characterized by a specific transformation which is indicated in parentheses: the Earth (the matter), the Territory (the borders), the Merchandises (the flows) and the Knowledge (the knowledge). These spaces are associated with navigation instruments, objects of knowledge (the figures of the space) and certain technological supports.
In what follows we first present Lévy´s definitions of collective intelligence and of anthropological space as well as the characteristic phases of the development of collective intelligence. Then, in four Tables we indicate for each anthropological space its main Conceptual developments and Technological applications.
Concerning the meaning of collective intelligence Lévy mention that “Collective intelligence only starts with culture and increases with it. Certainly, we think with ideas, with languages, with cognitive technologies received from a community.” …. “Let us remember that collective intelligence is an intelligence distributed everywhere, constantly valued, coordinated in real time, which leads to an effective mobilization of skills.”
Anthropological spaces do not exactly correspond to specific time periods described in timetables; they refer to states of development that can evolve in different moments with diverse types of manifestations. According to Lévy the following seven phases characterize the dynamical development of the collective intelligence:
“Listening: Pay attention that manifests itself visibly or audibly both in the community environment and within it, in relation to: facts, ideas, arguments, knowledge, evaluations, inventions, relationships, resources, skills, experiences, demands, proposals, projects .... Dependencies created by official languages, codes or rigid structures must be overcome; authorize singularities and encourage dialogues, rather multilogues. Without limiting ourselves to the passive recognition of differences and the juxtaposition of discourses, it is about understanding the creativity that emerges from the collective.”
“Expression: Expose in an open and plural way the most important problems of the community, take a position and argue each individual position to contribute to collective elaborations that allow exploring alternative individual solutions to such problems, according to the multiple criteria that operate in the community and that are manifested in debates in which all its members participate.”
“Decision: Make visible the collective effects of one's own resolutions to reinforce the feelings and practices of responsibility of individuals and groups in the community, in order to maximize such responsibility, be aware of its consequences and have the ability to make judgments about its legitimacy.”
“Evaluation: Value the exploration of alternative individual solutions to the problems of the collective, so that the forms of evaluation are also the subject of permanent debates with responsible and committed participation of community members.”
“Organization: Define and distribute functions and attributions to individuals and entities within the community, to share tasks, affect resources and streamline processes, as well as to regroup forces and competencies in order to increase the visibility of the social.”
“Connection: Promote contacts between senses and human relationships without going through representatives; although disorganizing factors may appear, unforeseen regroupings may arise, desires for collaborations and new exchanges that promote virtual worlds of shared meanings.”
“Vision: Emergent and global phase of listening that does not correspond to the fixed image of the future, but to the birth of a collective perspective that comes from the previous phases and emerges from the interactions and contacts that arise in common projects; cyberspace allows an indefinite exploration and a deployment in hypertextual mode of virtual images that express the dynamics of the collective.”
Conceptual developments and technological applications on energy.¶
Next, Tables 8.1 to 8.4 describe the main characteristics of each anthropological space and present a selection of Conceptual developments and Technological applications that are representative of each anthropological space. For the spaces of the Earth and the Territory we consider conceptual aspects related to the development of languages and the processes of writing and printing, technological applications concern developments in agriculture, arts and crafts.
For the space of the Merchandises the conceptual developments are related to relevant publications describing concepts, models and theories connected with energy; the technological applications start with the industrial revolution and deal with devices and instruments useful for transportation and information transfer as well as for understanding and using energy. The space of Knowledge presents some conceptual developments and technological applications that have generated significative advances during the last century.
The content of the conceptual developments and technological applications included in previous Tables is not in chronological order; it indicates a selection of significative steps in their corresponding evolution process. Much of this information has been taken from The Timetables of Science. A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science (1988).
REFERENCES¶
LÉVY, P.. Collective Intelligence. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. (1997).
LÉVY, P. Inteligencia colectiva: por una antropología del ciberespacio. Biblioteca virtual en salud. Washington, D.C. Organización Panamericana de la Salud. (2004). Consulted in april 20, 2009 in http://inteligenciacolectiva.bvsalud.org.
FEYNMAN, R. P., LEIGHTON R. B., and SANDS, M. The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Mainly Mechanics, Radiation of Heat, Volume I. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesly. (1963).
HELLEMANS, A, and BUNCH, B. The Timetables of Science. A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science. New York. Simon and Schuster. (1988).
Next: 9.1. From a theoretical proposition to an experimental demonstration.