Or rather … the country. The continent. The world of the Internet.
A rather interesting idea crossed my mind last night. I was thinking about the global challenges that humanity is facing today. The ones we all know about: global warming, crash of the economy as we knew it, globalization, unequal distribution of wealth (read some about it here) and many others.
I thought about the ants. As individuals they are insignificant. As a group they are amazing. They construct structures we are not able to (maintaining the proportions). They are organized and act as a whole organism.
So do humans, but with one big issue – the communication. We worked pretty well in tribes, cities but now we have to communicate globally. Our social structures are expanding. The rules we use to organize do not apply any longer. What rules should we establish now?
The mind of the many
The internet is a chaotic and at the same time a self organizing thing. A brain if you like. Its neurons are the people that use it. The connections – its synapses. We started thinking globally and not just as a metaphor.
We might now use this concept and develop it. We could create a new country, a new continent, with new rules that apply to new times.
This structure would not be one led by governments but by the best performing citizens, just as our brain controls our body. There won’t be any taxes that we don’t already pay. The economics would be self balancing and self adjusting.
Social status would not matter. What would matter would be the outcome of one’s efforts. The best intellectuals, the best concepts would rise to the top, no matter the race, sex or ethnicity.
The system would be called Internetism, the social system that gathers the best of previous ones.
Is it an utopia or a reality we are yet to accept?
I have been studying the whole concept behind Zynga’s recent success (Farmville, Mafia Wars etc.) and I just can’t stop thinking about how interesting it is.
Basically all of the other online games used to draw users to a social infrastructure (user accounts, social networks etc.) build on their own. The great thing about Zynga is that it targets already built social infrastructures (like Facebook, the iPhone AppStore). It lowers costs and it increases exposure and potential revenue.
What if brands would use the social networks to market products just like Zynga markets their games?
Artificial Intelligence, in the sense we hope for and expect does not exist at the moment. At least not available to the general public (there are rumors of Google, the military and others building such a thing).
It has been the dream of advertisers worldwide to communicate one-to-one to potential consumers and I assume that we are not that far from reaching it. We have the tools to build it. The general public wants it.
I expect this to be the main feature of communication worldwide (not just advertising) in the century to come.
However – limiting such a thing to just advertising, or advertising as we know it, sounds ridiculous to say the least.
First of all I think always is a very long term . So long that we should take into account the possibility of television disappearing. Even video as a concept. Secondly I believe watching TV passively is not the peak of human civilization. We would at least socialize television viewing.
Therefore I have to disagree with points 1,2 and 3.
I have to agree to points 4 and five and would add:
TV channels, in the way we see them now, will start disappearing in the next 15-20 years, which would be the moment the “dotcom boomers” (those born after 1990, well accustomed with internet media consumption) will reach consumer maturity and will dictate a new marketing and media approach.
We will see the rise of small and medium media producers (teams of 1-5 people), flexible, niched and adding up to a Long Tail of media that will rise up to challenge media conglomerates. News Corp. – watch out!
Mobile television will be more and more popular. Internet connected mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous. So will streamed mobile television.
We will see the rise of television syndication. Passive viewing will not be that passive. We will be able to mix many televisions, ignore shows we hate, watch shows our friends recommend, mix and mash up as we want.
User Generated Television. This is not a new thing but the Internet adds traction to it. Think Candid Camera Home videos meets YouTube.
The experiment gathers status updates from Twitter users, mixing them in a 347430 verses (so far) piece of art.
“I soon found that people were very excited to be part of this and consider it some form of artistic expression of the collective consciousness of Twitter.” declared Andrei for the Telegraph.
This is not the first time Andrei experimented with social media interaction. His Quizoo game was a hit when launched.
If you find the idea interesting, don’t forget to digg it.
Webstock, the local Internet UnConference has now a brand new look, thanks to … us.
It’s fun, funky fresh and friendly. Just like it was supposed to be.
Users can view news and info on the event, interact, subscribe as participants to Webstock Awards ‘09 and during the event view the live stream on Webstock TV.
Today I’ve received news of another statistic study. It stated 2 percent of romanians wish to relocate in rural areas. The study was conducted on a “representative sample” of 1100 people.
I will not talk about romanians relocating to rural areas. It’s boring. I will talk about the concept of statistics and the changes that need to be taken to reach the next level.
The “representative sample” of 1100 people is no more than 0.005% of the total population. So … how could this sample be “representative”?
The answer lies in the phisical ability to conduct the study. There is only that much a company can do. Back in the day, when Statistics was born as a science there was no way anyone can theoritize the appearence of something like the internet, the impact it had or the fast spread it gained.
I grew up learning on the internet. I failed once the Statistics class, not being one of my favourites in college. However, what I did learn on the internet is that samples can be way larger than the standard 1000, data can be collected easier and faster than by just “asking for answers” and many others.
Statistics need an upgrade. Because now it’s more guesswork than science.
What are we thinking? I mean what are we ALL thinking? Jung theoratized that we may have all something that he called “collective unconscious”, a part of the unconscious, shared by all humanity, a result of previous experience.
It is ”a reservoir of the experiences of our species.” Something we inherit and pass on.
I was amazed to find this theory as I felt humanity tends to reach something I would call collective thinking (the sum and sinergy of all human information and intelligence). The concept is not new. Asimov, the SF writer, wrote about the concept in his well known Foundation Series. Others have thought and talked about it.
As unlikely as it may seem I think we are close to something of the kind. Twitter (yes, ha, ha … Twitter) is at the moment the concept most likely to reach something of the kind. People talking, thinking, communicating together may be the dawn of a new era for human kind.
You may have seen technologies come and go (remember back in 2000 – “Flash is the next big thing, man!”, followed by many other “next big things” ?). If you’ve been long enough in the industry you are aware that not all hyped technologies ever reach productivity.
This is Probably a Lead Programmer
Recently I came across a very interesting study regarding the hype cycles. Gartner uses this to show how hype evolves and transforms into productivity (not always actually).
1. Technology trigger
Some company or individual discovers some kind of technology or way of using technology that gets lots of press coverage, money, fame, rockstar tours and celebrity endorsments. While many skip all the “rockstar thing” they get geek fans all over the world excited over their discovery.
2. Overinflated Expectations
“Yes, the Google OS cures cancer and fights poverty”. “Of course the iPhone is our best attempt at time travel and teleportation”. You’ve heard these things. You may have even thought or said something like this. It’s either very good marketing or just plain ol’ hype.
3. Disillusionment
“Man, this Java thing is nothing… just a bunch of bull”. People get disillusioned when technology doesn’t live up to their own overinflated expectations so they just abandon the thing. Media does too.
4. Enlightnement
“Yes, maybe Flash is not the best thing but look how pretty video is rendered in it. Hey, YouTube uses it too”. People see that maybe the technology is actually good for something and they start using it. Medium press coverage. Come back tour. With the band.
5. Productivity
“Yes, it took us ten years but we got this show on a road” says the founder, which is now tired and bored. This is the point where the technology is widely accepted, it gets regular reviews, new ways of using it are found every day and it’s here to stay.
The problem with failiures
Most of those that work with technology expect to either be eternally rich and famous after the first stage or…the second. 99 percent fail because they give up at stage 3, the disillusionment.
It is in our nature to ask for approval from our fellow people. It is because of our short life we demand fast success. But it just doesn’t work that way.
. So long that we should take into account the possibility of television disappearing. Even video as a concept. Secondly I believe watching TV passively is not the peak of human civilization. We would at least socialize television viewing.
