Welcome to the collective mind
My how times have changed.
“Life has been transformed into an interactive experience, and every individual is now a portion of a developing collective mind.”
- Stanley Bing, writing in Fortune magazine – Jan 18, 2010
Can’t say I fully agree. Life was an interactive experience long before computers were even an Apple in Bill Gates’ eye. Giving birth, raising youngsters, going to school and work… those are all pretty interactive if you ask me.
But assuming he meant more interactive [and also not every individual, as those living in abject poverty are sadly precluded from participating due to circumstance], there is definitely a collective mind developing and being constructed in Picasso-esque style online as we speak.
We can only speculate whether this is a good thing or not but it will bring increasing challenges with it.
The big one we’re seeing unfolding at the moment is the deafening feud between socialism and capitalism. Both are now using their free speech rights to full advantage in thrusting their virtues on the world.
Half the world wants to make billions while demanding everything for free and doing as little as possible. The other half claims to be doing everything for free anyway while claiming it is entirely unsustainable. [yes I know these are extremes - I've used creative licence, so sue me. but you get my point].
Sadly there seems to be little middle ground for us to exist in. Perhaps that will be the legacy eventually created by this developing collective mind – finding a way for these two mammoth forces to co-exist peacefully. Or perhaps it will result in the demise of both of them and the discovery of another, hopefully better way of living.
Either way there’s no point in fighting it.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
Do you think the development of a “collective mind” is a good thing for everyone?
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