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'[[File:Internet map 1024.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Opte Project]] visualization of [[routing|routing path]]s through a portion of the Internet. The connections and pathways of the internet could be seen as the pathways of [[neurons]] and [[synapse]]s in a global brain]] The '''global brain''' is a neuroscience-inspired and futurological vision of the planetary [[Information and communications technology|ICT]] [[computer network|network]] that interconnects all humans and their technological artifacts. As this network stores ever more [[information]], takes over ever more functions of coordination and communication from traditional organizations, and becomes increasingly [[intelligent]], it increasingly plays the role of a [[brain]] for the planet [[Earth]]. ==Basic ideas== Proponents of the global brain hypothesis claim that the [[Internet]] increasingly ties its users together into a single information processing system that functions as part of the collective [[nervous system]] of the planet. The intelligence of this network is [[collective intelligence|collective]] or [[distributed cognition|distributed]]: it is not centralized or localized in any particular individual, organization or computer system. Therefore, no one can command or control it. Rather, it [[self-organization|self-organizes]] or [[emergence|emerges]] from the [[dynamic network analysis|dynamic network]]s of [[human–computer interaction|interactions]] between its components. This is a property typical of [[complex adaptive systems]].<ref name=CAS-T-17/> The [[World-wide web]] in particular resembles the organization of a brain with its webpages (playing a role similar to [[neurons]]) connected by [[hyperlinks]] (playing a role similar to [[synapses]]), together forming an [[Association (psychology)|associative]] network along which information propagates.<ref name="pespmc1.vub.ac.be">{{cite conference | authorlink1 = Francis Heylighen | last1 = Heylighen | first1 = Francis | last2 = Bollen | first2 = J. | date = 1996 | title = The World-Wide Web as a Super-Brain: from metaphor to model | editor-first = R. | editor-last = Trappl | conference = Cybernetics and Systems' 96 | publisher = Austrian Society For Cybernetics | url = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/papers/WWW-Super-Brain.pdf }}</ref> This analogy becomes stronger with the rise of [[social media]], such as [[Facebook]], where links between personal pages represent relationships in a [[social network]] along which information propagates from person to person.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Weinbaum | first = D. | date = 2012 | title = A Framework for Scalable Cognition: Propagation of challenges, towards the implementation of Global Brain models | publisher = GBI working paper 2012-02 | url = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ECCO/ECCO-Papers/Weaver-Attention.pdf }}</ref> Such propagation is similar to the [[spreading activation]] that [[neural networks]] in the brain use to process information in a parallel, distributed manner. ==History== Although some of the underlying ideas were already expressed by [[Nikola Tesla]] in the late 19th century and were written about by many others before him, the term “global brain” was coined in 1982 by [[Peter Russell (writer)|Peter Russell]] in his book ''The Global Brain''.<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Peter Russell (physicist) | last = Russell | first = P. | date = 1983 | title = The Global Brain: speculations on the evolutionary leap to planetary consciousness | location = Los Angeles | publisher = JP Tarcher }}</ref> How the Internet might be developed to achieve this was set out in 1986.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Andrews | first = D. | date = February 1986 | title = Information routeing groups – Towards the global superbrain: or how to find out what you need to know rather than what you think you need to know | journal = Journal of Information Technology | volume = 1 | issue = 1 | pages = 22–35 | doi=10.1057/jit.1986.5}}</ref> The first peer-reviewed article on the subject was published by [[Gottfried Mayer-Kress]] in 1995,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mayer-Kress | first1 = G. | last2 = Barczys | first2 = C. | date = 1995 | title = The global brain as an emergent structure from the Worldwide Computing Network, and its implications for modeling | journal = The information society | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–27 | url = http://www.ccsr.uiuc.edu/web/Techreports/1990-94/CCSR-94-22.pdf | doi=10.1080/01972243.1995.9960177}}</ref> while the first [[algorithms]] that could turn the world-wide web into a collectively intelligent network were proposed by [[Francis Heylighen]] and [[Johan Bollen]] in 1996.<ref name="pespmc1.vub.ac.be"/><ref>{{cite conference | last1 = Bollen | first1 = J. | authorlink2 = Francis Heylighen | last2 = Heylighen | first2 = Francis | date = 1996 | title = Algorithms for the self-organization of distributed, multi-user networks. Possible application to the future world wide web | editor-first = R. | editor-last = Trappl | conference = Cybernetics and Systems '96 | pages = 911–916 | publisher = Austrian Society For Cybernetics | url = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/papers/AlgorithmsWeb.pdf }}</ref> Reviewing the strands of intellectual history that contributed to the global brain hypothesis, [[Francis Heylighen]] distinguishes four perspectives: ''“organicism”'', ''“encyclopedism”'', ''“emergentism”'' and ''“evolutionary cybernetics”''. He asserts that these developed in relative independence but now are converging in his own scientific re-formulation.<ref name="Conceptions of a Global Brain">{{cite book | authorlink1 = Francis Heylighen | last1 = Heylighen | first1 = Francis | date = 2011 | chapterurl = http://pcp.vub.ac.be/papers/GB-conceptions-Rodrigue.pdf | chapter = Conceptions of a Global Brain: an historical review | title = Evolution: Cosmic, Biological, and Social | editor1-last = Grinin | editor1-first = L. E. | editor2-last = Carneiro | editor2-first = R. L. | editor3-last = Korotayev | editor3-first = A. V. | editor4-last = Spier | editor4-first = F. | publisher = Uchitel Publishing | pages = 274–289 }}</ref> === Organicism === In the 19th century, the sociologist [[Herbert Spencer]] saw society as a [[social organism]] and reflected about its need for a nervous system. Entomologist [[William Morton Wheeler|William Wheeler]] developed the concept of the ant colony as a spatially extended organism, and in the 1930s he coined the term [[superorganism]] to describe such an entity.<ref>{{cite journal | authorlink = William Morton Wheeler | last = Wheeler | first = William | date = 1911 | title = The Ant Colony as an Organism | journal = Journal of Morphology | volume = 22 | pages = 307–325 | doi=10.1002/jmor.1050220206}}</ref> This concept was later adopted by thinkers such as [[Gregory Stock]] in his book [[Metaman]] and [[Joel de Rosnay]] to describe planetary society as a superorganism. The mental aspects of such an organic system at the planetary level were perhaps first broadly elaborated by paleontologist and Jesuit priest [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]]. In 1945, he described a coming “planetisation” of humanity, which he saw as the next phase of accelerating human “socialisation”. Teilhard described both socialization and planetization as irreversible, irresistible processes of ''macrobiological development'' culminating in the emergence of a [[noosphere]], or global mind (see Emergentism below).<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Pierre Teilhard de Chardin | last = Teilhard de Chardin | first = Pierre | date = 1964 | title = The Future of Man | chapter = Chap VII - The Planetisation of Man }}</ref> The more recent [[living systems theory]] describes both organisms and social systems in terms of the "critical subsystems" ("organs") they need to contain in order to survive, such as an internal transport system, a resource reserve, and a decision-making system. This theory has inspired several thinkers, including Peter Russell and Francis Heylighen to define the global brain as the network of information processing subsystems for the planetary social system. === Encyclopedism === In the perspective of encylopedism, the emphasis is on developing a universal knowledge network. The first systematic attempt to create such an integrated system of the world's knowledge was the 18th century ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' of [[Denis Diderot]] and [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]]. However, by the end of the 19th century, the amount of knowledge had become too large to be published in a single synthetic volume. To tackle this problem, [[Paul Otlet]] founded the science of documentation, now called [[information science]]. In the 1930s he envisaged a [[World Wide Web]]-like system of associations between documents and telecommunication links that would make all the world's knowledge available immediately to anybody. [[H. G. Wells]] proposed a similar vision of a collaboratively developed world encyclopedia that would be constantly updated by a global university-like institution. He called this a [[World Brain]], as it would function as a continuously updated memory for the planet. [[Tim Berners-Lee]], the inventor of the [[World Wide Web]], too, was inspired by the free associative possibilities of the brain for his invention. The brain can link different kinds of information without any apparent link otherwise; Berners-Lee thought that computers could become much more powerful if they could imitate this functioning, i.e. make links between any arbitrary piece of information.<ref>{{harv|Berners-Lee|1999|pp=4, 41}}</ref> The most powerful implementation of encyclopedism to date is Wikipedia, which integrates the associative powers of the world-wide web with the collective intelligence of its millions of contributors, approaching the ideal of a global memory.<ref name="Conceptions of a Global Brain"/> The [[Semantic web]], also first proposed by Berners-Lee, is a system of protocols to make the pieces of knowledge and their links readable by machines, so that they could be used to make automatic [[inference|inferences]], thus providing this brain-like network with some capacity for autonomous "thinking" or reflection. === Emergentism === This approach focuses on the emergent aspects of the evolution and development of [[complexity]], including the spiritual, psychological, and moral-ethical aspects of the global brain, and is at present the most speculative approach. The global brain is here seen as a natural and emergent process of planetary evolutionary development. Here again [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] attempted a synthesis of science, social values, and religion in his [[The Phenomenon of Man]], which argues that the ''[[Telos (philosophy)|telos]]'' (drive, purpose) of universal evolutionary process is the development of greater levels of both complexity and consciousness. Teilhard proposed that if life persists then planetization, as a biological process producing a global brain, would necessarily also produce a global mind, a new level of planetary consciousness and a technologically supported network of thoughts which he called the ''[[noosphere]]''. Teilhard's proposed technological layer for the noosphere can be interpreted as an early anticipation of the Internet and the Web.<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Pierre Teilhard de Chardin | last = Teilhard de Chardin | first = Pierre | date = 1964 | title = The Future of Man | chapter = Chap X - The Formation of the Noosphere }}</ref> Physicist and philosopher [[Peter Russell (physicist)|Peter Russell]] elaborates a similar view, and stresses the importance of personal spiritual growth, in order to build and to achieve synergy with the spiritual dimension of the emerging superorganism. This approach is most popular in [[New Age]] circles, which emphasize growth in consciousness rather than scientific modeling or the implementation of technological and social systems. ===Evolutionary cybernetics=== [[Systems theory|Systems theorists]] and [[cybernetics|cyberneticists]] commonly describe the emergence of a higher order system in evolutionary development as a “[[metasystem transition]]” (a concept introduced by [[Valentin Turchin]]) or a “major evolutionary transition”.<ref>{{cite journal | title = The major evolutionary transitions | authorlink1 = Eörs Szathmáry | first1 = Eörs | last1 = Szathmáry | authorlink2 = John Maynard Smith | first2 = John | last2 = Maynard Smith | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 374 | pages = 227–232 | date = 16 March 1995 | doi = 10.1038/374227a0 | pmid=7885442}}</ref> Such a metasystem consists of a group of subsystems that work together in a coordinated, goal-directed manner. It is as such much more powerful and intelligent than its constituent systems. [[Francis Heylighen]] has argued that the global brain is an emerging metasystem with respect to the level of individual human intelligence, and investigated the specific evolutionary mechanisms that promote this transition<ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Francis Heylighen | last = Heylighen | first = Francis | date = 2008 | chapterurl = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/AcceleratingEvolution.pdf | chapter = Accelerating socio-technological evolution: from ephemeralization and stigmergy to the global brain | title = Globalization as evolutionary process: modeling global change | publisher = Routledge | page = 284 }}</ref> In this scenario, the Internet fulfills the role of the network of “nerves” that interconnect the subsystems and thus coordinates their activity. The cybernetic approach makes it possible to develop mathematical models and simulations of the processes of [[self-organization]] through which such coordination and [[collective intelligence]] emerges. == Recent developments == In 1994 [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]], in his popular book ''[[Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World|Out of Control]]'', posited the emergence of a "[[Collective consciousness|hive mind]]" from a discussion of cybernetics and evolutionary biology.<ref name=ooc>{{Cite book| publisher = Addison-Wesley| isbn = 0201577933| authorlink = Kevin Kelly (editor) | last = Kelly | first = Kevin| title = [[Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World|Out of control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization]]| location = Reading, Mass| date = 1994| pages = 5–28}}</ref> In 1996, [[Francis Heylighen]] and [[Ben Goertzel]] founded the Global Brain group, a discussion forum grouping most of the researchers that had been working on the subject of the global brain to further investigate this phenomenon. The group organized the first international conference on the topic in 2001 at the [[Vrije Universiteit Brussel]]. After a period of relative neglect, the Global Brain idea has recently seen a resurgence in interest, in part due to talks given on the topic by [[Tim O'Reilly]], the Internet forecaster who popularized the term [[Web 2.0]],<ref>{{cite video | authorlink = Tim O'Reilly | first = Tim | last = O'Reilly | url = http://www.greenbiz.com/video/2012/03/22/towards-global-brain?ms=42144 | title = Towards a Global Brain | series = One Great Idea | date = March 2012 }}</ref> and [[Yuri Milner]], the social media investor.<ref>{{cite web | first = Chrystia | last = Freeland | website = blogs.reuters.com | url = http://blogs.reuters.com/chrystia-freeland/2011/09/23/the-advent-of-the-global-brain/ | title = The advent of the global brain }}</ref> In January 2012, the Global Brain Institute (GBI) was founded at the [[Vrije Universiteit Brussel]] to develop a mathematical theory of the “brainlike” propagation of information across the Internet. In the same year, [[Thomas W. Malone]] and collaborators from the [[MIT Center for Collective Intelligence]] have started to explore how the global brain could be “programmed” to work more effectively,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bernstein | first1 = A. | last2 = Klein | first2 = M. | authorlink3 = Thomas W. Malone | last3 = Malone | first3 = Thomas W. | date = 2012 | title = Programming the Global Brain | journal = Communications of the ACM | volume = 55 | issue = 5 | page = 41 | url = http://cci.mit.edu/publications/CCIwp2011-04.pdf | doi=10.1145/2160718.2160731}}</ref> using mechanisms of [[collective intelligence]]. The complexity scientist [[Dirk Helbing]] and his NervousNet group have recently started developing a "Planetary Nervous System", which includes a "Global Participatory Platform", as part of the large-scale [[FuturICT]] project, thus preparing some of the groundwork for a Global Brain.<ref>{{cite book | authorlink1 = Dirk Helbing | last1 = Helbing | first1 = Dirk | date = 2015 | chapter = Creating (“Making”) a Planetary Nervous System as Citizen Web | title = Thinking Ahead - Essays on Big Data, Digital Revolution, and Participatory Market Society | pages = 189–194 | publisher = Springer International Publishing | chapterurl = http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-15078-9_13 }}</ref> ==Criticisms== A common criticism of the idea that humanity would become directed by a global brain is that this would reduce individual diversity and freedom,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rayward | first = W. B. | date = 1999 | title = H. G. Wells' s idea of a World Brain: A critical reassessment | journal = Journal of the American Society for Information Science | volume = 50 | issue = 7 | pages = 557–573 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.85.1010 | doi=10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(1999)50:7<557::aid-asi2>3.0.co;2-m}}</ref> and lead to [[mass surveillance]].<ref>{{cite journal | last = Brooks | first = M. | date = June 24, 2000 | url = http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0006/msg00182.html | title = Global brain | journal = New Scientist | issue = 2244 | page = 22 }}</ref> This criticism is inspired by [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] forms of government, as exemplified by [[George Orwell]]s character of "[[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]]". It is also inspired by the analogy between collective intelligence or [[swarm intelligence]] and [[insect societies]], such as beehives and ant colonies, in which individuals are essentially interchangeable. In a more extreme view, the global brain has been compared with the [[Borg (Star Trek)|Borg]],<ref>{{cite book | last = Goertzel | first = Ben | date = 2002 | title = Creating Internet Intelligence: Wild computing, distributed digital consciousness, and the emerging global brain | publisher = Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers | url = {{google books|id=Vnzb-xLdvv8C|plainurl=yes}} | isbn = 9780306467356 }}</ref> the race of collectively thinking cyborgs conceived by the [[Star Trek]] science fiction franchise. Global brain theorists reply that the emergence of distributed intelligence would lead to the exact opposite of this vision.<ref>{{cite journal | authorlink = Francis Heylighen | last = Heylighen | first = Francis | date = 2007 | title = The Global Superorganism: an evolutionary-cybernetic model of the emerging network society | journal = Social Evolution & History | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 58–119 | url = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/papers/Superorganism.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | authorlink = Francis Heylighen | last = Heylighen | first = Francis | date = 2002 | chapter = Das Globale Gehirn als neue Utopia | trans_chapter = The global brain as a new utopia | publisher = Suhrkamp | location = Frankurt | chapterurl = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/papers/GB-Utopia.pdf | editor1-first = R. | editor1-last = Maresch | editor2-first = F. | editor2-last = Rötzer | title = Renaissance der Utopie }}</ref> The reason is that effective [[collective intelligence]] requires [[diversity (politics)|diversity]] of opinion, [[decentralization]] and individual independence, as demonstrated by [[James Surowiecki]] in his book [[The Wisdom of Crowds]]. Moreover, a more distributed form of decision-making would decrease the power of governments, corporations or political leaders, thus increasing democratic participation and reducing the dangers of totalitarian control. == See also == * [[Algorithmic regulation]] * [[Collective consciousness]] * [[Collective intelligence]] * [[Complex adaptive system]] * [[Gaia hypothesis]] * [[Knowledge ecosystem]] * [[Management cybernetics]] * [[Technoself#Noeme|Noeme]] * [[Noogenesis]] * [[Noosphere]] ([[Vladimir Vernadsky]], [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]]) * [[Singleton (global governance)]] * [[Social organism]] * [[Superorganism]] * [[Technological singularity]] * [[World Brain]] ([[H.G. Wells]]) * [[ubiquitous computing]] * [[ubiquitous city]] == References == {{reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=CAS-T-17>{{cite journal | title = Cyberspace: The Ultimate Complex Adaptive System | url = http://www.dodccrp.org/files/IC2J_v4n2_03_Phister.pdf | journal = The International C2 Journal | accessdate = 25 August 2012 | first = Paul W., Jr | last = Phister }}</ref> }} == Further reading == ===Wide audience=== * {{cite book | authorlink = Tim Berners-Lee | last = Berners-Lee | first = Tim | date = 1999 | title = [[Weaving the Web|Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor]] | publisher = [[Harper (publisher)|Harper]] | ref=harv | isbn = 0-06-251586-1 }} * {{cite book | authorlink = Howard Bloom | last = Bloom | first = Howard | date = 2000 | title = Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century }} * {{cite book | authorlink = Peter Russell (author) | last = Russell | first = Peter | date = 1982 | title = The Awakening Earth: The Global Brain | location = London | publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul }} (emphasis on philosophy and consciousness) * It from bit and fit from bit. On the origin and impact of information in the average evolution. Inludes how life forms originate and from there evolve to become more and more complex, like organisations and multinational corporations and a "global brain" (Yves Decadt, 2000). Book published in Dutch with English paper summary in The Information Philosopher, http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/decadt/ * {{cite book | authorlink = Gregory Stock | last = Stock | first = Gregory | date = 1993 | title = [[Metaman]]: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism }} * {{cite book | authorlink = Joel de Rosnay | last = de Rosnay | first = Joel | date = 1999 | url = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/books/DeRosnay.TheSymbioticMan.pdf | title = The Symbiotic Man: A new understanding of the organization of life and a vision of the future | publisher = McGraw-Hill Companies }} (new sciences and technologies). * {{cite book | first1 = S. | last1 = Nambisan | first2 = M. | last2 = Sawhney | date = 2007 | title = The Global Brain }} (emphasis on global innovation management) ===Advanced literature=== * {{cite book | authorlink = Ben Goertzel | last = Goertzel | first = B. | date = 2001 | title = Creating Internet Intelligence: Wild Computing, Distributed Digital Consciousness, and the Emerging Global Brain | editor = Plenum }} * {{cite book | authorlink = Pierre Teilhard de Chardin | last = Teilhard de Chardin | first = Pierre | date = 1964 | title = The Future of Man }} (The classic on physical and psychological/mental development of global brain and global mind). * {{cite book | authorlink = Francis Heylighen | last = Heylighen | first = F. | date = 2007 | chapter = Accelerating Socio-Technological Evolution: from ephemeralization and stigmergy to the global brain | title = [[Globalization]] as an Evolutionary Process: Modeling Global Change | editor1-link = George Modelski | editor1-first = George | editor1-last = Modelski | editor2-first = Tessaleno | editor2-last = Devezas | editor3-first = William | editor3-last = Thompson | location = London | publisher = Routledge | ISBN = 9780415773614 | pages = 286–335 | chapterurl = http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/AcceleratingEvolution.pdf }} For more references, check the [https://sites.google.com/site/gbialternative1/bibliography GBI bibliography]: == External links == * [http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/GBRAIFAQ.html The Global Brain FAQ ] on the [[Principia Cybernetica Web]] * [http://globalbraininstitute.org The Global Brain Institute] at the [[Vrije Universiteit Brussel]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Global Brain}} [[Category:Cybernetics]] [[Category:Futurology]] [[Category:Holism]] [[Category:Superorganisms]] [[Category:Systems theory]] [[Category:World]]'