voice of humanity - Category: Link Review    
 Author Robert Wright argues that history has an arrow20 comments
picture25 Jan 2007 @ 16:18
Hmm - the Ted Talks site has many sensible thought provoking lectures available in both video and audio formats. Here is one that I can recommend.

"Author Robert Wright argues that history has an arrow: That humans have continued to evolve -- if not biologically, than culturally and technologically -- toward greater complexity and intelligence. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:54)"
Watch Online Download Audio

Wright's view is that we are in danger of not making the leap to a global civilization, possibly leading to a global collapse. Seems sound to me! He also believes that for our own self interest, people everywhere have good reason to promote a world that works for everyone (tho he does not use that phrase). And he calls for the launching of a moral revolution, saying that a "major round of moral progress" is in order. Indeed! Thank you Robert Wright!  More >


 Response to Global Democracy article by Eric Schneider4 comments
picture20 Jul 2006 @ 15:01
Global Democracy & Sustainability literacy learning:
Why they must go hand-in-hand by Eric Schneider

Eric, this is a wonderful article, chock full of enthusiasm and sensible ideas. I applaud your ideas and sentiments, and am impressed by the !Positive News and Youth Views! Ezine at http://www.pnyv.org where you are a member of the Founding and Creative Board. I must add your latest at http://pnyv.org/literacies and how to trigger a new conference culture! Yes!  More >


 Response to Heiner Benking's "Dialogues and Conversations" paper5 comments
picture14 Jul 2006 @ 02:12
Heiner, your "Dialogues and Conversations" article has put my head in a swirl! It almost makes me feel that if we can actually understand something, anything, that something must therefore be simplistic and not representative of reality. Conversely, since I don't fully understand your article, it really might be on the right track!!! But, kidding aside, it is well to be reminded that things are more complicated than they seem, and multiply that by 7 when dealing with global issues.  More >


 Link Value1 comment
picture29 Apr 2004 @ 19:30
Ben Hyde, in his Ascription is an anathema to any enthusiasm blog has posted some congenial musings about links as online currency, ala google. He quotes John Seely Brown:
Notice, also, that blogs can suddenly reach a critical mass that then forces something out into the open, into public consciousness. You might think of it as an analogy to the subconscious vs. the conscious.
Yes! And then he adds value to Brown, saying (among other things):
The image that John's little narrative creates is that ideas are attempting to emerge from the soil and that various authors on the net are kicking up the dirt trying to set them free. That the link's role is to be a spade in the soil. It doesn't serve the site, or the author, or the status economy. It serves the desperate attempt of the ideas to escape.
Lovely.  More >


 Bottom up Hierarchy --> CyberHumanity6 comments
picture24 Apr 2004 @ 13:07
Nova Spivack has an important new article sharpening up some of his previous comments at New Version of My "Metaweb" Graph -- The Future of the Net.

Danny Ayers has responded at Nova's Metaweb and Machine Consciousness. In Danny's article, if I read it aright, he takes issue with Nova's notion of "structures that provide virtual higher-order cognition and self-awareness to the network". In my view, which I think accords more with Danny's, Nova is speculating. Self-awareness and higher-order cognition may arise from basic structures plus scale instead of from structures built on structures as Nova seems to be thinking.  More >


 A Macro View of the Metaweb3 comments
picture31 Mar 2004 @ 22:34
From Nova Spivack's article, The Metaweb: The Global Mind Just Got Smarter: "Now the important question here is: at what point can we say that a bunch of parts becomes a new whole in its own right? At what point can we speak of "the superorganism" as an entity? The crucial boundary is called a "metasystem transition" which is a transition from one order of organization to a higher order of organization. ... We are in the process of evolving the Metaweb -- the beginnings of our species' superorganism. "  More >


 Peter Small's Stigmergic Systems Site9 comments
picture30 Oct 2003 @ 14:23
This is the first of a series of Link Reviews, short descriptions of websites and weblog entries that relate to the voice of humanity project.

Stigmergy is coordination via changes to the environment. For instance, ants leave trails that have a meaning to other ants. Like maybe, "here I am leaving this trail coming home with a nice chunk of hotdog bun; check it out!" As more ants follow up, the trail becomes stronger, attracting yet more followers. Simple local rules for the individual add up to complex social behavior. One application to the web is in the way links add up in Google's PageRank algorithm. Every web link is another human ant strengthening the trail. Joe Gregorio has a blog article along these lines. But Peter Small, at his Stigmergic Systems site, has another idea.  More >