1: EMBRACE THE SWARM
We are connecting everything to everything.
There is something mysterious that happens when we take large numbers of things that are fairly limited and connect them all together. When we take the dumb chip in each cash register in a store and link them into a swarm, we have something more than dumb. We have real-time buying patterns that can manage inventory. If we take the dumb chips that already regulate the guts of an automobile engine, and let them communicate an engine's performance to the mechanic of a trucking firm, those dumb chips can smartly cut expensive road repairs. (Mercedes Benz recently announced it is planning to embed a web server into its top-of-the-line model cars so technicians can spot service problems remotely.) When connected into a swarm, small thoughts become smart.
Laconi.ca is an open source, micro blogging platform which fits nicely into your model.
Anyone can build a Laconica instance and they are all federated.
No single point of failure (c.f Twitter).
I recently read a "classic" The 500 Year Delta by Jim Taylor and Watts Wacker. It was written in 1997. Your post made me remember the follwoing passage:
"Computing and communications did more than intersect; they fused. And when they fused, connectivity ws born. But connectivity finally is no the end, either. Connectivity is a state of existence, nothing more. The true end is what happens when things are in connection, what happens when connectivity itself fuses with information."
Today more than ever what we "do" with the technology is what matters most. We have the opportunity to solve the problems of our lifetime by connecting with like minded people and solving our biggest problems we face.
John Stepleton
I've been reading a lot of your entries under "Embrace the Swarm" and there is a theme that "many "dumb" participants coming together to solve a problem will become smart in finding a solution." (I may not have said it exactly as you meant it)
But I have a question. Isn't it true that sometimes the swarm can crash themselves because they are "dumb"- meaning they lack critical information to fix a problem.
So for instance you may have a group of people assigned to a particular task and because they all come from a particular culture, education level, or ideology, then they may not have the ability to "land the plane" and successfully complete the task? Don't we sometimes need a leader who may think differently from the pack or have an outsider knowledge that the others don't have?
Otherwise, why do we have leaders, CEO's, presidents, etc?
I think that certainly leaders are strengthened by listening to guidance from the crowds, but sometimes to be successful, they need to go down a path that the crowd wouldn't have chosen.
I'd love to know your thoughts.
Thank you.
@Kristin: Yes, the swarm can benefit from leaders, as i noted a few posts back. Platforms do best with leaderless democracy, but products do best with leadership.
As you mention leadership, I have a question. How would you characterize leadership required for the swarms vs the leadership that is extoled at present- especially in the media. has the time of Herman Hesses's characters arrived, whether from 'Journey to the east' or 'Sidhartha' or 'Glass Bead Game'?
@Lilly: Excellent question! Answer: I don't know. I'm not a good leader of either type. Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia is obviously one of the former, and doing a great job.