citizens of the knowledge society

Harold Rheingold tweeted a link to two interviews he did recently preparing to write a new book. The first is “Pierre Lévy on Collective Intelligence

They discuss some very interesting evolving definitions and ideas.

Collective intelligence exists in the animal world. In the human world the connectivity of the “internets” represents an important amplifier of this idea as it helps to advance our collective reasoning and knowledge.

An emerging skill is one of curation in which a synergy is created between personal knowledge management and collective knowledge management.

The example Lévy offers is when one tweets a link with a comment. The comment categorizes the link and represents a form of personal knowledge management. But it also is offered to others in the collective. Lévy calls this signaling and he also calls it the result of new kind of idea:

“We say that everybody [online] becomes an author, an editor, a publisher but also everybody is becoming a specialist in library science because when you categorize information, you organize it for youself but at the same time you organize it for others when you share it contributing to the common memory. This is a new thing when done in a conscious way…. (Emphasis added…. I have roughly transcribed Lévy’s comments on the video).”

Rheinhold and Lévy both call this knowledge citizenship.

Rheinhold points out that choosing what to share comes under the old adage of the categorical imperative.… that is “share with others the quality of ideas you would like them to share with you.”

The other interview Rheingold linked was one he did with Jimmy Wales the founder of Wikipedia. I haven’t listened to it yet.

I made mp3s of these interviews along with a recent talk by Cory Doctorow (link to page where you can get that).

Yesterday David Brooks had some interesting stuff in his column which seems to relate to this conversation.

The New Humanism by David Brooks – NYTimes.com

Brooks says we often limit our understanding of ourselves to reason and/or emotion.  He cites some new talents and strengths in humans that are the result of combined insights in the fields of “neuroscience, psychology, sociology, behavioral economics and so on.”

I am still pondering these:

Attunement: the ability to enter other minds and learn what they have to offer.

Equipoise: the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one’s own mind and correct for biases and shortcomings.

Metis: the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from complex situations.

Sympathy: the ability to fall into a rhythm with those around you and thrive in groups.

Limerence: This isn’t a talent as much as a motivation. The conscious mind hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God. Some people seem to experience this drive more powerfully than others.

(from the article linked above)

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