The Cybernetic Hive Mind

    These days most Americans (myself among them) would happily sacrifice a leg before they gave up their internet connection. We have become accustomed to our instant access to information, whether it's news of a breakthrough scientific discovery, or something as seemingly inane as what an acquaintance did on their vacation, so much so that we become unreasonably uncomfortable when deprived of it. Some people see this as a sign that our dependence is unhealthy, and there is some evidence to support that claim, but the potential benefits are exciting, and really what technology doesn't come with a downside?

Can't make an omelette...

     One of the benefits that I just learned about is the ambient awareness we develop concerning our friends and family because of social media. I used to believe that twitter and facebook status updates were rarely more than pointless digital word vomit, pointless wastes of kilobytes. And while it turns out that if they are considered individually, they are mostly meaningless, as we are exposed to these thoughts over time, we develop a sense for peoples thought and interests in a way and to an extent that was impossible before social media existed. This awareness leads people, even if they're thousands of miles apart to feel close in a way that's "similar to the kind of awareness of another one would have when physically co-located" (Thompson).
     With this in mind, the predictions made by Ray Kurzweil in his TED talk, Our Digital Lives, pose some interesting questions. Ray speaks about how our brains process stimuli, and about how we are working to replicate this in computers. He predicts that in the future, microscopic computers will no longer need keyword inputs, but instead will interpret our stimuli as they course through our bloodstreams. I know it sounds crazy when I say it, but watch his talk, he makes it sound much less like the ravings of a lunatic. This makes me wonder how social media will adapt to computers like this. Will we be able to communicate raw pure thought and emotion instead of trying to describe it in words? Will we be able to network our minds together to collaborate on problems? Would this kind of connectivity even be a good thing? Social media is already a vector for misinformation. A study performed by a danish psychologist convinced over 27,000 people in less than a week that a historic fountain was going to be destroyed, simply by implying it on a facebook page (Morozov). Would misinformation become more virulent, or would it be disproven more quickly?
     It's interesting to see how the internet and social media are already changing the way we communicate and form relationships, and I am excited to see how it will evolve along with technology. I hope to see the day when telepathy is realized through technology, and to witness the ascendance to global cooperation, or Armageddon that it brings.

Thanks Zuckerberg.