The Madness of Crowds and an Internet Delusion
This article surprised me for actually using the term "hive mind" to refer to these new content aggregating sites like Wikipedia and YouTube. It is probably worth noting that in the past there were several hundred newspapers which were independently owned and while they all used the AP for some information, most still sent their own reporters to local and regional events. Now there are only a few reporters covering more regional events and all the information is funneled in databases owned by a handful of companies. There is a valid argument here I think that the lack of diversity in the field of information management is a detriment to a culture which has traditionally grown by low barriers to entry existing fields.
Full Version: The Madness of Crowds and an Internet Delusion
QUOTE
There is quite a hive of new ideas and intuitions contained in it,—ideas conflicting, it is true, with many received dogmas, and irreconcilable with orthodoxy; but it is of no use to shut our eyes to these ideas, as though the danger threatening from this side could be averted by imitating the policy of the ostrich.
Review of Kraft und Stoff by G. Buechner, The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, â„– 2 (Dec 1857)
QUOTE
Perhaps man has never made a structure as perfect in all its adaptations as the honeycomb. Yet when Virgil spoke of the belief that bees have a portion of the mind divine, nothing was known of the wonderful mathematical properties of this beautiful fabric; and the demonstration of them which has been made within the present century is beyond the comprehension of far the larger part of mankind. If the bee comprehended the problem which it has been working out for these many ages before man was able to solve it, would its intellectual powers be inferior to his in degree, if they were the same in kind?
"Instinct", The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, â„– 31 (May 1860)
The above ancient history is what Google delivered up when I went searching for that "Atlantic Monthly Hive Mind" article from 2006, I think it was, when I first remember the term "Hive Mind" — outside of some old Frank Herbert story — entering mainscream media usage.
But here's a pertinent bit of local history to the same point.
Jon
But here's a pertinent bit of local history to the same point.
Jon
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