June 7th: Collective Intelligence, A Civilisation
I found “Collective Intelligence, A Civilization: Towards a
Method of Positive Interpretation,” to be the most intriguing and
thought-provoking article I have read thus far throughout this course. The line
in this article that stood out to me most was, “The Internet represents the
unmediated presence of humanity to itself since every possible culture,
discipline and passion is therein woven together. The fact that everything is
possible on the Internet reveals mankind’s true essence, the aspiration towards
freedom.” This was thought-provoking for me because when I think of the
Internet, I do not necessarily think of the concept of freedom. With the rate
of technological advances and the surveillance that constantly surrounds us, I
almost think of the Internet as an invasion of privacy. I would not disagree
with the statement that mankind’s true essence is the aspiration towards
freedom, but with all the data that is constantly being collected on us when we
use the Internet, I do not view the Internet as revealing our true essence.
I also thought this article intrigued me and encouraged me to think more about what I was reading. I agree when you say that you do not think of freedom when you think of the Internet, because I didn't either. After reading this article, I realized that the Internet really does represent freedom because of all the things you can do with it. I also agree with you when you said "I do not view the Internet as revealing our true essence," because I don't think it does either. The Internet collects a lot of information on us, but only things like what we want to buy. I don't think there is anyway for the Internet to know our true essence.
ReplyDeleteThis article was definitely the most intriguing one of them all. You first given quote was one that as well stood out to me for the reasoning that I never knew that the "Internet represents the unmediated presence of humanity to itself." This was as well very thought provoking for me.n Overall I thought the statement made by you that most stood out to me was you explanation on how you never thought of the internet as freedom. Honestly I never thought about that before until now.
ReplyDeleteI love the quote you grabbed from this reading, and I agree that it made me think more about freedom and how it relates to the internet. These are two things I would not think to have a strong correlation, but this reading definitely opened up my eyes to how they do relate. I think the main point of this article is that we need to take our freedom through the internet and apply it to the importance of collective intelligence. Collective intelligence is so strongly rooted through Cyberspace that we need to accept that this is where our world is heading.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with what you said. I never thought about the internet relating to freedom. The internet represents the essence of freedom. We are free to say or post whatever information we want whether it be true or not. Look at how many dating websites have been created in the past years. You register and set-up a profile about yourself. Do you think everyone tells the truth? No, we have the freedom to write whatever we want to say about ourselves. Information that flows through the internet flows freely. It may be cited or show how the information was obtain for verification purposes.