10 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Borg Bandwidth
How large bandwidth is needed? We can estimate a lower bound from the bandwidth of speech and body language, which appears to be on the order of 10-100 bits/s. A highest upper bound would be total interconnection at the same signal density as the human mind, or roughly 10^18 bits/s, quite an extreme range. However, the two human hemispheres communicate closely through the corpus callosum normally with no discernible differences; this connection has a theoretical bandwidth on the order of 10^1...Folksonomies: collectivism
Folksonomies: collectivism
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notes07 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Borganism in Nature
he most common example used is the hives of social insects, where all individuals work for the common good with little regard for themselves. Although it has been argued that hives lack collective minds (Nicholls 1982) it should be noted that all such species communicate with chemical signals, and at least in the case of ants chemical trails can be seen as collective cognitive maps distributed in the environment (Chiavlo & Millonas 1995). There may exist degrees of borganisation, and they are...Folksonomies: collectivism transhumanism
Folksonomies: collectivism transhumanism
1 07 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Collective Mind from Olaf Stapledon
The designers of our species set out to produce a being that might be capable of an order of mentality higher than their own. The only possibility of doing so lay in planning a great increase in brain organisation. But they knew that the brain of an individual human being could not safely be allowed to exceed a certain weight. They therefore sought to produce the new order of mentality in a system of distinct and specialised brains held in "telepathic" unity by means of ethereal radiation. Ma...Folksonomies: collectivism borganism
Folksonomies: collectivism borganism
1 notes
notes02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
The Power of the Masses
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.
"On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 257.*
The masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant, and without this understanding it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge.
"Preface and Postscript to Rural Surveys" (March and April 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 12.*
The masses have boundless creative power. T... 1 notes
notesMao on the power and heroism of the collective.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Ideal of Collaboration
In a University we are especially bound to recognise not only the unity of science itself, but the communion of the workers in science. We are too apt to suppose that we are congregated here merely to be within reach of certain appliances of study, such as museums and laboratories, libraries and lecturers, so that each of us may study what he prefers. I suppose that when the bees crowd round the flowers it is for the sake of the honey that they do so, never thinking that it is the dust which ...Folksonomies: collectivism collaboration
Folksonomies: collectivism collaboration
1 notes
notesWe think of scientists at universities and laboratories as working for a greater good, but, in reality, they are like bees in a hive gathering honey without thought to the larger picture.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Artists Work Alone, Scientists Collaborate
Any artist or novelist would understand—some of us do not produce their best when directed. We expect the artist, the novelist and the composer to lead solitary lives, often working at home. While a few of these creative individuals exist in institutions or universities, the idea of a majority of established novelists or painters working at the 'National Institute for Painting and Fine Art' or a university 'Department of Creative Composition' seems mildly amusing. By contrast, alarm greets ...Folksonomies: collectivism
Folksonomies: collectivism
It is considered irresponsible for scientists to work alone.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Ideas Grow
Great inventions are never, and great discoveries are seldom, the work of any one mind. Every great invention is really an aggregation of minor inventions, or the final step of a progression. It is not usually a creation, but a growth, as truly so as is the growth of the trees in the forest. On other ideas, like the growth of trees in a forest.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Honey Gatherers of the Mind
Our treasure lies in the beehives of our knowledge. We are perpetually on our way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. The only thing that lies close to our heart is the desire to bring something home to the hive. Folksonomies: collectivism
Folksonomies: collectivism
1 notes
notesWe are like bees, gathering knowledge for the hive.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Borg and Ants
"Restless aggression, territorial conquest, and genocidal annihilation ... whenever possible.... The colony is integrated as though it were in fact one organism ruled by a genome that constrains behavior as it also enables it.... The physical superorganism acts to adjust the demographic mix so as to optimize its energy economy.... The
austere rules allow of no play, no art, no empathy."
The Borg are among the most frightening, and intriguing, species of alien creature ever portrayed on the t... 1 notes
notesKrauss presents a quote about E.O.Wilson's book on ants and how it works perfectly to describe the Borg in Star Trek.
