For a while I've had a vague sci-fi-like idea that the first true "group minds" are going to evolve from the intersection of Mechanical Turk, augmented reality, personal virtual assistants, and Twitter/Aardvark/Facebook/Ask MetaFilter.
How do you know it hasn't already happened? Are the individual cells in your brain aware of your existence? To a group mind such as you mentioned, would each of its component minds not seem as insignificant as one brain cell to us? Maybe that's why we have internet addictions. The Overmind does not want parts of itself shutting off. :)
A more alarming possibility is that just as it took us countless generations to arrive at a point in our evolution where we are aware of ourselves and even more generations before we know our minds are made up of cells (with the capability of each cell remaining more or less unchanged), the group mind might be an emotionally immature infant. I suspect though, that if it already exists, it is a reflection of ourselves, with 4chan and the like being the child within and wikipedia and such being the intellect. Do you think we might hasten the group mind's journey towards self-awareness by spreading this idea so that it takes root in more and more of its component minds? :p
How do you know it hasn't already happened? Are the individual cells in your brain aware of your existence? To a group mind such as you mentioned, would each of its component minds not seem as insignificant as one brain cell to us? Maybe that's why we have internet addictions. The Overmind does not want parts of itself shutting off. :)
A more alarming possibility is that just as it took us countless generations to arrive at a point in our evolution where we are aware of ourselves and even more generations before we know our minds are made up of cells (with the capability of each cell remaining more or less unchanged), the group mind might be an emotionally immature infant. I suspect though, that if it already exists, it is a reflection of ourselves, with 4chan and the like being the child within and wikipedia and such being the intellect. Do you think we might hasten the group mind's journey towards self-awareness by spreading this idea so that it takes root in more and more of its component minds? :p