Why the Global Superorganism Must Evolve a Brain

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Why the Global Superorganism Must Evolve a
Brain

• Francis Heylighen
• Center Leo Apostel
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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The Global Superorganism

• Society can be seen as an organism
• an autopoietic, self-maintaining system
• consumes resources (input)
• processes them to produce components
• people, tools, building, etc.
• components rebuild and develop the system
• exports waste products (output)
• This metabolism requires functional subsystems
• These are anologous to those of a body

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Correspondence Society-Body
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Society as Network

• Society consists of interacting subsystems
• people, organizations, factories, machines,
• Subsystems transforms input into output
• output of the one forms input of the next
• each subsystem has its suppliers and its
  customers
• Subsystems from one interdependent network

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An Autopoietic Network
Environment
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Division of Labor

• Components specialize in their function
• function produce output desired by others
• more specialization ? more efficiency
• they must specialize to survive competition
• as they specialize, they become more dependent on
  others
• lose other capabilities as they focus on one
  capability
• Result differentiation integration
• more diverse components that more strongly cohere
• ? the superorganism becomes more complex

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Ephemeralization

• Subsystems become ever more efficient, because
  of
• growth of knowledge
• technological support
• natural selection of the fittest
• ? more is produced with less
• more goods, services, food, information, speed,
  
• less matter, energy, time, space, effort,
• Example Moores law
• more processing power, less cost

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Reduction of friction

• All processes accelerate
• transport of matter and energy
• production of goods
• delivery of services
• transmission and processing of information
• with less dissipation, noise, waste,
• Physical constraints vanish
• distance, duration, material scarcity, ...
• Globalization transactions connect everything to
  everything

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Positive effects

• Superorganism becomes more efficient
• less dependent on its environment
• Range of options increases
• Cost diminishes, wealth increases
• Indirect increases in
• health, safety, knowledge, freedom, democracy...
• quality of life
• for most of the population

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Negative effects

• Information overload
• Growing complexity / unpredictability of society
• Runaway processes
• Suboptimization instead of global optimization

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Information overload

• Individuals get more stimuli to pay attention to
• more documents, messages, services, goods,
• alll of these can potentially solve a problem
• Information processing capacity is limited
• bounded rationality
• scarcity of attention
• No obvious way to select just the important
• every message may contain a crucial announcement
• ? Increasing stress
• anxiety, confusion, meaninglessness, poor
  decision-making, difficulties memorizing/
  remembering, reduced attention span,

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Growing unpredictability / complexity

• Reduced friction ? longer causal chains
• A affects B, B affects C, C affects D, etc.
• high friction ? transmission dissipates quickly
• low friction ? transmission continues
• ? many more effects and side-effects must be
  taken into account
• everything affects everything
• seeming improvements may have far-away negative
  side effects
• Prediction/control become more difficult

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Runaway processes

• Positive feedbacks ? chain reactions
• e.g. spread of AIDS, computer viruses, currency
  runs, ...
• explosive growth
• only stops when resources have been exhausted
• Reduced friction ?
• faster growth
• less physical barriers
• more resources
• This makes runaway processes more dangerous
• larger potential impact
• more difficult to counteract in time

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The Problem of Suboptimization

• Best for a part is not always best for the whole
• Poverty
• best for the rich not pay for the poor
• best for society reduce inequality
• Pollution
• Global side effect of local production
• e.g. best for country not limit CO2 production
• best for planet minimize CO2 production
• A global society needs global optimization
• reduced friction -gt increased global side effects
• avoid destructive competition between countries

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The superorganism needs a brain

• The central nervous system/brain is a control
  system
• counteracts perceived perturbations by
  appropriate actions
• decides about best course of action
• anticipates and solves problems
• the market is a primitive control system
• goal satisfying public demand
• action producing goods and services
• perception actual supply
• Reduced friction makes the market more effcient
• less delays -gtmore stable negative feedback

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Global Brain
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Components of a Global Brain

• Sensor
• collects possibly relevant information
• Interpreter
• processes information to extract meaning
• Decider
• chooses option in light of interpretation and
  goals
• Memory
• learns and stores patterns or models for reuse
• Effector
• implements chosen action

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Global brain can tackle global problems

• Information overload
• a GB can process more information
• collective intelligence to support individual
  decisions
• Complexity/unpredictability
• develop and use more complex models
• steer process so as to avoid side-effects
• Runaway processes
• detect problems at an earlier stage
• counteract more quickly and more globally
• Global optimization
• develop global world view and system of values
• help detect cheaters

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Example GB-mediated public transport

• Complexity reduction
• computes optimal connections in real time
• constantly advises the individual
• takes over administrative functions such as
  paying
• Global optimization
• reduces congestion/pollution by making public
  transport more attractive
• can redirect vehicles to better meet demand
• can learn more effective routes
• can control negative side effects
• e.g. divert transport around hospitals, polluted
  areas, etc.

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How can a GB evolve?

• Spontaneous, bottom-up evolution
• society already has GB-like subsystems
• markets, administrations, media,libraries,
  networks
• natural selection will make those more efficient
• inefficient subsystems outcompeted by more
  efficient ones
• ? better communication, services,
  administrations,
• Technological support
• well-designed ICT applications can precipate the
  emergence of the GB
• Top-down governance
• to tackle suboptimizationand prevent free
  riders
• requires global institutions Kyoto, WTO, UN, ...