http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/cybspasy.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996) |
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Author: F. Heylighen,
Date : Jan 30, 1996 (modified); Apr 27, 1995 (created)
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A symposium organized by the Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP) will be held at EMCSR'96. Chairs are Francis Heylighen and Stuart Umpleby. The objective is to better understand the implications of the present explosive growth in global computer networks, like the Internet or the World-Wide Web. We wish to develop models of how these networks will further develop and how they will affect individuals and society at all levels.
Soon, the whole of human knowledge will be directly available to every person with access to a networked computer. Moreover, communication between individuals will become much easier, faster and more transparent, transcending the boundaries of space and time. The changes will not only be quantitative, but qualitative: "smart" computer systems will not only provide more information more quickly, but allow novel applications (virtual reality, intelligent agents, distributed processing, automated indexing...) that no one ever would have dreamt of. These changes will affect and deeply transform all aspects of society: education (distance learning, electronic universities), work (telework, groupware), commerce (electronic cash), the media, government (electronic democracy), health, science (electronic publication) and technology. It seems as though society's collective intelligence will increase manifold, perhaps producing an evolutionary transition to a higher level of intelligence.
As these developments are so fast, and so difficult to predict, precise models are usually not possible. In that case, comprehension may be helped by using analogies. Examples of such metaphors for global network functions are the "Information Superhighway", which emphasizes the speedy channels along which information moves, the network as a "Super-brain", which emphasizes the collective intelligence of users and computers connected by the global network, Jacques Vallée's notion of an "information singularity", which notes that networked information becomes instantaneously available everywhere (see also Vernor Vinge's concept of singularity), and "Cyberspace" itself, which visualizes networked information as an immense space through which one can "surf".
Though metaphors can be very useful, they generally only express one or a few dimensions of a multidimensional phenomenon. Therefore, we should move to more detailed and comprehensive models, which can be tested by observation, implementation or simulation. Cybernetics, as a theory of communication, information and control, seems most directly applicable to such model-building, but valuable insights may come from the most diverse domains: sociology, futurology, AI, complex systems, man-machine interaction, cognitive psychology, etc. Our emphasis is on concepts, principles, and observations, rather than on technical protocols or specific implementations (although existing systems may provide a concrete illustration from which more general implications can be derived).
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