Category: Humankind collective cognitive capability

The ‘international workers’ day’ should be called the ‘cognitive surplus day’

The international workers’ day is a celebration of the struggle for the 8 hours work day. The corresponding Wikipedia article on the international workers’ day gives an excellent historical account of the events leading to its creation.

The concept of the international workers’ day is fundamentally an Industrial Age concept. It is the symbol of the struggle of the Unions against the Corporations. It is the symbol of the struggle of the manufacturing worker for better conditions – a struggle that was finally successful as available workers became scarce when the countryside got depleted of its population at the beginning of the 20th century.

Why would we continue to celebrate this outdated celebration?

Still the 8 hours workday was the beginning of something else. It was the beginning of the availability of time for one’s recreation, of the creation of the conditions of the collaborative surplus of humankind. The 8 hours workday, and later the paid leave, gave the opportunity to many more people to have free time. Most of this time got used to receive passively broadcasted material, but a few people started to use this time to contribute to the world.

And, with the Fourth Revolution, that has now become an epidemics.

Let’s celebrate the ‘international workers’ day’ as the ‘cognitive surplus day’!

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Measuring the available cognitive surplus

A useful statistics in the excellent book by Clay Shirky, “cognitive surplus“.

Cognitive surplus is that cognitive capability that is available during our free time. It has steadily increased during the Industrial Revolution, in particular in the 20th century. But, it has mainly been devoted to broadcasting media, and mainly TV.

American watch about 200 billion hours of TV every year (and, interestingly enough, this is still increasing).

All of Wikipedia, all articles, edits, in all languages represents roughly about 100 million hours of contributions (over 10 years or so).

Hence, Wikipedia, this extraordinary sum of human knowledge, permamently updated (so much that it is a worthwhile source of information) represents less than 0.005% of the available cognitive surplus.

So… can you imagine what will happen when just 1% of the available cognitive surplus will be used for the community?

That’s right, it will be a true Revolution, the Fourth Revolution.

When do you start contributing a small share of your cognitive surplus?

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Have no bed, no toilet but I have a mobile phone… and internet!

A major impact of the Fourth Revolution is that ubiquitous cheap long distance communication is accessible worldwide. That means, also in developing countries.
It is so important for people to be able to communicate that in a scarce budget, people will often put a mobile phone or internet as a first priority expense. Every day in Africa, India and other places of the world, communication capability is more important in people’s life. The famous Grameen Bank of Muhammad Yunus developed micro-credit by lending money to women entrepreneurs so that they could buy mobile phone and sell communication time!

No shoes, no bed... but internet
No shoes, no bed... but internet

There has been a lot of comments on the post on the renewal of the elites. The daily news show how pervasive the Fourth Revolution can be in developing countries, making coordination of demonstrations and public action in a way that was before reserved to countries with highly developed infrastructure.
So what? The developing world is now connected to the world. Communication and broadcasting is not reserved to rich countries.
And that’s a fundamental change. Sure, that does not help in the short term the condition of the daily life in developing countries, but it will certainly transform it in the medium term. Because with connection comes opportunity. Discriminations based on Agricultural Age mindset will be overcome. History will not just be written by rich countries or elites that have access to broadcasting.
We are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg.
The world will change fundamentally in the next few decades. New perspectives will come from developing countries. Are you ready to embrace the change?

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Deep learning from the “law of requisite variety”: practice your flexibility!

The “law of requisite variety” is a fundamental insight in our world. It is not well known. It should be recognized as a fundamental new insight that changes our understanding or the world.

The law itself comes from cybernetics – the study of systems controlled with feedback loops. Articulated in 1948 by Ashby, it states in its original form “only variety can destroy variety”. To be effective, the control system needs to have more variety than the perturbations of system it controls.

It has been taken up under a slightly different form in the 1970’s by the initiators of NLP – neuro-linguistic programming. In their words, “the actor with the greatest flexibility of behavior will ultimately control the system“.
In other words, the most flexible and adaptable actor will dominate.

We now know that most systems in our world – climate, biology, society – are systems controlled by feedback loops. This law should then apply to most of our world.

Darwin’s theory is but the application of this law to biology. Darwin’s theory is that the species most adapted to its environment will thrive. That does not just mean a static adaptation like the color of the bird or the shape of its beak. It also means, the level of dynamic adaptability, of flexibility.
That humans have come to dominate most of their environment and the rest of the ecosystem is not because they are the strongest or physiologically the most adapted – it is because they are the most flexible and adaptable thanks to their intelligence.

Let’s now take this insight into the field of economics and society. The most adaptable and flexible will eventually dominate.
For organizations it means that flexibility and adaptability is a primordial condition for success. For institutions and governments also. The natural tendency to create organizations and institutions that try to freeze a situation to their benefit is doomed in the long term.
The quest for success should be to seek to enhance the flexibility and the adaptability of organizations and institutions rather than devise all sorts impediments to change.

It is also applicable on a personal level. To thrive, you need to be more flexible and adaptable than the world around you.

So, when do you start practicing that fundamental skill – flexibility?

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Four keys to success in the Collaborative Age – the Fourth Revolution Manifesto part VII is online!!!

Now that we have investigated in depth the Fourth Revolution and how it will change the world, we can now focus on what will make individuals successful. Find out four keys to personal success in the Collaborative world in part 7 of the Fourth Revolution Manifesto – now online.

Cover of the Fourth Revolution manifesto part 7
Cover of the Fourth Revolution manifesto part 7

You can access the part VII of the Fourth Revolution Manifesto – FOUR keys to success in the Collaborative Age by clicking on the link. You can also read and share the document on Scribd – it has a great reader and can also be used as a backup if the above link does not work: the Fourth Revolution Manifesto – part 7 on Scribd .

Don’t hesitate to comment and bring in suggestions in the comments to this blog post!

Can’t wait to see the conclusion? Next week, in the final part of the Fourth Revolution Manifesto we’ll finally discuss your choice – and why you are important for the Fourth Revolution.

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You can exercise the brain like you exercise the body – when do you start?

A fundamental assumption of the Industrial Age is determinism. The fact we can’t change our character and our intelligence. The fact that our destiny is determined by some our characteristics at birth.

The shape of our face would determine our character (luckily, that particular theory was dropped at the end of the 19th century). Our genes would determine our destiny – leadership capability would be inherited (that particular theory lasted longer – until the second half of the 20th century).

Our capabilities were supposed to be fixed at birth, and we could not do anything about it – a great example is the IQ (invented at the beginning of the 20th century). The one who is born dumb stays dumb. The one lucky to be born intelligent stays intelligent. And their social destiny would be fixed by the measure of IQ.

Now since a very few decades we know that does not work. Multiple intelligences, amongst which emotional intelligence, are better predictors of social success than IQ. Chaos theory shows that we can shape our destiny.

But, more forcefully, we now know we can change our intelligence. Like training the body, it takes hard work and long practice, but it is possible to significantly alter our brains, to change their wiring. In summary, to change our intelligence (and, if we don’t maintain enough exercise, that might even lead to diminishing it).

changes to the brain due to meditation
changes to the brain due to meditation

Thanks to the recent ability to measure brain activity in living people (using tools based on Quantum Physics), studies have shown that people with a long practice in meditation (more than 10,000 hours) have a significantly different brain activity compared to people with low experience.

So, what can we take from this? Exercising the brain needs to be done, and enhancing the capabilities of the brain can be done. Like for the body, it takes time and effort, consistent and regular practice, but the change can be substantial. Like for the body, there are multiple types of exercise and schools of practice, but the overall result is very similar. Typical exercises revolve around mastering our internal spontaneous chatter, overcoming the mental patterns that alter our perception of reality, mastering emotions and enhancing our creativity.

So, when do you start exercising your brain for a few minutes every day?

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Part 3 of the Fourth Revolution Manifesto is on line !

The collective cognitive capability of humankind is once again deeply transformed by a new, ground breaking communication technology. Find out HOW cheap, long distance interactive communication transforms our collective cognitive capabilities!

Fourth Revolution Manifesto part III cover

You can access the third part of the Fourth Revolution Manifesto – HOW the collective cognitive capability of humankind is once again transformed! by clicking on the link. You can also read and share the document on Scribd – it has a great reader and can also be used as a backup if the above link does not work: the Fourth Revolution Manifesto – part III on Scribd .

Don’t hesitate to comment and bring in suggestions in the comments to this blog post!

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